Tire coating or not?

[RippyD]

I have 3 sets of tires that are relatively new (~2-4K miles) and have not had any products applied. I'm considering coating them before Winter. The dressings I have look good but don't have great longevity. My concern with a coating is the look - I prefer flat black tires to shiny.

Any thoughts on a coating that has a flat black look and doesn't add any shine? If not I'll just stick with using dressings every 2-3 months.

[BudgetPlan1]

TuffShine works well. Adds just a bit of shine but mostly just looks clean if you limit the amount of coats. Stuff lasts for months; here in NE Ohio, usually give the tires a coat or two (after cleaning) in Spring and that'll hold well into winter when, well...who cares. Clean, re-apply next Spring.

[Coleroad]

I've been using tire coatings for four years now. You couldn't pay me to go back to dressings. I've found with coatings there's a direct correlation between shine and number of coats.

[The Guz]

The only thing I have to add is to make sure to clean them well with a tire cleaner such as Tuf Shine tire cleaner. If they are not clean the coating will not bond well and will look brown.

McKee's 37 updated their formula a few months ago to add a bit more gloss compared to the original formula. It is not overly glossy. It looks like a freshly dressed tire.

Tuf Shine tire coating is like the previous formula of McKee's. It is more satin in appearance. Even with three coats it looks more satin compared to McKee's.

The tire compound will also play into the overall look of the tire. I don't use tire dressings on my personal cars anymore. I made the switch over to a tire coating long ago. Take a little more prep but worth it compared to the longevity I get. Give it a go.

[RippyD]

Thanks guys. Prep is not a problem. No browning on any of them and scrubbing several times won't be an issue. Will try a coating on one set of tires and see how it goes.

[Ebg18t]

The McKee’s 37 Tire coating is great. It has a satin/matte finish with 2-2 coats. Anymore and it will develop a shine. I’ve been quite happy with it.

[gspam1]

The only thing I have to add is to make sure to clean them well with a tire cleaner such as Tuf Shine tire cleaner. If they are not clean the coating will not bond well and will look brown.

McKee's 37 updated their formula a few months ago to add a bit more gloss compared to the original formula. It is not overly glossy. It looks like a freshly dressed tire.

Tuf Shine tire coating is like the previous formula of McKee's. It is more satin in appearance. Even with three coats it looks more satin compared to McKee's.

The tire compound will also play into the overall look of the tire. I don't use tire dressings on my personal cars anymore. I made the switch over to a tire coating long ago. Take a little more prep but worth it compared to the longevity I get. Give it a go.

Guz, do you touch up the coating on a particular schedule? I had good success using Tuf Shine but felt like I needed another to add another layer every 5 weeks or so. Not redo the whole process, but wipe another coat on after washing the tire with car soap.

[Finick]

Guz, do you touch up the coating on a particular schedule? I had good success using Tuf Shine but felt like I needed another to add another layer every 5 weeks or so. Not redo the whole process, but wipe another coat on after washing the tire with car soap.

https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/product-reviews/51896-tuff-shine-review.html

Good review of the tuff shine coating here. Some pictures are lost, but on page 3 swanicyouth mentions eventually settling in to topping it off every month, so I’d imagine 5 weeks is in line with that.

After finding that thread I may actually give either tuff shine or McKee’s a try. Was on the fence for awhile but he lives in a similar climate to mine, and I hate the losing battle I fight with dressings...


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[The Guz]

Guz, do you touch up the coating on a particular schedule? I had good success using Tuf Shine but felt like I needed another to add another layer every 5 weeks or so. Not redo the whole process, but wipe another coat on after washing the tire with car soap.

No set schedule. I just do it on whim. McKee's needs less touch ups between applications. That is one thing I noticed about Tuf Shine as well. It seems to fade rather quickly. Roughly about 8 weeks in or so. McKee's I have for probably close to 6 months and it looks like it needs a refresher. I also don't strip the entire tire coating off the and start over. A thorough cleaning with some N914 and onto to the next coat. Seems to work well.

[RippyD]

Tuf Shine coating and cleaner arrived. I got two tires coated so far. The tires I coated have 4K miles, have never had dressing and have been cleaned with a brush dozens of times. I figured no issue with the cleaner. Wrong.

As soon as I hit them with Tuf Shine cleaner brown stuff was running down them. Scrubbed them. Spray again. Repeat a few times. 4-5 times before I had relatively white looking cleaner foam. It was never completely white on the brush, but after 5 times I called it good. I also scrubbed with water to get any soap off the tire. Coating is a couple of days old. Looks fine. A little shinier than I like.

Reading above... if I have to re-coat ever 4-6 weeks I may as well stick with a dressing. I'll see how it goes and maybe try McKee's if this doesn't have better durability than that.

FYI, I also tried cleaning with APC. Tried at 1:1 and straight with 3 of them. They all get the brown out but not as well as Tuf Shine cleaner.

[gspam1]

Tuf Shine coating and cleaner arrived. I got two tires coated so far. The tires I coated have 4K miles, have never had dressing and have been cleaned with a brush dozens of times. I figured no issue with the cleaner. Wrong.

As soon as I hit them with Tuf Shine cleaner brown stuff was running down them. Scrubbed them. Spray again. Repeat a few times. 4-5 times before I had relatively white looking cleaner foam. It was never completely white on the brush, but after 5 times I called it good. I also scrubbed with water to get any soap off the tire. Coating is a couple of days old. Looks fine. A little shinier than I like.

Reading above... if I have to re-coat ever 4-6 weeks I may as well stick with a dressing. I'll see how it goes and maybe try McKee's if this doesn't have better durability than that.

FYI, I also tried cleaning with APC. Tried at 1:1 and straight with 3 of them. They all get the brown out but not as well as Tuf Shine cleaner.

Took me 15 cleaning cycles to get completely white foam.

[RippyD]

Wow... I'll keep going on the other two tires and see how long it takes. I'll need to get a gallon of tire cleaner.

[RippyD]

Just did one tire with APC at 1:1. Took about 7 cleanings before it was white. Then followed up with Tuf Shine cleaner. Still white. It seems APC is adequate. Tuf Shine cleaner may work a little faster.

Edit: just did one of my Nokian winter tires. Perfectly white on the 2nd cleaning with APC. Did a 3rd with Tuf Shine cleaner to be sure. Still white. As others have mentioned the browning coming out seems to vary by brand. Not overly thrilled the summers tires I have on now in this regard (Hankooks).

[RippyD]

So far going it's going well. No idea on longevity yet, of course.

Finished my winter tires and did the Pirelli's on the wife's Boxster, so 12 tires coated so far. The Pirelli's took 4 cleanings with Tuf Shine cleaner, 5-6 with OPC at 1:1. I'm using Mike's recommendation and applying with a brush. This is working better than a sponge for me.

Eager to see how it holds up when the rain starts in a few weeks.

[RippyD]

Been a couple of weeks on the Rover tires. Still looking good despite not cleaning them. This is what they look like after driving in rain.

https://i.imgur.com/9hzsvQql.jpg

A little more shine than I like, but not too bad. With the heavy texturing on these tires there's no way to apply the coating thinly. Even with a paint brush it settles into the nooks and crevices. Just very little smooth area on these tires.

https://i.imgur.com/9FcSPdTl.jpg

One side effect: it's now far more apparent how crappy everybody else's tires look. A few look ok. Some look bad. Most look terrible.