ALL tire dressings cause dry rot/premature tire failure ???!!!

Don M

Don M

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I have been shopping for tires for the Camaro and have gone a few different places to have them evaluate my current tires to see if they are is as bad of shape as I think. Yesterday, I went to a huge, non-chain tire store and after being asked just how much dressing I used on the tires (I applied a thin layer of Meguiar's Endurance Gel last Sunday and it still looks freshly applied), they told me that ALL tire dressings cause damage, typically dry-rot, prematurely.


Now I know that some of the older dressings from the 70's and 80's have a bad rep, but I thought most modern dressings no longer had that issue, with some working to protect the rubber. I for one can say that I've never had that issue (that I can remember), but then I always wore the tire out before they would get to the point where dry rot started, but now I'm starting to wonder.


So what's the general opinion on modern tire/rubber dressings?




BTW, my current tires ARE severely dry rotted!
 
You should've asked him what specifically is in "ALL" tire dressings that cause premature dry rotting.

I can't help but think about how maybe 9/10 people who work there spit out the same general "knowledge" to every single customer they deal with... Whether it's a soccer mom or a young man who just bought a new expensive 4x4 truck.

They probably have something like "Black Magic" or whatever's equivalent to the evil Armor All of before in mind when giving that advice.

Jiffy Lube is especially notorious for giving everyone the most basic and "safe" advice.. But who knows...

BTW, what the heck does "dry rott" even look like? Pics?
 
Eh I doubt it. Could be some random brand with an ingredient that drys them out quicker but i would lean on heavy wheel and tire cleaners and apcs with scrubbing all the time like weekly being harder on them than actually just topping off dressing after a wash

That said I have seen maintained tires have the cracking and and ones that weren’t

No one really seems to have a 100% answer if you do research on it Michelin’s seem to be the most talked about and some times they will replace the set and then the next set starts in just a couple 1000 miles. Could be outside rubber that some companies are using to get tread wear mileage out of the tires


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I would think that keeping a good quality dressing on a tire would help with dry rot, isn't it protecting the tire from the SUN key?
 
Don M said:
I have been shopping for tires for the Camaro and have gone a few different places to have them evaluate my current tires to see if they are is as bad of shape as I think. Yesterday, I went to a huge, non-chain tire store and after being asked just how much dressing I used on the tires (I applied a thin layer of Meguiar's Endurance Gel last Sunday and it still looks freshly applied), they told me that ALL tire dressings cause damage, typically dry-rot, prematurely.

Now I know that some of the older dressings from the 70's and 80's have a bad rep, but I thought most modern dressings no longer had that issue, with some working to protect the rubber. I for one can say that I've never had that issue (that I can remember), but then I always wore the tire out before they would get to the point where dry rot started, but now I'm starting to wonder.

So what's the general opinion on modern tire/rubber dressings?

BTW, my current tires ARE severely dry rotted!
Click to expand...

I've heard this as well and would say there could be some truth to it but IMO it's likely only on cars that sit and aren't used or wash regularly. I've always had a "toy" that sat and was driven for less than 5k per year and I would avoid storing it with dressing on the tires. Never had an issue. That said, the opposite is true of our daily drivers and even my DD'ers with low miles of 8-12k per year, they almost always have tire dressing applied ever 1-2 weeks and no, they have not had any issues either.

I would be willing to bet the date code on your tires will show they weren't "new" or "fresh" tires. Most tires will dry rot over time as part of their normal breakdown. IIRC 5 years is the estimate. I know the original set on our van showed signs of cracking around the sidewall that has tread when it was time to replace them. Wife gets long life out of her tires and brakes due to her driving like a grandma. IIRC they lasted nearly 65k-70k miles and were old. I don't attribute the cracking to tire dressing though.
 
DogRescuer said:
Haha I drive like a grandpa.
Click to expand...

Same here... Except when there's little to no traffic on the freeway, which is usually only late at night. Then I'm free to let my V8 engine swoope like it does best, anywhere between 80-90mph.
 
I've used a few tire dressings over many years and I've never seen one cause dry rot on my tires. I've seen them accelerate the browning or even turn the tire a strange red color, but never caused them to "dry rot".

I've only seen what I'd describe as dry rot on one set of tires...ever. They were a set of four Yokohama's which were pushing over four years old. The sidewalls looked good, but the the outside edge of the outer tread blocks started getting spiderweb cracks and there were faint cracks starting to show up in the grooves between the tread block rows. The car was lightly driven at the time and sat out 24/7.
 
My wife complains that I drive to slow, but when I need to get in a hurry I can, but no v8 here.


Eldorado2k said:
Same here... Except when there's little to no traffic on the freeway, which is usually only late at night. Then I'm free to let my V8 engine swoope like it does best, anywhere between 80-90mph.
Click to expand...
 
Re: ALL tire dressings cause dry rot/premature tire failure ???!!!


“Ain’t No Way” ~Aretha Franklin (ca.1968)

Furthermore (FME):
No; how could all of them/why should
all of them be the causation of such harm
that this thread title mentions?

no-smiley-emoticon.gif


Bob
 
FUNX650 said:
Re: ALL tire dressings cause dry rot/premature tire failure ???!!!


“Ain’t No Way” ~Aretha Franklin (ca.1968)

Furthermore (FME):
No; how could all of them/why should
all of them be the causation of such harm
that this thread title mentions?

no-smiley-emoticon.gif


Bob
Click to expand...

Beats me, but it was just such an outrageous statement, I thought I'd better check here to see what every one thought. I didn't think it was 100% valid either.
 
MattPersman said:
Here is a Michelin. Side wall and tread this one is starting to.

e4e33a6e5ba6ce6aec0b7d658e1d8bbb.jpg


b97df0da8cc68fad4808156e4fd2f566.jpg



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Click to expand...

That's a lot of thread for a side wall that is so deteriorated. If you look on the inside of the thread, it's also cracking and you don't apply tire dressing to the inside or outside of the tread. Looks to me that the tire is defective or is a 100 years old tire. lol
 
Rsurfer said:
That's a lot of thread for a side wall that is so deteriorated. If you look on the inside of the thread, it's also cracking and you don't apply tire dressing to the inside or outside of the tread. Leaves to me that the tire is defective or is a 100 years old.
Click to expand...

The Yokohama tires I mentioned previously looked like that after four years...though with less tread. The same types of cracks were appearing on the outside of the outer tread blocks as well where they met the sidewalls.
 
Mine look a lot like this, with some checkering on the actual sidewalls (and more tread left).

Dry%20rot.JPG
 
the only thing hard on tires is not using them. The chemicals added to keep them from drying out and checking don't get pushed through the rubber when it isn't flexing and compressing from driving on them. "Flat Spots" are not what people need to worry about from vehicles not being driven, its the drying out of the rubber. Modern, decent tire dressings won't hurt them at all.
 
RSurfer was spot on - tons of dry rotting inside the tread wells. Me thinks this is bad rubber! I've always kept my tires dressed for the better part of the last 30 years across 10+ vehicles, and never once experience dry rot or even close to it. Not saying there isn't an outside of chance of it being true in some cases, but I've never seen it.

ScottH
 
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