Car wash tyre black

[Stiggolas]

Hi all. What do they use at those car wash placed to blacken the tyres? They always look great when done but it doesn't last long.
Cheers

[Time4another]

Tyre gel. I prefer the Meguiars stuff.

[Belle427]

They probably use a product from someone like Autosmart.
Lots of good alternatives about.
Garage Therapy do a good one called Tyre serum, best to give the tyres a good clean beforehand with sonething like Autoglanz rebound.

[normalbloke]

No idea, but I’m always amazed how much of it ends up on the road for about 100m each way of the ‘setup’.

[SteBrown91]

I like the autofinesse Revive - its a nice satin finish none of this shiney nonsense.

[mike9009]

For a better and in my experience longer lasting look, you need to give the sidewalls a really good scrub with plenty of water and a stiff brush. Washing or jet washing does not get rid of the ingrained dirt......

Then apply your product of choice. (I think I used an autoglym product last time).

[Defcon5]

Local 7 quid a go hand car wash? Probably vegetable oil

[Deep Thought]

Time4another said:

Tyre gel. I prefer the Meguiars stuff.

+1

[InitialDave]

I like the ArmorAll foam one. Gives a nice, clean satin finish, rather than looking really wet and shiny.

Not a fan of anything else the brand makes, but that one, specific product is really good.

[Chris_i8]

More than likely a bulk tyre dressing product, probably Autosmart Highstyle or High-fling as it's known in the Trade.

As with most things its all in the prep, the product itself is ok but hand car washes don't specifically scrub the tyres clean and definitely don't dry the tyre either so any product they apply stands little chance.

[trickywoo]

This is counterintuitive and also relatively baseless but I have a suspicion that a branded conditioner I’ve been using increased the cracking on the shoulders of my tyres.

I only used it as directed perhaps once a month but I’ve never had issues with cracking before and mine have gone really badly after just 5 years.

Anyone else?

[Chris_i8]

trickywoo said:

This is counterintuitive and also relatively baseless but I have a suspicion that a branded conditioner I ve been using increased the cracking on the shoulders of my tyres.

I only used it as directed perhaps once a month but I ve never had issues with cracking before and mine have gone really badly after just 5 years.

Anyone else?

Product/ingredient dependent I'd imagine. What product are you using.

Apart from during the winter I dress my tyres every wash (weekly) and haven't experienced a degradation in sidewall.