21 May TIRE SHINE – GOOD or BAD
Clean rubber always completes the look of a set of wheels. Everyone has their own preference as to what looks best from there. Some, prefer to have their tires look pitch black and glossy (we often will describe that as looking “wet”) or black and dry looking, with no shine to it. The difference in achieving this look is often simple, either spray the tire dressing onto the rubber and walk away, or spray the dressing onto an applicator and wipe it in. Different dressings will yield different degrees of shine, or lack of shine.
But once that dressing has worn off the tire, sometimes they don’t look so clean. Faded maybe, or even brown! This is an awful sight for someone who is inclined to having black rubber. What caused the rubber to turn brown? How do I fix it, and how do I stop it from happening again? The simple answer is ‘No’, it’s nothing that you’ve done that has turned the tires brown. It is simply the age of the tires that causes an additive in the rubber called antioxonant to come to the surface and turn brown.
This process is referred to as blooming. Rubber is not naturally black, so antioxonant is a dye that is added to make them black. As your tires roll through the kilometres, the heat, the torsion, the elements will all begin to expose the antioxonant to the air (ozone in specific) and turn brown. To remove the affect, a strong all-°©‐purpose cleaner such as Purple Power* 1:1 is sprayed on the rubber. Sometimes you are able to simply pressure wash the tire to remove the brown, but for more stubborn stains you may need to scrub first. How can you prevent blooming from happening when it occurs naturally with age?
Unfortunately there is no permanent or long term fix, however by occasionally removing the blooming you will be able to keep the presence of it minimal. Once the tire is clean, a professional tire shine such as Recover* will make the tire look black again, even if there is a little bit of brown on the rubber. Brown tires drive us all crazy, but it doesn’t mean they’re no good. By mitigating the problem and routine cleaning, no one will be able to tell that your tires are blooming while you’re out for an evening cruise, or even at a car show. *Professional grade Auto Valet products used and sold by Georgian Detailing.