McKee's Tire Coating w/Sonax Rim Shield

I purchased Sonax Rim Shield on a BOGO about a year ago and just got around to trying it last Sunday. I was previously using McKee's Hydro Blue for my wheels on a couple vehicles and recently ran out and decided to give the Sonax a try. I thoroughly cleaned the wheels and applied a coating of Rim Shield on the wheels on two Durango's after washing and drying them. Product went on ok with minimal overspray on the tires. I wiped down all the tires and decided I would top them off with a layer of McKee's Tire Coating. This was already on the tires and they were beginning to dull a bit since it had been 2 months since I last applied a coat to the tires. This is where things got interesting. Even with the tires completely dry they repelled the tire coating when brushing it on. I went around each vehicle twice and brushed on a good coating on each tire. When the coating dried the tires looked dull and grey and looked like crap! So I just spent 2 hours this afternoon power scrubbing the tires with McKee's APC, twice each, followed by McKee's Tire and Rubber Rejuvenator, power scrubbing each tire 3 times to make sure everything was removed. I'm planning on re-coating the tires tomorrow now that they are surgically clean and stripped of all previously layers of tire coating.

Does anyone have any experience with Sonax Rim Shield? I decided to try this because my work Durango dusts the front wheels like crazy and the wheel design is a pain to try and seal or coat. The spray and rinse with McKee's Hydro Blue was working ok but only lasted a month or less. In order to get the brake dust off the front wheels I'm needing to pressure wash them once a week followed by a wheel brush with wash soap. Rim Shield seemed to fit the bill but now that I've had a negative reaction with the tire coating I've been using for a few years I don't what to go through this process again. Thanks,

I re-coated both vehicles today with two coats of McKee's Tire Coating. Both came out good after 2 hours of power scrubbing with a cordless drill and CG stiff bristle brush.


2015 Durango Limited



2018 Durango SSV

The Guz said:

How did you prep the tires before finally starting over on the tires?

I’ve never experienced the issue when re-coating with Mckee’s or Tuf Shine.

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I power scrubbed each tire twice with McKee's APC rinsing between each coat, followed by McKee's Tire and Rubber Rejuvenator and additional power scrubbing. The tire coating wasn't the problem, I've been using it for years. The issue was coating the wheels with Sonax Rim Shield just before I applied a top coat of tire coating. The overspray caused the tires to become so hydrophobic that they repelled the tire coating and because it didn't bond properly it turned a light grey color requiring complete stripping.

I'm thinking about going back to a spray and rinse product like Gyeon WetCoat? I was looking for something that would help with the brake dust removal but not require hours to prep and coat multiple times a year. I liked Hydro Blue but it didn't last very long. The front wheels on the 2018 Durango dust like crazy requiring pressure washing weekly to keep them clean.

The Guz said:

I can see that the over spray of the wheel protection would cause issues. Wet Coat would probably give you the same longevity as hydro blue. I am not a fan of those spray and rinse products as I have noticed they attract more dirt than just a traditional coating. The other option is you have is to change out the brake pads for low dusting pads.

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I've already talked to the Ops Manager at our motor vehicle shop. When the front brakes are ready to be changed I told them I want to move to ceramic pads. I had them on my last truck and the difference in brake dust between the semi-metallic stock pads and the ceramic pads was night and day.

Eldorado2k said:

If this had happened to me I wouldn’t be mad at my tire situation, I’d be more impressed with the potential protection that just layed down on my wheels! Whatever it’s doing it seems to make a significant difference in way of protection.

As far as the tire situation, wouldn’t the simple solution be to coat the tires Before applying the wheel product? Last time I checked a good tire coating is able to resist just about anything messing it up and surely doesn’t get altered by anything I’ve ever seen.

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Had I known the Rim Shield would interfere with the tire coating I wouldn't have tried to top coat the tires, I would have applied tire coating first and let it dry and come back the next day with the Rim Shield and sealed the wheels. Lesson learned. I did check the wheels after scrubbing the tires yesterday and they felt kind of grabby. Water beading/shedding was ok but not quite as good as Hydro Blue and not nearly as slick. I'll see how long the Rim Shield lasts, and more importantly how easy it is to clean the brake dust from the front wheels over the next few weeks.

Based on the application today of the Tire Coating I shouldn't need to mess with that for 2 to 3 months so I can apply the Rim Shield after washing to see how it will behave. I reviewed the video of the product on the AG site today and interestingly enough the Sonax rep stated that tire dressing can be applied after applying Rim Shield. This didn't work out to well with Tire Coating.