Tire shine is the final touch given to tires after the washing and cleaning process of removing dirt and grime from a car. The process involves applying spray or gel to faded tires to restore their black color and keep them shining back.
If you don’t know, you need to understand that tire shine doesn’t help fix cracks on tires. One of its functions is to provide your car tires with a wet and shining look, which will make them stand out. Apart from that, the process can help you prevent fading of tires and restore the robber to a fresh condition.
One of the drawbacks of tire shine is that it can cause damage to the brakes – this is particularly true when you make use of the spray type and you over-apply it. But here’s a burning question; can tire shine make tires “dry rot”?
Some tire shine products contain silicone and petrochemicals, which are generally considered harmful to tires. When applied, they tend to dissolve the protective waxes on tire surfaces – this can cause various issues for the tire, including dry rot.
What exactly is dry rot on tires? What are the possible causes of dry rot on tires? Is tire shine bad for tires? In the rest of this post, you’ll find answers to these questions and a few others. So, without further ado, let’s dive right in.
Tire Dry Rot: Everything You Need to Know About It
Tires are made of rubber, which contains about 19 percent natural rubber and 24 percent synthetic rubber. These materials tend to degrade naturally over some time.
Once tires start to degrade, one of the things that you’ll notice is that they start to become stiffer and more brittle. As time goes on, you’ll start noticing cracks on the sidewalls – this process is what is known as tire dry rot.
As earlier mentioned, the main cause of dry rot is old age, which leads to degradation. However, you need to understand that several other factors can bring about dry rots in tires.
Causes of tire dry rot
- Ultraviolet light
The ultraviolet radiation from the sun is one of the few causes of dry rot in tires. As earlier mentioned, tire contains both natural and synthetic rubbers, which are generally prone to UV damage.
Furthermore, the UV ray affects the rubber components of the tires through a process called photodegradation. In case you don’t know, photodegradation occurs when UV rays attack the molecules and chemical bonds of the rubber – with time, this causes the tires to degrade and brittle.
- Ozone
Apart from UV rays, another factor that can cause dry rot in tires is Ozone. In chemistry, Ozone is a pale blue gas that has three oxygen atoms bonded together. This gas naturally occurs in the earth’s atmosphere.
The ozone has a lot of harmful effects on plants and animals. In humans, exposure to Ozone can cause shortness of breath. As for rubbers, Ozone tends to react with main chain saturation in polythene rubbers, leading to chain abscission and reduction in surface strength. As the surface strength of the tires continues to reduce, there’ll be a time their sidewalls will start to break.
- How you use the tire
Another factor that causes dry rot in tires is disuse. Apart from natural and synthetic rubbers, tires also contain some special additives and waxes. Most manufacturers often add these materials to the tires to protect them from UV rays and ozone attacks.
However, the more you use your car, the more the tires get stressed – this causes the components (additives and waxes) to break away from their surfaces. When this happens, the tire surfaces begin to deteriorate until dry rots begin to occur.
- Chemicals
Chemicals, such as silicone and petrochemicals, when continuously exposed to the surface of tires, can dissolve the protective substances added to protect the rubber product from UV damage and Ozone damage. Once the protective layers are no longer there, it means the tires will start to deteriorate and dry-rot over time.
Does Tire Shine Dry Rot Tires?
It’s time to address the burning question of this post – does tire shine dry rot tires. Before answering this question, let me quickly talk about the effect of tire shine on tires.
Generally, tire shine is one of the best ways to take care of and maintain car tires. This process involves applying spray or gel to faded tires to improve their physical appearance. Apart from giving your tires a wet look, you need to understand that tire shine also offers several other benefits.
One of the advantages of tire shining or dressing is that they are pretty much effective for protecting the sidewalls from fading, cracking, hardening, and brittle. Furthermore, tire shine can also help to rehydrate your tires.
Since tire shine prevents hardening and cracking of tire sidewalls, does that mean the process doesn’t dry rot tires?
It’s pretty simple; the best tire shine products will undoubtedly help you prevent sidewalls cracking, also known as dry rot. However, when you use tire dressing products containing chemicals like silicone and petrochemicals, the answer to our burning questions is YES.
As earlier mentioned, silicone and petrochemicals are harmful to your tires. When continuously exposed to your tires, these chemicals can dissolve the special additives and waxes used to protect the tire surface. With that, it means the UV rays and Ozone will easily affect and age the tires.
Conclusion
Does tire shine dry rot tires? The answer to the question is Yes and No. It depends on the type of tire dressing product that you’re opting for.
One of the many techniques you can employ to prevent early dry rot in your tires is by opting for the best products – an example is the Chemical Guys VRP Dressing. This product doesn’t contain chemicals like petroleum and silicone, which will make your tires vulnerable to UV rays.