Tire Dressings Harming Tires?

[winboys]

I have some Michelin A/T2 tires. They have roughly 45,000 miles with a 60,000 mile warranty. All tires have a lot of small cracking everywhere around the sidewalls. Discount Tire tells me it is from the tire dressing. Michelin told me the same and says they do not recommend any dressing. I always keep the tires/truck clean. The truck is in the garage 70% of the time and is really just a weekend driver anymore. All I have ever used on them is the Optimum tire dressing and most recently the 303 dressing (but cracks started way before the 303). That I recall, I have never noticed cracking like this on any other tires I have owned. What do you guys think?

[AZpolisher15]

Ive gotten the small cracks in every set of Michelin's I've had. Seems to show up around the 4 year mark. Imo there's no connection to dressings. My brothers Miches got the cracks at 4 years too. And he never dressed his tires. My current set is holding up better than all previous sets and I always have them dressed with Duragloss 253. Currently 45k miles and almost to 4 years. I should look at the back side and see how they look.

[oneheadlite]

How old are the tires? That can have a lot more effect in my experience than mileage.

[MattPersman]

How old are the tires? That can have a lot more effect in my experience than mileage.

Agreed ive seen many many michelins with cracking that are just several years old dressing or not. It’s a pretty normal problem. Either ride it out or replace with something you see reviewed to your liking and budget.


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[FUNX650]

I have some Michelin A/T2 tires.
They have roughly 45,000 miles
with a 60,000 mile warranty.

All tires have a lot of small cracking
everywhere around the sidewalls. Discount
Tire tells me it is from the tire dressing.

Michelin told me the same and says they
do not recommend any dressing.

What do you guys think?

Two thoughts of mine:
1.) I favor the “don’t use petroleum-based
tire dressings/cleaners” way of thinking.

2.) C’mon Michelin...make up your mind!!

_____________________________________

Tire Care and Maintenance

Can I use tire cleaners?
”Avoid the use of petroleum based tire
cleaning products as they can exhaust
the tire's oxidation and weathering
agents within the rubber compounds,
resulting in cracking.

Use only non-petroleum based products
or plain soap and water for tire cleaning.”

Source:
FAQs | Tire Problems | Michelin US

___________________________________________







Source:
MICHELIN(R) Premium Shine Tire Coating | GPMI Company

_______________________________________________


Bob

[SWETM]

The warranty is it 60k miles or till it reached a certain time? Otherwise they would honour the warrenty. But on the otherhand as Bob wrote about the tire dressing and they have their own. It's a perfect way for them to avoid the warrenty. And when you think about it what environment tires are in when driving. The spill from petroleum and oils and coolants. And the tires would not stand up to that in reasonable time. The tire dressing that are petroleum based use that as carrier solvent to the tire dressing. And would evaporate so quick that the use of it would not be a problem I think. The driving on roads would be more harsh than some tire dressing.

[Desertnate]

How old are the tires? That can have a lot more effect in my experience than mileage.

This is the big question. If the truck is only driven on the weekends and special occasions, it will take a very long time to cover 45K miles, let alone 60K. My guess is time has taken its toll on the rubber, not environment or dressings.

[Mike Phillips]

I've seen this question come up a lot in the last 16 years in the forum world so I checked with the head chemist at Meguiar's about this topic and he assured me that they take safety into consideration when creating any formula and especially tires.

I think as long as you use products from a reputable brand, you can trust they have professionals for chemists and the products are safe for their intended use.

Also, somewhere on this forum I have an article about "petroleum distillates" where I explain this is a general term and does not take into consideration all the variations of "distillates" of "petroleum".

[Mike Phillips]

Petroleum Distillates or Solvents


Just because a product states that it contains petroleum distillates, or PD's doesn't automatically mean the product is bad or will harm anything. It depends upon the quality of of the petroleum distillates used. Just answered a PM about this and thought I would post the below picture I took years ago to make a point...

Here's an example of how safe petroleum distillates can be...

Chap-Stick, a product you apply to your lips contains 44 percent Petrolatums as well as Isopropyl Myristate and Cetyl Alcohol. All of these ingredients can sound bad for your skin but look how long Chap-Stick has been around, how safe it is for your skin and what a great product it is?








Stick with brands you trust and trust that the chemist behind the product formula is a qualified chemist and has done their homework to create a product that work and is safe for the intended application.

[Boudin]

I've had 3 sets of Michilen At2s, they've all had the cracking around the wheel bead regardless of cleaner/dressing.

Look on the backside of the tire, which is almost never clean or dressed and compare, if it's cracked as well they can't blame product usage.

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