Everyone likes the look of fresh, shiny tires. However, no one likes damaging their tires. While tire shine makes your tires look great, there is a lot of misinformation on what it may actually do to your tires.
Before you apply tire shine to your car, it only makes sense to completely research the effects of tire shine before taking the plunge and using it. Keep reading below for everything you need to know.
Is Tire Shine Bad for Tires?
If you use it properly, tire shine shouldn’t damage your tires. Actually, it protects against UV radiation, which may prevent cracking and similar issues. However, it is important to wash it off completely before reapplying. Furthermore, no type of tire shine should be bad for tires, whether it is water-based or oil-based.
But what about the other parts of your car? Keep reading below to learn more about tire shine’s effects on your vehicle.
What Is a Good Substitute for Tire Shine?
In many cases, many household items can be used as tire shine. For instance, oils of all sorts often make an effective shinning product, including castor oil, olive oil, and baby oil. In fact, you can even use brake fluid!
However, some of these oils work better than others. For instance, it is often claimed that caster and lemon oil are better for your tire’s rubber, as it doesn’t dry it out.
With that said, we don’t actually have any evidence to back this up. Plus, when used correctly, tire shire itself doesn’t dry your tires out.
Of course, these at-home tire shines are environmentally friendly, which makes them a good choice for those who are environmentally conscious. In most cases, they won’t hurt the environment as they come off.
As you could probably guess, these tire shine substitutes are also cheaper than tire shine.
After all, olive oil and castor oil are extremely inexpensive in the amounts needed to shine your tires.
Furthermore, these tire shine alternatives are extremely safe. Compared to most tire shires, these chemicals won’t cause the same amount of skin or respiratory irritation.
If you have asthma or similar health concerns, you may want to use an alternative to avoid potential problems.
With that said, there are some downsides to these products as well. Firstly, oils often attract a lot of dirt, which can make your tire dirtier than it would be otherwise.
Secondly, you have to be sure to dab off any extra product. Otherwise, it can sling onto other parts of your car, where it might not be so friendly. For instance, brake fluid can do serious damage to paint!
Thirdly, these natural oils do not provide UV protection for your tires, which is part of the point of tire shine. Therefore, they aren’t quite as helpful as other options on the market.
Is Tire Shine Bad for Rims?
Not all tire shine is bad for rims. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that all commercially available tire shines are good for rims, either.
Generally speaking, you shouldn’t spray tire shine directly on your rims. Even if it doesn’t necessarily harm them, it is always better to play it safe. Furthermore, you should wipe off your rims after application.
The process of cleaning your rims with every application is actually very good for them, as it removes built-up dust and debris. However, the rim itself won’t benefit from the tire shine.
After all, a professionally finished rim shouldn’t need any extra UV protection.
With that said, if you do get some tire shine on your rims, you shouldn’t be terribly worried. Typically, it shouldn’t hurt professionally finished rims.
Is Tire Shine Bad for Brakes?
In some way, tire shine does affect the brakes. However, it won’t exactly affect them directly. For instance, tire shine won’t cause corrosion or stains on your brakes or calipers.
With that said, if you spray the solution directly at the rotor, the liquid will stick to them.
Basically, tire shine isn’t a lot like water. Instead, it’s closer to a creamy substance, which will stick to just about anything it touches.
At this point, it can directly affect the brakes and your car’s performance. After you’ve been driving for a while, dirt and debris will stick to the tire shine, and therefore your brakes. Over time, this debris can wear down your brake system significantly.
For instance, if you get a small pebble stuck on your rotor, you’ll probably need a new one sooner rather than later.
After all, the pebble will eventually wear a significant hole in your rotor, which will make it basically useless.
Plus, rotors aren’t exactly inexpensive! Generally, you can expect to pay around $400 for your brake rotor to be replaced.
In many cases, it isn’t really a matter of if this will happen, but when. If you drive a car and have a sticky rotor, debris and dirt will find their way up there eventually!
Is Tire Shine Bad for Paint?
In most cases, tire shine cannot damage paint. As an oil-based material, tire shine isn’t acidic or anything like that. Therefore, it really can’t damage paint.
However, it can make your car get dirtier, faster. Because it is sticky, if it gets on your car’s paint, it is possible that more dirt and debris will get stuck to the paint as well. Of course, this isn’t always a bad thing.
If it is just a small amount, then it likely won’t matter very much. However, I don’t recommend spraying your whole car with tire shine. Not only would that be quite expensive, but it will also make your car get dirty much faster.
Inevitably, this will lead to more cleaning as your car gets dirty, which will then lead to applying more coats of tire shine.
Eventually, you’ll be stuck in an endless loop of continually washing and re-apply an expensive tire shine to your whole car!
To know more about tires, you can also read our related posts on why do tires dry rot, why do dogs pee on tires, and which tires wear faster.
Conclusion
Tire shine is completely safe for your tires as lon as you use it correctly. In fact, it provides some UV protection that can protect your tires from sun damage.
Furthermore, it is also decently safe for every other part of your car. However, it can cause parts of your car to get dirtier faster, since tire shine is a bit sticky. For this reason, they can cause problems for your brakes indirectly.