optimum tire coating

[Paul A.]

Interesting read through.

OPT Tire Coating is all I use going on 3-4 years now.

Super clean rubber (sometimes 4-5 good rubber cleaner and stiff brush), fully dry and blow and 1 layer dress. Most times I use a drill brush to clean.

[Setec Astronomy]

OPT Tire Coating is all I use going on 3-4 years now.

I use the Gelcoat Restorer, same result. I would say it's the same stuff, possible the tire stuff has something additional in it...but probably not. They came out the same time, were updated at the same time with the same wording as to what properties were updated.

I had bought a quart of the gelcoat restorer to try and arrest some clearcoat failure...and had a ton leftover, and said to myself, "self, this seems a lot like tire coating, let me try this on the back of some tires when I'm rotating" and it worked just like Tuff Shine or whatever, with the turning blue when you first put it on, etc.

[Setec Astronomy]

Try some steel wool.

Wouldn’t the steel wool damage the sidewall of the tire? Also will Carpro tar x work as well?

0000 steel wool won’t damage the sidewall. People have forever used SOS pads to clean whitewall tires and SOS pads are way more abrasive than 0000 steel wool.

Eldo, once I saw the comeback I knew how you would answer. I don't know who/where I learned that trick from, but when I was in high school a kid asked me "how do you get your whitewalls so clean?". Of course at least 50% of the people on this forum are asking "whitewalls??" Thinking back on it, that was kind of cool that I was a "Geek way back then, with the whitest whitewalls (car?). Of course now I'm a slacker.

[Eldorado2k]

Eldo, once I saw the comeback I knew how you would answer. I don't know who/where I learned that trick from, but when I was in high school a kid asked me "how do you get your whitewalls so clean?". Of course at least 50% of the people on this forum are asking "whitewalls??" Thinking back on it, that was kind of cool that I was a "Geek way back then, with the whitest whitewalls (car?). Of course now I'm a slacker.

My 1st car when I was 18yrs. old was a 82’ Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz with whitewalls and I would wash that car every Friday without fail. For me it was Bleche Wite Tire Cleaner w/stiff nylon brush followed up with Armor All Tire Foam.

The chrome wheels got Eagle 1 Chrome & Wire Cleaner. The guy who sold it to me sold it as a beater for $1,300 dollars. [it was his dads car parked in the backyard for 2yrs] But when he saw me driving on the streets 1 day he pulled up next to me and said “damn I can’t believe I sold you that car, how’d you get it so clean”?!

I wish I still had that car. Not to mention it’d be worth some good money today.

[Bill D]

I fondly remember Eagle 1 Chrome & Wire Cleaner. It virtually restored my wire wheel covers. First miracle detail product I used.

I also came close to having an Eldorado of similar vintage. Too bad the engine was no good on the one I was interested in.

[Eldorado2k]

I fondly remember Eagle 1 Chrome & Wire Cleaner. It virtually restored my wire wheel covers. First miracle detail product I used.

Yes! I used to love that product. I did some Cadillac hubcaps with it too. Toothbrushes & all. I ended up keeping those hubcaps for years and even had 1 of them in my living room as an ornament for a bit until all my stuff got regulated to the mancave. Lol.

[Setec Astronomy]

Eldo, you always get the yearly forum prize for most hours on the forum, posting at 5:29AM. Honestly I don't remember cleaning the rest of the tire, just the whitewalls with the SOS pad (no Brillo in my house, back then, anyway). Not too long after high school I got blackwalls...I must have been doing something with them though, because I remember having a discussion with a guy at work (who should be on this forum, are you out there, TC?) about it and even buying him a can of that DuPont Tire Black paint that no one remembers, so I may have been using that also.

Once I got cars with aluminum wheels, I used to use P21S and I would scrub the tire with what ran off the wheel; that worked pretty well, then I would spray them with tire foam (see below), before I came to my present forum-addled state where washing the wheel is a separate operation from washing the tire.

When I came to these forums almost 20 years ago (well, this one didn't exist then) I was using the Armor All Detailer's Choice tire foam, which I remember getting a lot of razzing (that's a whitewall-era word) about.

[Setec Astronomy]

Since you guys are in Eldorado mode, that '82 was the FWD chassis that they started making in '79 (shared with the Riv and Toro)? The Caddy had a specific engine? I'm trying to remember if there was a Buick engine in the Riv in '79; I know later they were using the Olds 307, I want to say in '79 it was a Buick 305 in the Riv, with the front distributor. I guess the Toro must have had the 307 from the get-go; that was just at the time when they were establishing the "powertrain division" or whatever so they didn't get sued for putting Olds engines in Cadillacs, unless these are the cars they got sued over. I still remember when they started adding that wording to the brochures, something like "GM vehicles use engines manufactured by GM powertrain division, blah blah"

[Setec Astronomy]

PS here's the tire black I was talking about:




PPS: Did we go far enough off topic yet? Apologies to the OP

[Eldorado2k]

Eldo, you always get the yearly forum prize for most hours on the forum, posting at 5:29AM. Honestly I don't remember cleaning the rest of the tire, just the whitewalls with the SOS pad (no Brillo in my house, back then, anyway). Not too long after high school I got blackwalls...

Dude, it’s funny you say that because I was going to mention the same exact thing but didn’t want to make my post too long… I also never used to wash my tires back then, only the whitewall. For years & years I never washed tires and didn’t even know it was an actual thing until way later when I 1st began lurking on this forum. Funny thing is my tires used to look great somehow. I guess that Armor All tire foam was better at cleaning than people gave it credit for because I sure as heck didn’t clean my tires and they did fine. Lol.

I remember that Detailers Advantage Foam. It was definitely worth the extra couple of bucks [or at least I believed it was] and I gladly paid the money over the regular foam.