Examining Tire Dressings

Bill D

Bill D

Hooked For Life
chml17l made some very interesting conversation about tire dressings in the Stoner products threads. :up There seems to be quite a bit information about them out there, perhaps not entirely accurate, complete, or otherwise easily understood.





There's certainly no arguing which variety we chose to use is personal preference and to many that's all it has to be. But if you're as obsessed as some of us :o ,you enjoy trying to learn more just for the sake of doing so.



I alwys tried to read up them and found some things interesting, mainly with regards to PDMS dressings:



I'm sort of surprised I've never heard or actually seen an official and documented statement from the tire manufactures about the nature of one type of tire dressing versus the other.



I've heard of them saying from no dressings at all should be used or the use of the oil based dressings would even void warranties.



Things seem up in the air about this :confused:



I've read an account on a few occasions that there are documented studies by the manufacturers indicating that the dimethyl stuff can be "bad" but that they cannot be released in any form either electronically online or by requesting via mail because the holders of the study/evidence do not have the permission to reproduce them because they do not own them.I read it was available for show but not to get a copy of. Admittedly, this certainly doesn't contribute to the credibility of their "apparent existence" :nixweiss



Now, with the commercial Michelin branded tire products I'd have to assume those products are approved by at least the one tire manufacturer. Then again, they could always just want to be in the business of selling both tires and cleaning products.



Here were a few threads that always drove the point home for me about preferring PDMS dressings. Yes, again, strictly a preference only.



http://www.autopia.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4819&perpage=12&highlight=resin and dressing&pagenumber=1





http://www.autopia.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1813&perpage=12&highlight=resin and dressing&pagenumber=2





http://www.autoint.com/magazine/basics_of_protection3.html





http://www.web-cars.com/detail/phorum/read.php?f=1&i=21176&t=21162



This is one of the best dressing discussions I’ve read:



http://www.web-cars.com/detail/phorum/read.php?f=1&i=4530&t=4222



None of this information should really be taken as dogma. There is room for inaccuracies, incomplete information, misconceptions and the like.



The more information we can gather, the better :D
 
Finish Kare has a sticky on their discussion forum regarding their take on tire dressings at www.FK1usa.com- my personal experience with my last set of tires was that after 2 years of using STP(Richard Petty endorsed) silicone tire dressing the sidewalls were cracking
 
Wow, sorry to hear :eek: I've also wondered about certain brands of tires or models within their particular ranges perhaps being particularly susceptible to damage. That's another aspect of this whole thing I'd be interesting in finding out more about.
 
INteresting tread with great info, Bill I like the Turtle Wax Tire WaX (green bottle). IN your opion is this a safe tire dressing to use?
 
Wannafbody,



Last night I heard a lot of racket from (the illegal variety)outside my door even though it was way up on another road and is blocked by woods. You didn't happend to be down my way, were you? ;)



Raven,



As always first, what appeals to you counts the most. If there is a listing of containing petroleum distillates on the label, that's likely a sure sign it's the non PDMS variety.
 
My experience with Production Super Stuff , a solvent and probably silicone dressing is the same as wannafbody.

The bosses daughter put it on her new tires a few years ago and they cracked. I take care of them now with 303 or water based dressing and that stopped the cracking.
 
Bill, thanks for the reply. The bottle doesn't say anything about petroleum distillates, I guess I need to do a little research just to be sure.
 
I also favour PDMS dressings for the aforementioned reasons.



In my experience both PDs and DS have caused damage to the tyres I've used them on...primarily causing very bad browning/greying of the sidewalls.



I'm glad you brought this up Bill...its a needed reminder.
 
Yes, some of us here use 303 Aerospace Protectant, a lower gloss PDMS dressing, on our leather.
 
How are Megs tire dressings? I just bought some Michelin PS2's, so don't want to ruin them! The megs I use is for sure oil based.



product_G12024.jpg
 
The one pictured is not a PDMS dressing. Megs has several different kinds of dressings. Their PDMS one is #40. Keep in mind, it's not like you apply a dimethyl silicone dressing and BAM, your tires are toast. The concern could stem over time--knowing that enthusiasts in particular are more likely to dress their tires more frequently than those "just in passing".



The jist of the information in the thread is for the user to be aware of the difference of between dimethyl silicone and polydimethylsiloxane dressings and how the dimethyl variety are solvent based and the PDMS are water based.
 
[quote name='z400']How are Megs tire dressings? I just bought some Michelin PS2's, so don't want to ruin them! The megs I use is for sure oil based.







z400-- The Megs dressing should be fine for your tires since it is not solvent based.



Regarding solvent-based silicone vs. water-based tire protectants, you will probably end up replacing your tires long before any damage might be done to the tire. If you are still concerned about possible damage to rubber, stick with the water-based protectant.



If you want a detailed explanation of the "good vs. bad" silicone saga, read my post in this thread.http://autopia.org/forum/showthread.php?t=58608&page=1&highlight=pdms
 
Bill D said:
The one pictured is not a PDMS dressing. Megs has several different kinds of dressings. Their PDMS one is #40. Keep in mind, it's not like you apply a dimethyl silicone dressing and BAM, your tires are toast. The concern could stem over time--knowing that enthusiasts in particular are more likely to dress their tires more frequently than those "just in passing".



The jist of the information in the thread is for the user to be aware of the difference of between dimethyl silicone and polydimethylsiloxane dressings and how the dimethyl variety are solvent based and the PDMS are water based.
Click to expand...



Good answer Bill!
 
z400 said:
How are Megs tire dressings? I just bought some Michelin PS2's, so don't want to ruin them! The megs I use is for sure oil based.



product_G12024.jpg
Click to expand...



So as a general rule would it be accurate to say that "Clear" tire dressings like the one above are NOT water based?
 
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