Legit way to shine up tires or no?

[ikethegreat]

I took my car for a free alignment yesturday and the tech gave me some sob story and asked if there was anything he could do for me for a few extra bucks.  I agreed to let him clean up my wheels for a few bucks (I had just put my winter set on and they were absolutely filthy from sitting in my basement since early spring).  He came in after cleaning the wheels and doing my alignment and told me that he was out of tire shine, but he said he rubbed a very light coating of motor oil on the tires to shine them up.  I was pretty skeptical but when I saw them, I must admit they looked pretty good.  

My question is, is motor oil a legit way to shine up your tires or should I be worried about any detrimental effects from the oil on my tires?

[timot_one]

I don't think oil would damage the tires, but that's a pretty ghetto ass way to do it.

[Abailey4]

LOL! Holy shit, I've never heard of that.  I'm sure the EPA doesnt like it too much since you're supposed to properly dispose of the stuff...

[Mike]

Only negitive that I can see is the excess coming off the tires and into the wheel wells.

[stirfriedferret]

Well I'm assuming that it would be bad to put oil on your tires...  Oil causes rubber to get soft and sorta crumble... It does this to your bushings on your control arms, sway bars, etc, which is why oil leaks are so bad.  I don't recommend doing this.

Edit:  Random fact; Armorall also causes tires to deteriorate...  Armorall brings all of the silicone from the tire's sidewall up to the surface, so if you don't use Armorall consistently, it will actually dry out your tires.

[Rich01]

It's a ghetto way but a little oil on your side walls won't hurt. A lot of tire shine stuff contains some petroleum.

[AV6NHBP6SPD]

get this
http://tufshine.com/products/tire-clear ... rt_restore

gona get some when i put new tires on.

[Mike]

get this
http://tufshine.com/products/tire-clear ... rt_restore

gona get some when i put new tires on.

I use this stuff and it is hands down the best tire shine I've ever used. It literally last months on the tire, and doesn't give them the oily feeling.

[v6sicksspeed]

^yea i hate the "wet" oily look some of them give off.  Ive noticed Eagle products tend to do that

[AV6NHBP6SPD]

good to see somebody uses it even thouse reviews are good. need to order it soon before i put new tires on


OP,
if he used engine oil on tires, what ta hell he used to clean them if at all

[ikethegreat]

No idea what he used to clean them but they did, and still do, look pretty nice.  They were extremely dirty so I know he had to spend a good bit of time cleaning them up.  

The tires aren't that shinny anymore, but it rained here for 6 days straight so I didn't really expect it to last.

[Abailey4]

get this
http://tufshine.com/products/tire-clear ... rt_restore

gona get some when i put new tires on.

I use this stuff and it is hands down the best tire shine I've ever used. It literally last months on the tire, and doesn't give them the oily feeling.

Yeah I've been using the stuff for the last 6 months or so. It basically coats and bonds to the tire cuz I got some on my finger nail a couple times and it seems like I have clear nail polish on. LOL! One coat will give your tire the clean look and of course the more coats you apply the shinier it gets but like Mike said sometimes the stuff can last a couple months.

[timot_one]

.....cuz I got some on my finger nail a couple times and it seems like I have clear nail polish on.

A likely story.