Walking down an auto supply aisle containing tire dressings is similar to walking down the cereal aisle in your local grocer. The selection appears endless with flashy pictures, catch phrases, and inevitably a celebrity endorsing a certain product. The difference between the two aisles being that your sense of taste will at least guide you in the cereal aisle. Your senses don’t help out very much in the tire dressing aisle, except for maybe your sense of sight, where most consumers will seek out the lowest price tag. What is not considered are the ingredients in the bottle and what will eventually be applied to the tires.
Generally there are two types of tire dressings, solvent based silicone dressings and water based dressings.
Solvent based silicone dressings are usually a clear and greasy liquid. Most contain Dimethalsiloxane (DMS) that contain petroleum solvents as a cleaning agent. Most will leave a very durable and long lasting shine to your tires. However, they remove the elasticity from the rubber resulting in a dry inflexible surface and premature rubber wear. They are also non-biodegradable and not environmentally friendly.
Water based dressings are usually a milky-white liquid that do not contain petroleum distillate solvents. They use a combination of natural oils and polymers that will coat and bond to the tire, leaving a non-greasy satin finish. They are biodegradable and environmentally friendly.
Most tire manufacturers have issued service bulletins advising against the use of solvent based dressings containing DMS, claiming the solvent will dissolve the protective waxes and compromise the sidewall of their tires. Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler have also issued advisory bulletins against using these products as it may stain the vehicles paint and wheel surfaces.
I also placed a call into Goodyear this morning to get their official stance on the matter. The representative said they officially recommend using soap and water, nothing else. The representative staunchly held that view, until I brought up the fact that every auto parts store in America carries multiple varieties of both, and we wanted to ensure our clients the proper product was being used on their Goodyear tires. After holding for several minutes, the representative advised from ever using a solvent based product on their tires, but that water based products are indeed safe to use.
