Hi Dan,You say you dont like Armorall but Armorall will work over time.Just apply it religously and let it sit and soak in(dont wipe).Once it dries reapply several more times and then pressure wash.It might not take all the brown off on the first try but i think you will see improvement.Just keep doing this for about a week and your black will be back.Armorall will soak in and get under the dirt, stain, etc.I used to buy and sell and ride A.T.V.s and once in a while id get one that the PO never washed or took care of.Id buy it and then before the thing ever hit my garage floor id pressure wash it and totally saturate the whole bike with Armorall.Of course id go riding the following weekend and again pressure wash the thing again and saturate it in Armorall before it came back home to my garage.After a couple weeks of doing this i had almost a brand new looking bike(time to sell it lol).I mean every last mud stained rubber grommet,brake lines,tires,plastics and the seat were like the day it rolled out of the show room.Armorall will soak in and bring the stain to the top over time.Hope this helps.....Marc

 

Doesn't help any, but here is some cool info anyway.

 

You say you dont like Armorall but Armorall will work over time...

The deal with ArmorAll is it's addictive. Sure, it makes tires look good. I used it for years. But if you slack-off using it at all, the tires (or dashpad or whatever) will crack. And if ArmorAll had not been used, it wouldn't have cracked. Have you ever used nasal spray to clear a stuffy nose? It works great. But when it wears off, your nose is stuffier than before - so you use it again. It's a vicious cycle that's hard to stop. If you start off using ArmorAll to make your tires look clean and black, you'll eventually be left with cracked, dried-out tires.

Keeping a "hobby" car ArmorAll'd isn't really a challenge. It's not like you're going to forget to apply it. Maybe in this extreme case I'll resort to it; but I sure don't want to.

 

ArmorAll has really fallen out of favor in recent years when it was discovered that it did not allow what ever you put it on to breath. It's like you said Danny, if you stop using it stuff starts to crack. Other than that comment, I'm no help. Just can't believe that all these years and you haven't been cleaning the back side of the tires! :lol:

 

Just can't believe that all these years and you haven't been cleaning the back side of the tires!

I'm busted. And I'll bet the inside of my backup light lenses is a mess!

 

Yes i have heard about Armorall dryrotting tires but i have never seen this happen.What i would do is just use it till your tires are clean then just powerwash and leave it.I am not a big fan of the greasy.shiny tire look myself.When i would go to sell a A.T.V. i would just have it pressure washed and not put anymore Armorall on it cause it looks to cheesy on a off road vehicle.Besides i wouldnt want to hear from the guy in a week or telling me how he broke his arm from sliding off the back due to the seat being slick lol

 

Afew years back I used to sell a product made by Snap that was called tire black. It came in a smaller can and you brushed it on. I have not seen it for some time now but it might be worth looking in to.

 

When it comes to tires (I don't like Armor All for interior applications), Armor All is the best. Not their new formulas, the old-school original-recipe Armor All. It's a water-base formula, which is why it's best. All the oil-based protectants give you that nasty, shiny, oily mess that looks horrific, and slings down the sides of your car when you drive. Standard Armor all eventually soaks in, and the water evaporates/flashes off, acting only as a "host" to carry the silicone, and once you buff it with a dry towel you get a nice rich matte black result. I avoid like the plague, any tire schmutz that's advertised as "long lasting", and is clear and oily to the touch. It creates a huge mess, and once on, is difficult to get rid of.

Cracking? My practical experience has caused me to consider such claims as total urban myth. We've got literally dozens of cars in our collection, that basically are NEVER driven, that get a fresh treatment of Armor All on the tires every time I clean them. I've got cars sitting on tires that have less than 20 miles on them, nice and richly Armor All'ed their entire 10, 20, 30 year lives, that are as-new, perfect, not a single crack, and supple if you press them. This includes modern tires, Cokers, and old-school NOS vintage tires.

Dry-rot and cracking gets blamed on tire dressings, but I feel is almost always attributable to poor storage, lack of proper climate control, damp and hot conditions, or "sweating" conditions that can happen in northern garages that see extreme fluctuations in the winter months.

For daily drivers, I Armor All my tires every time I wash, and that's usually once a week, if not twice. I've never had a tire start to crack or rot on me on a daily driver. The tire always wears-out on tread-life well before you'd ever have a dry-rot issue.

For occassional-driver to hardly-ever-drivers: Storage, storage, storage... Don't blame your bad storage on a bottle of Armor All. If I knew how to post a picture on here, I'd post close-up shots of car tires that have been sitting in cool dry storage, dressed in original-formula Armor All, for over 20 years, that are absolutely immaculate.

 

I had the same problem whenever I used the TireShine spray on foam. A week or two later and the tires were brown in color. It seemed that no amount of scrubbing would remove the film from the tires.

Now all I ever use is a quick wipe with a sponge dampened with Armour All, followed a a dry towel to remove any excess.

 

If the tires are that dry on the inside, a new set of skins may be in order.....

 

Agreed! I have used Armor-All on all my tires (hobby and daily drivers) and I have never had an issue with cracking. I have a set of tires mounted on old aluminum slotted mags that are at least 30 years old. The aluminum is horribly oxidized, but the tires look the same as they did when the came off the car. I used to armor-all them every time I washed the car but they have been sitting in storage for the last decade or so.

 

Armor cracking is a wives tale. Clean the tires with Comet cleanser, let them dry then hit them with armor all before you go to bed. Looks great the next morning and it does not crack. Been doing this rap for many years....

