Tuf Shine: Hurry Up, Mother Nature!

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trekkeruss

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I bought the Tuf Shine Kit a couple of months ago, but I haven't been able to use it because, well, winter has been in the way. Today it is supposed to be 60º, so I pulled off one of the wheels off my 2009 Honda Element and cleaned the reverse side as best as I could. Sadly, the corrosion that is towards the hub will still be visible when the wheel is mounted. There is baked-on crud behind the spokes that just won't come off too, not even after working on it a looong time. But at least that is not visible.

I bought the E used back in November; it had 40K on it. The dealer I purchased it from installed two new tires in front, and I have been using Pinnacle Black Onyx on them. The one I am working on wasn't too dirty, because I didn't have to scrub a lot with the kit's provided tire cleaner. Now I am just waiting for the temperature to rise about 50º. It's 1:40 PM now, and the temp is 48º. Hurry up, Mother Nature!

Some pics of the proceedings:
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A lot of trouble just to clean one wheel. The space where the spare is stored is dirty too; gonna have to clean that out another day. Should I put Tuf Shine on my spare? Hmm.

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Can you spot where the bird pooped on my car? While I was working on the wheel, a bird pooped on my head. :eek:

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Yuck. :(

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Just waiting for the temperature to rise now.
 
Much to my wifes chagrin, Ive washed wheels/tires in one of our bathtubs, then applied coating(s) to them in our basement.

Mother nature be damned!
 
Ordered some myself. I have been cleaning the tires like crazy. When the kit gets here hopefully won't need too much more.
 
I decided since I had one wheel off, I may as well do the others. I am now on wheel number three. LOL. This would be so much easier if I had a lift and could remove all the wheels at once.
 
:doh:

I could swear I cleaned the first tire enough. The Tire Cleaner was sudsing white, and the brush was clean-looking and not black or brown. But I just looked at the first tire I did and the coating was already cracking and a little brown.

:doh:

Back to square one. At least I don't have to take the wheel off again.
 
The sun is setting fast and I am not going to finish this project today. Uff. This better be worth it in the end!
 
What product are you using to clean the tires with before you applied the tire coating? Sound like you might potentially have an adhesion problem with the coating itself trying to set up.
 
I started with Megs APC and then followed up with Tuf Shine cleaner.
 
trekkeruss said:
I started with Megs APC and then followed up with Tuf Shine cleaner.
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I will tend to take a clean white terry cloth towel after cleaning my tires to get a visual. Sometimes tire cleaning can be more time consuming then you would think. If the tires seem to be clean then the next step would be to decide on weather there was a mistake on the coating application. Maybe too much product was used. I just got done reading this thread and it seemed like mike had great success using a brush to level out out the coating. I hope this helps.
 
Wes Bremec said:
seemed like mike had great success using a brush to level out out the coating.
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I used the brush method of application.

I suspect I should clean the tires and wait overnight to see if more old dressing etc. weeps out of the tires.
 
Use purple power full strength and agitate it vigorously. Rinse tire, highest pressure you can get, use a pressure washer if you've got one. Repeat until no more black runs off the tire. Pay special attention to the lip where the rim and tire actually meet , there's lots of product that can build up there. Clean one last time with the Tuf Shine cleaner, scrub, rinse, dry completely (like walk away for an hour), and apply the clear coat liberally for the first coat and let it dry. Add lighter additional coats if you want more shine.

The Tuf shine cleaner is expensive. Purple power is cheap, let it do the bulk of the grunt work, then finish with Tuf shine cleaner to be sure.

My wife's Infiniti had this terrible, awful dating on the tires from the dealership when new. Used a half bottle of the Tuf Shine cleaner, on one wheel and the brush turned black.

Soaked the brush in purple power to break up the funk, then used PP and a pressure washer on the other three wheels to cut that crap off before I took the brush to it again.
 
I would have to agree that the tire cleaning process may indeed be the culprit. If 100 percent of old tire dressing or gunk is not removed then there could be an issue with adhesion. I found out that silicone is in almost all manufactured tire dressings. This can be a very big problem causing browning when the coating is applied ! Even know it might be time consuming to clean those wheels thoroughly, it sure is nice to step away and know that you did your best!
 
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Who's the owner of the car that's
parked beside your Element?

Bob
 
aim4squirrels said:
Use purple power full strength and agitate it vigorously.
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I don't have any Purple Power, but I had an old jug of Super Clean. I guess waiting overnight was a good thing, because I was still able to pull some contaminant out of the tires.

Rinse tire, highest pressure you can get, use a pressure washer if you've got one. Repeat until no more black runs off the tire.
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I don't have a pressure washer, but followed the TS directions to scrub the tire during the final rinse.

Pay special attention to the lip where the rim and tire actually meet , there's lots of product that can build up there.
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I agree, a lot gets trapped in that groove and is the toughest part to clean.

Clean one last time with the Tuf Shine cleaner, scrub, rinse, dry completely (like walk away for an hour), and apply the clear coat liberally for the first coat and let it dry. Add lighter additional coats if you want more shine.
Click to expand...
I spent another 90 minutes scrubbing this morning. Now I am just waiting for the tires to dry and the weather to warm up before I apply the TS.

I don't know if it was a fluke, but the rear Goodyear tire I did yesterday is still fine. It was the front Yokohama that was the one that went wrong. Perhaps part of the reason is that the sidewall of the Yokohama is very craggy, compared to the relatively smooth sidewall of the Goodyear.

The Tuf shine cleaner is expensive. Purple power is cheap, let it do the bulk of the grunt work, then finish with Tuf shine cleaner to be sure.
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I don't see how anyone could use TS with just the provided cleaner; no way is that enough product!
 
JohnsHandWash&Wax said:
Was thinking the same. It looks good for its age.
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I'd be too embarrassed to show detailed pics of that car! I know I could bring the paint back, but the chrome wheels are totally shot, I let my dog destroy the leather interior (which is why I decided to replace the Lexus with the Element), and the engine is beyond repair.
 
U have guts to use a scissor jack to lift up ur car and leave it like that overnight lol

Subbed for the results, as i plan on tuf shining my tires SOON.
 
EvolutionDetail said:
U have guts to use a scissor jack to lift up ur car and leave it like that overnight lol
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Don't worry, my E was on all four wheels before I went to bed. It does scare me a bit to use that jack in my parking spot since the ground is not level; enough that I turn the car around to work on the other side's wheels.
 
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