hodgesdodges said:
I have been obsessed with shiny tyres since 1981, and since then, I've bought and tested more than 30 brands of premium and super premium stuff. My summary:
1. Depends on the smoothness and characteristics of your tyre sidewall.
If your sidewall is very smooth (eg: low-profile Falkens) and not textured (eg: Continentals), then most quality prdts will give you a wet shine. Higher profile tyres (55 series and above) usually have textured sidewalls and a wet look might not be possible. Generally, the lower the profile, the smoother the sidewall (eg. Pirelli PZeroes on Ferraris).
Sidewall temperature.
Once the tyre heats up from driving, the wet look disappears and is replaced by a less glossy shine (eg.Megs Endurance and almost all tyre shine prdts). One or two drives in dirty rain water or after a heavy rain, and tyres might look crappy again. Then, when you wash the tyres with detergent that's strong to remove the crap without removing the tyre shine, you'll still get a respectable look but that super wet gloss is certainly not there anymore and this prompts you to re-apply.
Sidewall Cleanliness.
IMO, the cheapest way for the cleanest sidewall is powdered laundry detergent.
Brush it with a stiff brush, and you keep seeing lots of grey and brown stuff coming off the sidewalls. I keep brushing and rinsing till the suds are pure white. Wear gloves cos the powder is very drying to skin. Rinse, dry and apply your fav stuff.
Application method.
It's just like applying all the LSPs. You can experiment with diff techniques.
For the wet-look that many of my customers love, I apply a wet coat first WITHOUT harsh rubbing. Just slather it on like glue. Do not wipe/rub the same area repeatedly. Once you've deposited a layer, move to the next area. Hard, brisk, repetitive rubbing on the same area IMO can affect the looks. Allow to dry overnite.
Next day, wipe off excess with sponge.
Re-apply a thin layer without hard rubbing. Leave it for 20mins before driving car. Those tyres will look great!
There's NONE that really impressed me to make me want to re-purchase it...except for this Eagle One product which I can't find anymore.
It's a spray-on transparent liquid inside a transparent pump bottle with black pump. Later, it was available in gel form.
This was the only stuff that impressed me on my Falken and Yokohama low profile rubbers.
My local chemical mftr techie (in charge of shampoos, MPCs, tyre shine etc) told me that it is possible to make a really good tyre shine, but the cost will be very high cos they'll be using very high grades of silicone and other chemicals. He also acknowledged that on-the-shelf stuff are nearly the same in terms of durability. Now, this mftr is custom-making for me a high-end tyre shine (clear, thin gel similar to maple syrup's viscosity). Super glossy wet look, and lasts longer than most premium branded ones.