 

I've got to jump on the "Praise ArmorAll" bandwagon, Dan. I've been swiping that stuff onto everything from daily drivers to trailer queens for 30 years, and have never experienced the mythical cracking problems everybody's tossed around for years.
I've also had your same problem, and I'd spray them down with either Simple Green or ArmorAll cleaner, scrub them with a plastic bristle brush (you'll be amazed at the brown stuff that rinses off), then use the ArmorAll. It may take a few weeks, but you should have "black is beautiful" sidewalls that you can be proud of in no time!

 

As was stated Armor-all will crack AFTER youstop using it (if you continue to use it...no problem.

A no in my book for any Armor-All product.

May I suggest 'No Touch' tire foam. Leaves the tire black but not that greasy look.

We all have our opinions now its up to you to make a decision.

 

have you tried black shoe polish?

 

We've got literally dozens of cars in our collection, that basically are NEVER driven, that get a fresh treatment of Armor All on the tires every time I clean them.

...For daily drivers, I Armor All my tires every time I wash, and that's usually once a week, if not twice. I've never had a tire start to crack or rot on me on a daily driver.

Thanks for the response, but you've unwittingly proved my point. I have personally seen the negative affects of ArmorAll. The bad things don't happen if you use it every week. Especially sometimes twice a week. It's when you stop using it that the cracking appears. It's not a myth as I've seen it myself.

 

It's strange no one suggests a different product -- so I will. I like Meguiar's Vinyl & Rubber Cleaner / Conditioner. I use it on all my tires ( of course ) & also interior vinyl & plastic surfaces. It has a dull finish -- not shiny which I don't care for. I use their cleaner, polish & wax for the paint also. I like their products & no, I'm not getting $$ compensated for these comments.

 

Years ago when I ran "black walls out". I used "Black Vinyl Top Wax". It worked great, Tires would stay black even after a drive in the rain. Unfortunately, since Vinyl tops have gone out of style, I doubt if you could find it anymore.

 

I run my whitewalls out, but I use No Touch Tire Shine and it looks great. I just spray it on and let it dry. I use it every two or three weeks or so. The times that I have gone longer, the tires look dull, but still black and no cracking. Can't hurt to give it a try. I wish it was as easy to keep the stinkin' whitewall looking good. Blech White works, but it takes a lot of elbow grease w/ a n old toothbrush! Good luck.

 

Personally, I don't call the Armor All cracking a myth.

I used it on a 2 year old dash once (when I lived in Virginia), and within 6 months the dash was all cracked. It has never been used on an interior part of my car since.

I used it on my boat trailer tires religiously. After about 7 years, the tires were so cracked and dry rotted, they wouldn't even hold air. Now, no more Armorall on the tires.

Last year at a show, I won a raffle prize, that was a huge box of all sorts of Stoner products (no, it had no bongs, or roach clips in it *LOL*). One of the things in it was the Stoner brand "More Shine Less Time). You just spray it on and walk away. It's not greasy, and it's not shiny (I HATE shiny, plastic looking tires). They're just black. Last weekend, I went to a show, and hadn't washed the car in a few weeks. I didn't even bother cleaning up the tires, because they still looked like I had just cleaned them. Good Stuff, as most of the Stoner products are.

 

Mark, as a possible solution to having to rub so hard to get the whitewalls clean, try an SOS pad, but only on the white. If you get it on the black, you'll haveto clean it again. Works great and keeps it WHITE. From the tire guy. Tony

 

I'm not an Armor All fan either.
Leaves interior with a brownish tint over time I always felt. At least on black parts.

I have friends in the dertailing business and they swore off Armor All many years ago. Wish I could remember what they use now ... they brush or sponge it on that much I remember.

I like the Stoner stuff as well. (for the tires that is )

 

I am not a big fan of armor all. I am not into that slick greasy shiny look. I have used for many years a couple of products from Zymol. Both Tyre and Vinyl. You can use Vinyl on damn near any surface. Gives you that low luster shine, not that wet look junk.

My 96 Mustic was bathed in it by the PO, sorta like cheap cologne. It took almost a year to rid the car of that slick look.

 

To each his own, I guess. Anywhere the sun hits, you'll crack no matter what you put on it. That's why seat buns stiffen and crack no matter what is done. Seen that on seats and dashes on different make cars. I put a fitted carpet cover over the dash; looks better in my opinion and stops the sunlight. As far as cracking on the tires when one stops using Armor All, I don't buy that. Sidewalls will crack if the sun hits em no matter what in my experience. Armor All and its competitors is a dressing and in my experience just there to make it look nice one whatever you're putting it on it clean. I ran an experiement on my dad's travel trailer when he was gone one summer to check it out. Both sides cracked when left in the sun....one side looked better while it was cracking, though.....

 

I have found that new tires have some kind of mold-release agent or something on them that is very hard to get off. You can wash the tire and it will soon discolor. Some cleaners aggravate the problem - they actually make the brown look appear.

I use Formula 409 to clean my tires. But, until I get that release grease off, 409 just makes the tires brown! I found that Castrol Super Clean gets the job done. That's some bad azz stuff, there! Clean them with Super Clean (may take two or more attempts on "old" surfaces) and you're good to go. You'll need a good, stiff-bristled brush. You can then keep them clean with detergents, or treat them with whatever shine product you choose.

"Treated" tires might look good on show day, but for a driver, they just attract dirt and become discolored quickly. I prefer the natural, clean rubber look. Looks better, less maintenance.