# Dealing with difficult Tyres....



## Pittsy (Jun 14, 2014)

Today I am going to do a part product review and part 'how to' guide on how to deal with difficult tyres in the dressing dept.

Now on my X Trail I have a set of Bridgestones which try as I might I was unable to get dressed properly for any more than a week, 2 at most.

Other makes of tyres have been fine and look good for ages but these Bridgestones just look rubbish and do not seem to accept tyre dressings very well and some tyre dressings I have used are long gone after just a couple of days.

So I was chatting to Ben from Slick Monkey Car care and he suggested a new method to try with one of the Slick Monkey range of products so I thought why not give it a go:thumb:

Here are the tyres in question and are looking a bit faded and grey but most importantly grubby.



So to provide a good base for any dressing to adhere to its vital to get the tyres as clean as possible so the tyres were sprayed liberally with an effective APC product that acts a degreaser too, Britemax Grimeout is perfect for this job and is one of the nest cleaners around.



The APC was then agitated using my new favorite Tyre brush, have a search for Atlasta Brushes, they are a really useful addition to the arsenal and make a great tyre brush amongst other things.



The wheels were then cleaned and the car was snow foamed before a 2 bucket wash and was then looking clean.





The tyres an wheels were then dried after the car was dried.



Now to assemble the kit required to dress the tyres...

*This might look like an odd list but this is what is needed:

Slick Monkey Tarzipan

A alloy wheel drying towel

A normal MF cloth

A sponge applicator

And a Hairdryer*



1st up any remaining water was removed from the tyre to make it bone dry, any water can interfere with the bonding process so its vital to make sure they are really dry.

Slick Monkey Tarzipan was then sprayed onto the sponge applicator and applied to the dry tyre walls.



Now here comes the bit where your postman and wife think you are mad...

Using the hairdryer at of course maximum heat and maximum flow the Tarzipan coating was dried onto the tyre wall, this takes less than 5 minutes per tyre.

And I Now have to buy Mrs P a new hairdryer too:lol:



The finished tyre with the dried dressing was looking pretty good but part of the process is to apply another layer...

The 2nd layer was applied in much the same way as the 1st using a sponge applicator, but this time not dried so the 2nd 'unbonded' layer acts as a sacrificial layer so in effect is the 1st one to wash/wear off protecting the bonded layer.



So thats it really, very easy to do so if you have a set of tyres which don't accept a dressing well give this combo a try and see how you get on.

But i hear you say its all very well and good you saying this and having me on my hands and knees with a hairdryer but does it really work???

I would like you to consider that in the past 2 weeks in any conditions which can be 500 miles for me was about the limit, any more than that and the tyre dressing was gone.

So I kept a diary of its progress and the pictures for this review were taken on week 5 where there was still some left on the tyre.



Week 1 was after the 1st week, 220 miles covered but no rain

Week 2 was 3 weeks after application, all sorts of weather here and a further 400 miles covered

Week 3 was wash week, there was another 250 miles covered in that week. The tyre was looking a bit grubby as you can see but was rinsed off using just the pressure washer, no scrubbing or chemicals apart from a bit of snow foam and the tyre suprisingly came back to life and was looking great again.

Week 4 was 5 weeks after application, another 300 miles covered and was still looking great with even though there was all sorts of weather that week.

Week 5 was when the pictures were taken for this review which was 6 weeks in and roughly 1370 miles in all sorts of weather and it was still present on the tyres.

*Conclusion:*

Now this might all seems like a bit of a faff just to dress your tyres but if you are looking for longevity then this might the Method and product to try.

Slick Monkey Tarzipan is also great on trims too so is a truely multi use tyre and trim dressing and what makes this performance even more so is that Tarzipan is not a dedicated Tyre product.

Have a look at the DW review here: http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=375407

*If you like me have struggled with a 'difficult' tyre that just will not accept a trim dressing and it just falls off within a week have a read, borrow the Mrs's hairdryer and crack on:thumb:*


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## fozzy (Oct 22, 2009)

Cheers for taking the time pittsy, I think everyone suffers from longevity on the tyre dressings, trying to make them last without looking like the cheap stuff they put on at the second hand car dealerships.


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## Brian1612 (Apr 5, 2015)

I really liked this tyre dressing. Excellent review simon and great to see the application method working for you!


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## Siggy12 (Jun 15, 2014)

Looks brilliant and a great review/how to....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Luke M (Jul 1, 2013)

Nice review. Have to say I'm glad I don't have this problem. Think robbing my wife's hairdryer may be the straw that broke the camel's back:lol:


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## WHIZZER (Oct 25, 2005)

Great review/guide


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## _Si_ (Jul 7, 2016)

Great review. I've tried the heat gun approach but not the "sacrificial" second layer, might give it a go at weekend (neighbours already think I'm mad)


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## bennyboi (Aug 26, 2014)

thanks for the feedback simon


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## stonejedi (Feb 2, 2008)

Good Advice mate:thumb:,l have been doing that technique for a while now works very well indeed.SJ.


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## euge07 (Jan 15, 2011)

do you guys not wash and dry your cars weekly and apply fresh tyre dressing?


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## Pittsy (Jun 14, 2014)

euge07 said:


> do you guys not wash and dry your cars weekly and apply fresh tyre dressing?


I wash mine every 2 weeks, so its generally 1 car a week so its nice to keep them tyres looking good and sometimes real life gets in the way and might have to miss a week. :thumb:


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## Big Bru (Apr 27, 2008)

Nice tip, I have one odd tyre that always looks rubbish that I will trying this on.


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