# Tyre Dressing - does it crack tyres



## chefy (May 9, 2011)

Anyone heard this before ? can tyre gel / dressing crack tyres ? perhaps after years of use ?
Its just a friend came to see me at the w/e to see if I could buff a small scratch of the drivers door on his absolutely immaculate 57 reg Civic, (which I couldn't as it was a bit too deep) anyhow, he had just spent the morning cleaning his car, tyres all nice n shiny, but he pointed out that a couple of his tyres were showing ever so slight signs of cracking, and that someone - at a tyre garage told him that tyre dressing does this ! ? 
Any truth ??


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## DJBAILEY (May 7, 2011)

The solvent heavy based silicone ones can. Stick to water based dressings if you are worried about it. Continuously cleaning them with APC probably does more damage.


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## Norman (Sep 5, 2006)

I think this is a general problem caused simply by the age of the tyres, and nothing to do with dressing. Certainly the owner of the garage I use for servicing indicated that this was an increasing problem, and I do not think that it is because more people are in to detailing


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## Geordieexile (May 21, 2013)

Norman said:


> I think this is a general problem caused simply by the age of the tyres, and nothing to do with dressing. Certainly the owner of the garage I use for servicing indicated that this was an increasing problem, and I do not think that it is because more people are in to detailing


Age is a massive factor in this, especially as 'new' tyres could have been sat on a shelf for years before use and the plasticiser can be ejected from between the rubber molecules. I have changed tyres based on age rather than wear simply because of this factor.


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## year (Feb 8, 2013)

First off, they're assuming that ALL tire shine products contain some sort of petroleum distillate. Not true. But petroleum distillates and silicones are the two most misunderstood and maligned ingredients in the world. Neither is going to hurt your tires, dash, vinyl & rubber trim, etc provided you select a product from a well known manufacturer. Meguiar's, Mother's, Eagle One, Pinnacle, and even Armor All (plus many more) all make products with low shine, high shine or medium shine finishes. Some are water based, some are solvent based, but neither will harm anything. No such thing as a "silicone based" dressing, either, although most water based dressing contain silicone.

Good Silicone / Not so good Silicone:
a) Water - based silicone dressings, usually a milky-white liquid, (Polydimethylsiloxane (PDS)that doesn’t contain petroleum distillate; silicone oils, waxes, or solvents that can harm rubber and/or vinyl over time. Water-based dressings use a combination of natural oils and polymers to offer a non-greasy, satin finish. Some of these products also contain ultra violet radiation (UVR) blocking agents to help keep tires from cracking, fading and hardening. Most, if not all water-based dressings are environmentally friendly / biodegradable, whereas solvent-based silicone is not.

b) Solvent-based silicone dressings, usually a clear greasy liquid, (Dimethal (DMS) that contain petroleum solvents as a cleaning agent, they remove the elasticity from vinyl, rubber and paint; causing them to evaporate out of the substrate, leaving behind a dry inflexible surface. Most high gloss products are based upon DMS silicone oil, the difference between water and solvent based is in the carrier system used. Solvent based products use a hydrocarbon silicone to suspend the product. When you apply it, the solvent evaporates leaving the dressing's active ingredients (Silicone oil) behind; solvent-based silicone is not biodegradable.

About 15 years ago, most tire dressing used HEXANE (or Heptane) as their solvents. In other words: HEXANE + SILICONE = Quick drying shinny tire dressing. Each manufacturer used different amounts of hexane and silicone and maybe some emulsifiers and colors etc. to create their own tire dressing formula, but these were the 2 most important ingredients at the time..

So we can produce' good acting silicones and bad acting silicones, unfortunately there doesnt seem to be a label warning which ones they are. I tend to stay away from any cheap, as usually an indicator of low grade silicones.


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## chefy (May 9, 2011)

Wow ! Year - where did you get that ? very interesting, thanks for that.
Do you work in tyres ?


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## year (Feb 8, 2013)

I've spent awful lot of time reading up on different opinions on the supposed harmful effects of tire plastic protectant and or dressing containing petroleum distillate. There is so much disagreement and confusion about this subject - same as silicon based dressing on tire and plastic. This confusion is further fueled by salesmen who talk down on competion referencing non-existing or at best, inconclusive study on this subject.


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## StamGreek (Oct 11, 2012)

I have Goodyear Tires in my civic.I put them before 3 years.My car is in a garage.I continuously clean tires and put tire dressing on them.If you ll see my tires you ll think they are brand new...NO cracks at all


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