I had a very similar experience.
In the past year I've attempted to clean the tires with a variety of cleaners, just to see if I could stop the black from coming off on the tire brush or sponge I use when cleaning them. The tires themselves never look that dirty - they just turn everything that touches them black. I've watched videos that show the release of brown foam and tried some of the suggested products, including two different AP cleaners at full strength. I've never seen brown foam released from my tires, no matter what I used for cleaning, and after cleaning they don't look much different from where I started, other than they could use some tire dressing.
After reading some great reviews for the Tuf Shine Tire Cleaner, I wanted to see if it would give me better results. I followed the directions posted on the Tuf Shine website, which are a little more detailed than those on the bottle of cleaner.
I applied 3 coats of Tuf Shine Cleaner to each of my tires using the Tuf Shine tire brush. As with other cleaners, I wasn't able to get the Tuf Shine Cleaner to foam up, and very little dirt seemed to come to the surface.
After the initial application to the first tire, I rinsed the brush using the hose as instructed, and it came out perfectly clean. After a second application of cleaner, the Tuf Shine brush stained and I couldn't rinse it clean. I tried a third application, and there was no change in the tire or the brush.
When I applied the first coat of Tuf Shine cleaner to the second tire, for some reason the brush rinsed almost completely clean, but that was the last time it did that. After the next application of cleaner, dirt remained in the brush after rinsing, and it was never as clean as when I started. When I finished cleaning all four tires, I soaked the brush in mineral spirits, which removed most of the dirt.
I hadn't ordered the Tuf Shine kit - only the cleaner and brush - because I wanted to see if I could clean the tires thoroughly before applying a different dressing or coating. I didn't want to try the Tuf Shine clearcoat, unless I knew that I used the cleaning product correctly and the tires themselves were properly prepared. Opti-Bond is the only dressing that's been applied to the tires since I've owned the car, other than a few applications of EcoTouch Tire Shine.
I used almost an entire bottle of Tuf Shine Cleaner for four tires, and maybe it still wasn't enough product. It just seemed that no matter how much I applied, and how much I scrubbed, there was no foaming action during brushing, or any indication that the cleaner was doing anything, other than getting the brush dirty. When dry, the tires looked like they did when I started, minus the tire dressing, which is what happened with other cleaners.
I called Tuf Shine and spoke to Bob to see if he could recommend something else that I could try, or figure out what I did wrong. We traded some emails, and he said it's an unusual situation and recommended an application of lacquer thinner to see if it could remove whatever might be on the tires. I'm not a big fan of lacquer thinner and I think I'd rather live with the problem. Since the tires don't actually look bad, and I have a lifetime supply of Opti-Bond, I probably won't worry about getting them clean enough for the Tuf Shine Tire Coating.
