Quick Detailing Tip: Cleaning and dressing your tires properly

[Detailers Domain]

Cleaning and dressing your tires.



Over the years I have gotten asked how do I dress tires. This tire dressing is horrible. Why can't I get a good application or why are they brown after I dress them.

I have found after cleaning the wheels and tires, we are usually left with tires that are still dirty, tires that can use a bit more cleaning from weeks maybe even months of baked on cake dust.

We tend not to neglect or wheels but are we giving our tires a real cleaning?

Take a look at a our quick tip below.



1. Here we have a brand new BMW M3 with less than 200 miles on it. The wheels and tires don't look bad after they were cleaned with Sonax Full Effect Wheel Cleaner and Adam's All Purpose Cleaner. However going the extra step will revel it to be an essential step to clean tires.




2. Use a microfiber towel you can sacrifice, as you will not want to keep it after all 4 tires are cleaned up. Spray some Stoner's Tarminator on the towel and with some firm pressure scrub or wipe the tire. Spray more Tarminator as needed while flipping the towel to a cleaner side as it gets caked up.



3. After the tire is cleaned up, you will see that the tires are of a nice matte finish, if you like the look of a factory fresh tire you have now achieved the finish you desire. Many of our customers who track their cars love this look.




4. If you want to add a nice pop to the tire use your favorite tire dressing. Here we use the Adam's Hex Grip Pro Tire Applicator and Adam's Super VRT to add that nice finish to a freshly detailed M3.



Here we have our final results. A nice clean dressed up tire, free of any browning and brake dust. The results not only look great but a properly cleaned and dressed tire will prevent from tire dressing sling as well.

[trustbran]

Sweet Tip, Tarminator it is! Thanks for sharing.

-Brandon

[fastmike]

Thanks for the tips! Couple questions:

Last time I tried a MF towel on a tire, I had a hard time getting it clean again, any tips?

How is the VRT compare to a dedicated tire dressing in terms of a durability? Using Gtechniq T1 and Optimun OptiBond right now for tires

[Lone Star M3]

Originally Posted by fastmike

Thanks for the tips! Couple questions:

Last time I tried a MF towel on a tire, I had a hard time getting it clean again, any tips?

How is the VRT compare to a dedicated tire dressing in terms of a durability? Using Gtechniq T1 and Optimun OptiBond right now for tires

2. Use a microfiber towel you can sacrifice, as you will not want to keep it after all 4 tires are cleaned up. Spray some Stoner's Tarminator on the towel and with some firm pressure scrub or wipe the tire. Spray more Tarminator as needed while flipping the towel to a cleaner side as it gets caked up.

[Detailers Domain]

Originally Posted by fastmike

Thanks for the tips! Couple questions:

Last time I tried a MF towel on a tire, I had a hard time getting it clean again, any tips?

How is the VRT compare to a dedicated tire dressing in terms of a durability? Using Gtechniq T1 and Optimun OptiBond right now for tires

what did you have a hard time cleaning the mf towel or the tire? if it's the mf towel plan on throwing it out it would be pointless to keep them. in the shop after about 5-10 uses we will downgrade the use of a towel, from compound to polish to door jambs to touch up wheels to tires to the trash.

VRT is a great but it probably won't last as long.

We have had some good success with Nanolex Tire and Rubber Restorer

[Lone Star M3]

I used Tarminator on some new PSSs' that i could not get all of the grayish colored releasing agent off and it worked great. I actually like how they look without any dressing on them. I finished them off with Opti-Bond tire gel and they look awesome. Thank You very much for the tip!

[Detailers Domain]

that's great! thanks for the feedback.

[hayes180]

good tips and pics thanks

[RAL9]

Amazing cleaner! Tarminator is great; Thanks!

[Route 16]

Originally Posted by RAL9

Amazing cleaner! Terminator is great; Thanks!

got any extra? im local

[RAL9]

Sure; they also sell it at o'reillys

[Hujan]

Is anyone finding that there is still a lot of gunk and dirt on the tire after many, many passes with Tarminator and a MF towel? Any I doing something wrong or what? If I wanted, I could use half a can of Tarminator and a whole MF towel on one tire and it would still show dirt and grime if I wiped it with a towel.

[Detailers Domain]

Originally Posted by Hujan

Is anyone finding that there is still a lot of gunk and dirt on the tire after many, many passes with Tarminator and a MF towel? Any I doing something wrong or what? If I wanted, I could use half a can of Tarminator and a whole MF towel on one tire and it would still show dirt and grime if I wiped it with a towel.

are you tracking your car, that's strange it should stop pulling dirt and grime off the tires when clean.

[rjd598]

Originally Posted by Hujan

Is anyone finding that there is still a lot of gunk and dirt on the tire after many, many passes with Tarminator and a MF towel? Any I doing something wrong or what? If I wanted, I could use half a can of Tarminator and a whole MF towel on one tire and it would still show dirt and grime if I wiped it with a towel.

you need a different form of cleaning. use a very strong apc or tuff tire cleaner. tires are a very strange thing. some times people will need multiple passes with a good cleaner to get a tire truly clean and then some times very little effort is required. it might take a lot of work, but in the end it will only benefit you if you properly prep the tires because then you will get better results from your choice of tire shine.

[webninja]

Originally Posted by Hujan

Is anyone finding that there is still a lot of gunk and dirt on the tire after many, many passes with Tarminator and a MF towel? Any I doing something wrong or what? If I wanted, I could use half a can of Tarminator and a whole MF towel on one tire and it would still show dirt and grime if I wiped it with a towel.

Same here, read this post, ordered the Tarminator, used a whole can on 4 tires, still not clean. I did foam them before too with some car wash soap and scrubbed with a brush, but they never got clean to not leave my towel black.

My tires are PSS and have about 3k miles on them.

[Detailers Domain]

how often do you guys clean up your wheels and tires? also how much pressure are you using I run Michelins on my M's with no issues. just curious.

[RoundelObsession]

I have used this method three times with great results. I put quite a bit of elbow grease on it.

[webninja]

I try to clean twice per month, only put about 500 miles per month on the car. I'll press harder next time!

[RAL9]

Usually once a month; my PSSs clean up quickly and with simple pressure.

[webninja]

I got some Adams all purpose and used that to clean the tires, then the Tarminator, only needed a little and they came out great.