JasonO

Had to get an emergency set of tires today (the ones I had decided to give up the ghost today ) and when they rolled the car back out I had to laugh. Does anyone else think that whole "wet" look is kind of rediculous? It was only made worse by the fact that my car is absolutely filthy...

All in all the shark must be happy; just today it got an oil change, tranny service, four new tires, and a fresh alignment. Of course my beer budget is absolutely gone now also...

-Jason

Ron_H

It bothers me.

Try this stuff: http://www.carcareonline.com/detail....oduct_id=10171

3M Rubber and Tire Dressing. I use just a little on a terry towel and rub it in, then buff with a clean terry towel. Lasts a relatively long time and the rubber appears original. I never drench the rubber. I never use Armor All, which will dry the rubber or vinyl and leads to needing a re-application. I think its garbage. But if it rings your chimes, .....then ding-a-ling away.

SharkSkin

Bugs me too. I had my paint buffed out, and they put some kind of goop on the tires. It's almost gone now, and I'm going to try the leatherique cleaner on it. They say it's good for rubber. It's supposed to condition it without greasing it over. We'll see.

Dave H.

i think tire dressing is pretty lame. tires weren't made wet and shiney.

i've used No-Touch tire cleaner for years, works great, just nice clean black rubber...

mspiegle

i don't mind it, but only a light coating. Some people like putting alot on, and it'll just sling off and get your car/wheels dirty.

Ron_H

Over time, sunlight degrades rubber and the surface cracks as it looses its resiliency. Of course this isn't a problem if you like to lay patches all over the road and use up your tires faster. I prefer to keep the sidewalls resilient. Splitting hairs? Maybe. I have a set of Bridgestone tires on my 914/6 that I won at the 1990 Porsche Parade. They are getting a bit cracked, but otherwise hold air. Hey, they still work and the price was right. The 928 eats up tires a bit faster since I doubt my car has ever been effectively aligned and my right ankle has spasms as I go sliding around corners.

JasonO

Ron,

Yeah my 928 alignment recently killed my front tires, hence the need for new ones (you could actually see the cords! Good god almost had a blow out!).

The story of how my alignment got so bad is a little funnier... was driving down the freeway when a guy dropped his load of carpet rolls... no where to turn... hit it near head on... you can imagine the results. If you can't, it resulted in only 3 wheels of my car being able to touch the ground (I had a lot of carpet under my car...) Everything looked ok, so after the State Patrol and I freed the 928, I went on my merry way. Guess I didn't check well enough

Oh well, everything is all better now. And I have shiny tires...

-Jason

Jessa

I don't like the overly shiny wet look, but a light coating is nice. It makes the tires look a bit blacker, which makes my silver wheels stand out and look brighter by contrast.