yeah I know but, I only come to this forum. Armor all question.

[missouriman]

any one know what effect it has on tires?
will it soften them up? side wall that is.
make them easy to cut? like wheeling in wet sharp rocks?

I ask this because, I was going to buy a set of new looking swamper's from a friend of mine.
they looked fine, like new at least 95 percent tread left. then I turned them around and one side was all cracked really bad from sitting out UN protected.

5- 38 inch swamper sx's for 400 bucks and they were so cracked that I had to pass.

so I am worried about the swamper's that I have, I put armor all on them, it feels slippery, I am guessing that it will soak in??????

or is it like sun tan oil, only for tires and will be gone the first rain?

will it soften the side walls and help with flex a bit??

thanks in advance for your input and or armor all knowledge.


I all ways thought that shiny was for show cars, but if it will keep my swamper's from cracking like his did I can live with it..

 

[Pluton]

There's all sorts of folk-wisdom about how ArmorAll is good/bad for tires. Personally, I don't think that BFG or Goodyear or Michelin needs help with their rubber formula; I find the stuff disgusting on tires, both for looks, and more importantly it causes the tire to collect dirt...black, slimy, road dirt that is guaranteed to deposit itself on everything and everybody that touches it.

 

[nuclearlemon]

armor all has a high alcohol content, which is not good. use another brand like son of a gun or mothers if you want the icky shiny look. if you just want to clean up your tires, use westley's bleach white.

 

[corax]

the cracking is usually only surface stuff - how many plies are in the sidewall under that?

Most tire shine stuff has some kind of silicon in it which I've heard will cause the rubber to dry out faster - plus some will cause the rubber to turn brown over time. My vote, if you're really concerned about UV damage, is tire covers when you're not using it (cut up tarp, RV tire covers, etc)

 

[DanS HJ-45]

Why on earth anybody thinks tires should be shiny is beyond me. They are tires. They are black, and get dirty. Especially on trucks. If not, then it's more than a little

That said, I know that there were a few airplane accidents caused by guys putting Armor All on the tires, which then failed at some point and caused some serious damage. The silicon and alcohol content were thought to at best not help the tires stay safe. At worst they attacked the rubber compounds and lead to the failure of what would otherwise have been a serviceable tire.

I don't use the stuff. I'm with Corax: if you're really concerned about UV damage, then cover the tires somehow. Me? I wear my tires out faster than they can start cracking (and I put a LOT of miles on my tires), so I also fail to see the problem here.

Dan

 

[missouriman]

well, I still don't know if it is better to use it and avoid cracks or not...

I searched google also, same conflicting information.

I bought a set of tires for a stock tire run, they had armor all on them, the out side was in much better shape then the inside of the tire.

I figure that guy with the swampers rather ruined 1000.00 worth of tires by letting them dry out.
I looked for the manufacture date on them and could not find it.
so they may have been 15 years old for all I know.
I just know that they looked bad enough that I passed on them.

 

[cruiser88]

hell if you need to.....slap some tubes in the tires but more than likey if its more than 6 ply you will be fine.

judgement call I guess

 

[missouriman]

the side walls looked like the cracks went to the cords.
one spin aired down against the rocks and I am pretty sure they would be showing.

I want to know if armor all will prevent this on my trucks or if it is really tire toxic.

 

[toy4xfun]

the tires probably cracked due to non use, i have not had a set of tires crack if the were driven on. but i have seen tires that were treated and non treated crack when not used or driven.

 

[Devil's Slide Doug]

For uv protection I use 303 protectent. Seems to help my latex neck gasket of my dry top. Too expensive to waste on tires.

 

[Pluton]

I figure that guy with the swampers rather ruined 1000.00 worth of tires by letting them dry out.

1) Tires aren't wet, so they can't "dry out".
2) Most tires will eventually crack and decompose,but if it's a modern, well-made tire, it should be fine for the time you use it-about 30 to 80K miles in most cases. If a particular tire is forming deep cracks after 5 years, that's a poorly made tire.