I'll chime in....
First - I only coat tires if they are new and naked. That means nothing has ever been applied to them, i.e. a tire dressing.
Second - My preferred method of prepping a tire for a coating is to machine scrub but hand scrubbing will do. Scrub until the foam coming off from your tire cleaner is white, as in artic white.
Third - I like to use a 2" paint brush, (one for stains, not paints), to apply the dressing.
Fourth - After an application - BLAST the tire starting from the lip of the rim and blowing outwards using a Metro-Vac Sidekick. Speed dry each coating and apply 4 to 5 applications at one time.
After that - enjoy the high shine, non-greasy touch to your tires. Only wash with car wash soap or some other safe alternative like a spray detailer or waterless wash or rinseless wash.
I like tire coatings but only when you know the tire has not been polluted with a tire dressing.