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Tire Dressing
One of my Aqua Hot customers is very pinkie about his tiffincoach and his tires looks good he uses a water base tire dressing called Pearl, I tried it on my tags to test it out . Mix is 1pt Pearl 2pt water more water less shine. Says great UV protection and long lasting.
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13 Replies
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Hi Art, Tire dressing has been discussed on the forum many times before and I was hoping some of the guys would chime in. Much of the tire dressing is known to be bad for the rubber. This product sounds like the exception and was curious what others thought?
Is this product available like Walmart etc?
Harry
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I saw it at Walmart but they would not sell it to me unless I gave them my social security number, so I just use soap and water.
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Good one David, I guess I deserve that…
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I’m glad you took it in the light-hearted spirit it was intended.
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Hi David, There are a few on the forum who were weaned on a pickle but mostly just a great group of people. And helpful to the max!
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Found it on Amazon
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I’m hoping Jon and Tom check in on this subject. They’ve had some pretty strong options on tire dressing in the past.
Alleged UV protection has piqued my interest. I wonder if the product has lasting UV protection … or if the UV protection is only while the tire is in the shadow of the person applying the product.
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I went to the manufacturer’s site looking for the chemical make up and I am not sure I am in a position to judge if it is harmful, beneficial, or anything else.
But I can say if I were to consider using it I would pass a link to the manufacturer’s description of the product and materials in it on to Michelin and ask their opinion as to its acceptability.
Keep in mind most dressings tend to dry out the compounds released as the tire is used, and it is those compounds in the sidewalls that help the tire resist cracking and aging. Michelin is clear on saying keep the tires clean with soap and water and they do not approve of any tire dressing.
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See Michelin website. They recommend nothing is to be used.
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On the other hand, I have had worse sidewall checking with aging Michelins than with any other tire we have used. I use nothing but wonder if that’s really the best course of action.
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That’s a broad statement Bill and your experience can be the result of a number of factors.
First, it is easy to bitch about tire sidewall cracking and pointing fingers at the tire manufacturer. But consider the wizards that write environmental standards created massive heartburn for the tire industry when forcing tire compositions to change so more environmentally friendly tire compounds were used.
Europe in particular suffered greatly because it impacted their consumers first. Now tire manufacturers are using better compounds that are more resistant to cracking. The years you had sidewall cracking issues could have been when Michelin (and all others) first had to switch to new materials that were not fully developed.
The other thing you fail to mention was the tire age. I suspect you will run your tires as long as possible. As much as I would like a tire to not crack until I have worn out the tread, the reality is we are using tires designed for a commercial application, not an RV application. Our tires are going to last for about 700,000 miles and as many as 4 recappings. And in commercial service that might all occur in 7 years. So the tire and its compounds designed for the application are intended for a 7 year life. And to get that life the tires need to be exercised daily so the anti-cracking compounds are released. It is our use of the tires that often shortens their life.
If more RVs used our size tires so the amount produced was large enough for a dedicated tire design we would not likely have tires that aged out.
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You make some “assumptions” which leave you exactly where and assumption should. I have owned this coach since 1999 and had a number or sets of tires on the coach. Michelin’s are the worst when it comes to sidewall cracking. Prevost had been trying to get me to put new tires on for years. This started when they were only about 5 years old and I am not changing out tires at 5 years! I don’t have that kind of money. Originally, I had Firestone’s and they lasted 80,000 miles and about 7 years without ANY issues! We then had BF Goodrich which were great followed by Michelin (with no issues) followed by Michelin which Prevost hated after 5 years. We now have non-Michelin tires and we are very happy. Excellent ride and handling and I likely will never return to Michelin.
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Michelin and BF Goodrich are both produced by Michelin in the same plant on the same production line.
My assumptions were related to possible impacts of EPA and other environmental standards that impacted all tire manufacturers and users until such time as technology in part solved the cracking issues.
You confirm my suspicion you want to run your tires for a long time and that is not a criticism but a statement that might be related to the problem. Michelin (and other recappers) typically will not recap a 7 year old casing.
None of us likes to throw away 5 year old ties with almost new tread, but we have ample evidence from these forums that as tires age, and even if they look free of cracks, the chance of a blowout ramps up quite a bit but we cannot say to what extent.
Why is Prevost involved in suggesting you replace your tires?
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