Black Pearl - Review and Airbrush Application

[Nth Degree]

I am often late to the game when it comes to new products. The “flavor of the month” is too often the dust collector on the shelf the following month. When I first heard about Black Pearl Tire Shine I was skeptical to say the least. The claims sounded much like so many other similar products that disappoint.

I was sent a sample to test. I am a harsh critic and thorough in my reviews. To answer the question right up front; Black Pearl is the real deal.

Black Pearl is no more difficult to apply than any other tire dressing. Preparing the tire is the important part and care should be taken to do this step right or the durability can be compromised. This step has been covered extensively in other reviews so I will spare the long description.

Tire cleaned using the included Omni Clean:





I applied one coat to just one half the tire.








At 5 weeks the Black Pearl began to appear to have faded slightly. Matthew Kelly, of Black Pearl, had stated that the shine can be restored by a quick cleaning. So I sprayed a little Omni Clean on it, gave a quick scrub with a gentle brush and rinsed. Most long lasting tire dressings have a tendency to be greasy/oily and attract and hold dirt. There is definitely a different feeling that can be noticed just by how the brush passes over. On bare rubber the bristles grab and drag. On the coating they passed as though over plastic. I decided to test the dirt attraction. On the right was the bare, just cleaned rubber. On the left was the Black Pearl side. Had I scrubbed a little more that might have come out completely clean but this was a satisfactory indicator that Black Pearl does not attract dirt. (Video include to confirm equality.)






Wipe Test Video



Over two months in (9 weeks) this is how it is looking:








Looking the way it does at 2 months, 6 months is definitely a reasonable expectation.

One of the issues I anticipated with applying Black Pearl is getting into the tight groove adjacent to the wheel. I inquired about this to Matthew Kelly. He recommended using an old foam polishing pad cut into a wedge. Black Pearl can be easily wiped off painted surfaces with a damp towel when done promptly before it starts to dry.

The idea struck me to apply Black Pearl by airbrush. I again contact Matthew Kelly to inquire about this and how the product should be thinned, if necessary. He told me he was not aware of anyone applying by airbrush to tires but that no thinning should be necessary. I experimented a little and finally came up with the following:

The wheel was taped off and covered to prevent overspray. This is not entirely necessary. I have found it easier to simply use a flexible piece of plastic and holding it along the wheel lip. I simply did this to facilitate the demo.

On the left side I applied Black Pearl by airbrush. On the left I used the supplied roller. The lower was left with one coat while the top received a second coat using the respective methods.







Airbrush vs. Roller Application







In the sun:





One of the advantages of applying Black Pearl by airbrush is the ability to get a thicker layer in one shot rather than having to wait and apply a second coat via roller. As you will see as you scroll, the single coat applied by roller has the least amount of gloss. The single coat applied by airbrush is noticeably glossier. This could be adjusted with a little practice for lower gloss. The section with 2 coats by roller is slightly glossier than the one coat applied by airbrush, but they are darn close and would probably not be evident if not on the same tire. The highest gloss was the airbrushed 2 coats. I have included many photos to show this. The look in person is slightly different (more wet than shiny) than what appears on camera.








As you can see from the photos below, even though I had the tire up on a 2 X 4 I still did not get complete coverage at the bottom, which is why I included the above photos.


























This vehicle doesn’t see a lot of miles and the tires are about due to be replaced so I’m not sure this will be a good test for the durability but I’ll report back anything significant if I can.

[Nth Degree]

Continuing on; I happened to see some Meguiar’s Ultimate Black Tire Coating at a store and thought I’d give it a quick review and comparison.

I immediately knew I wasn’t going to like the Meguiar’s. This is how each product looked immediately after applying. Notice the oily look of the Meguiar’s on the right. Black Pearl has a black tint to it and looks like ink when wet but does shrink down as it dries so drips are rare.





After being left to dry for about an hour I took a white towel to each product. The Black Pearl produced almost nothing on the towel while the Meguiar’s clearly had an oily film that was lifted.








After a couple more hours of drying I took the following photo to show the difference in the sun.





After about a week I noticed the Meguiar’s was beginning to take on that familiar grayish/brownish color and had dust clearly imbedded.





So I decided to try the white towel test again, this time without any cleaning.



Black Pearl vs. Meguiar's Ultimate Tire Coating Wipe Test






After roughly 3 weeks the Meguiar’s is looking weak:





And about 4 weeks it is almost non-existent but Black Pearl looks as good as the day it was applied. So much for the one month durability claimed by Meguiar’s.









While I had the airbrush out to do the airbrush review above I thought I would try Black Pearl on the rubber window trim on the Dodge Caravan. When I first received my sample of Black Pearl I tried applying with a foam applicator to a small section on my own car. It didn’t level out well and I didn’t like the look or feel of it.

So I taped off the glass and surrounding paint and airbrushed the driver’s trim.







Window Trim Application



This was my first attempt at this so there is room for some fine tuning and experimentation.

I forgot to take some before photos prior to taping so I have included matching passenger side photos for comparison.











I had taped off a small section in the very corner by the mirror for contrast.








I did get one drip just above the tape line. I also was a little surprised that the strip at the bottom of the window turned out a little splotchy while the rest looked outstanding. I don’t think there was any difference in coverage and the rubber feels to be the same texture and hardness. I suspect a second coat on that strip would resolve the problem. As I said, this was an experiment.






Thanks for reading. I hope this helps those on the fence about Black Pearl.



Chris Chandler

Nth Degree Auto Detailing

[davey g-force]

Great review

It sure looks like a good durable product for tires!

[The Guz]

Nice review. I was a little disappointed in the Meguiar's as well. It does look like you over applied it. I didn't get that oily residue after I applied it.

The look of black pearl airbrushed looks really good. Try putting this up against the turtle wax trim coating.

[spewking]

Nice review. Had not heard of this product. Looks expensive.

Have you done a durability test comparison to tuf shine? That would be interesting.

[sproketser]

Unreal ! Thanx for sharing .

[Nth Degree]

This is the test tire after about 4 months. The test had to end here because the tires needed to be replaced. I almost forgot to get final photos so I snapped this one in the lot of the tire shop in poor, evening light. Using the valve stem and weight as a point of reference you can see the orientation is just a little counter-clockwise from the original, labeled photos.

You can clearly see the coating is still very much intact. The tire had been run a little low for a while by my wife so there was some abrasion. The tire hadn't been cleaned in two months. At about the 2 month mark the coating was looking a little dull so I did a quick cleaning and the gloss was revived so I would assume the same would have happened if I had cleaned it at this point. I saw no browning/blooming, which was my greatest concern before trying it.

I am absolutely impressed by this product and highly recommend it. It doesn't give the greasy, shiny look that some people like but it does provide a low sheen, freshly dressed look for months.






*I will mention one minor issue I discovered on the window trim. While the surrounding trim still looks great the guide piece at the bottom of the window came out splotchy. Since the prep and application was identical, as demonstrated in the video, it was a result of the material itself. When I inquired about this to Matthew Kelly he confirmed with the chemist that there are specific plasticizers in some rubber trim that are present to prevent cracking and they interfere with the bonding. This in no way will affect tire application. I only include it as a suggestion to test a small area for compatibility before applying to large sections of trim/moulding.

[davey g-force]

Thanks for taking the time to provide a follow up

[allenk4]

How does the cost per month stack up against the other long lasting tire coatings?

[Bullitt 3309]

What did you use to clean the Black Pearl from the Airbrush?