GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I find that after a short while those tire shine products leave a hard to remove residue on the tires. You scrub & scub but to no avail! You don't want to use any harsh chems, these can shorten the life and weaken the side walls of your tires. I found that a pressure washer with very hot water takes it right off and leaves your tires looking like new. All ready to shine up again!

Would this residue happen to be reddish in color by any chance?

I haven't had any reddish stuff on my tires, but then again I've just got the steelies and don't polish my tires. However, on other cars, I have gotten reddish stuff on the wheels from brake pad dust.

My tires look nice for like 24 hours and then they end up looking like I've driven through a pile of rust. It's very strange.

Are you using Armor-All(the old plain stuff) on your tires. Its the worst! The red is not from the OE pads. They have ceramic pads from the factory and are very low dusting! I have the 16' alum. and Goodyears. Are yours the Continentals, could be a difference between how the two react to tire dressing?

Yes, I am. Geesh. I always thought their products were good but I guess the tire foam is a bad egg, eh? If I use something else will the reddishness come off?

Try Meguiars or Mothers or even 3M, all great products. Pricy but long lasting!

How about Eagle One Wet?

Yup good stuff!

You need to get the reddish coating off first. As stated above, try a wand type car wash and give it a little help with a brush to loosen the caked on stuff.I recomend Stoners More Shine, Less Time tire dressing. It looks good, last pretty well and doesn't sling off (if allowed to dry before driving) or build up like a lot of others.

Kari--the reddish brown color is because the tire isn't completely clean before you are applying the products. You need to use a degreaser to clean the tires first, rinse and let them dry, and then apply your tire shine product. The degreaser will also remove the build up of old tire shine that was causing the problems for others here. I like to use a product called Purple Power, but Simple Green, 409, etc will work fine. As for degrading your tires with these products, you are not soaking them for a year in the stuff and besides, I have never had a set of tires last more than 2 years anyway. These products will not instantly degrade your tires, and I have been doing this for several years and had no problems. The only problem with using degreaser products on the tires is that they can discolor polished aluminum and chrome wheels. If you have the painted steel or aluminum wheels that came from the factory, you are fine.