Hey Guys, Stumbled onto this thread - Interesting stuff. Thought I would chime in with a vote for Tuff Shine.
I gave it a shot last year because I was tired of always applying dressing (I tried many kinds) only to have them look bat up after one weekend of cruising & fling crap all over my freshly detailed paint. Did it that way for many, many years - had to be a better way by now. This stuff caught my eye.
And this stuff is great! First application is a PIA because you have to really clean the crap out of the tires or it wont work. Kit comes with 'Special Soap" & a brush. I read so may complaints about Tuff Shine failing & it always seemed to be from not cleaning the tires well enough. So I bought a Stiff brush for my drill ($6 ebay) so I wouldn't have to work so hard scrubbing.
I took the wheels off so it was easier.
I scrubbed each tire 6 times total (took me about 3 1/2 hours!) - Not wanting to risk running out of the "Special Soap" I used Simple Green for the first 3 scrubbings using the Drill Brush & then 3 more scrubbings with the Special Soap, also using the drill brush. Always rinse the brush & tires off between scrubbings - thats what instructions say & thats what I did.
These were new tires with a couple light applications of Aerospace 303 on them.
I then masked off the Chrome Wheels & applied two coats of Tuff Shine - I was after a satin sheen that was BLACK - like a new tire. Apparently the more coats you apply, the shinier it gets.
Stuff dries in about 10 min & you can touch it, work with the tire, anything - completely dry. No fling, no crap sticking no mess. You wont be picking bugs & crap off your greasy tires anymore.
I ran the tires for 6 months with 2 coats and the satin sheen was nice, Stayed a rich BLACK , SUPER EASY to clean and never wore off... except for the front tires when I was running the Autocross at Good Guys - high speed sharp turns caused tire flex & wore off 1/2 or so of the Tuff Shine on the outer most edge of the tires.
Another cool thing about TuiffShine - I took a small paint brush & brushed on some stuff on the edges where it wore off & you can barely tell anymore.
Now, Here's the best part.... EASY... I mean EASY maintenance. Wipe with damp rag, wipe with dry rag - done! - Takes less the 4 min to clean all 4 tires & no mess. I do it every weekend before the car shows - so easy its ridiculous & tires always looked great.
So now I decided I wanted more shine to the tires.
I took em off last weekend, wiped them down & applied 3 more coats of the stuff right over top of what was already on there to each tire. WOW -
Now I have a total of 5 coats on each tire - and the bottle of stuff that came with the kit is still 3/4 full. I bet I can reapply a couple coats annually for the next 8 years. It did seem to slowly reduces the shine a bit over the 6 months - but it was always black & clean - I would guess I will be applying a couple coats annually to maintain the sheen I have now. But I wont ever have to clean them - until I get new tires.
Also, the tires feel really smooth & "nice" - kinda when you just wax your car - NNNNNNICE!
Anyway, here are some pics - just my 2 cents.