Silicone-based tire and interior plastic dressings: Good or bad?

I'll leave my opinion out of this one just for the sake of starting this thread out neutrally. But I'm interested in hearing your opinion. But please elaborate... don't just state what your daddy told you since he's always right... give me reasons as to why it's bad or good, how you've determined this OR what your source is.

They wont hurt the plastic, they can hurt the paint when slung off the tires though. If you enjoy the greasy feel its fine. Personally i feel that 707 protectant is the best shine and protection with out a greasy mess. Although at the current time i use mothers back to black.

Armorall is good to use on tires since its cheap, and in the Northwest, tire dressing only lasts for about a week because it rains so darn much :)

After a while you have to clean your tires with a degreaser because it attracts dirt and crap from your brakes, but makes the tires look good if applied and cleaned on a regular basis.

For the interior--NO! First of all, I think it smells terrible if used for a long time. It leaves a stale, old-carpet smell and I hate that. Second, the silicon base in it reacts very slowly with the plastic--breaks down the surface making it look older. Also, it's messy, feels greasy and is a pain to remove and clean later on.

I used it for a year straight on my '92 Cavalier. The interior plastic was already bad, so I used Armorall, and it had black plastic bumpers, so I used to dress them too. I couldn't stop using the stuff after that because the stuff would wash off and leave the plastic dry and gray looking.

Silicone dressings are great because they don't let the rubber dry out, keep the rubber or plastic looking nice, and most interior dressings protect from UV rays too.

Well, I'm gonna have to take the Anti-Silicone approach here. But, it would be naive to say that all silicones are just plain bad or harmful, as it depends on the TYPE used in the formula. Most of the low end products, and even some "high end", use the crappy silicone that can lead to problems.

Here's a little info on why this is the case, mainly in reference to tires, but I'm sure it applies to other rubber surfaces, vinyl, plastics, etc:
The need to protect rubber against UV damage is why tires are black. For this purpose, a common type of UV stabilizer called a "competitive absorber" is used. Competitive absorbers work by capturing and absorbing harmful UV light wave energy (instead of the adjacent molecule of tire polymer..that's why it's called "competitive"). Competitive absorbers have the added ability to convert harmful UV light wave energy into heat so it can dissipate harmlessly. All tire manufacturers use the same competitive absorber, carbon black...an extremely inexpensive compound. All other UV stabilizers are prohibitively expensive. This is why tires are black and why tires are not available in designer colors. All UV stabilizers are sacrificial, meaning they are gradually "used up" to where they can no longer protect against UV damage. As carbon black loses the ability to do its job, it turns gray. This is why rubber grays as it ages.

Tire manufacturers use waxes to protect against ozone. When tires are in use (regularly running up and down the road for example) they flex. Flexing causes the protective waxes to migrate to the surface where they form a physical barrier between the air (ozone and oxygen) and the tire polymer. This process...the waxes migrating to the surface of the tire during flexing..is called "blooming". When tires are not regularly used ( a parked RV, boat trailer, or classic car, etc), blooming does not occur. Ozone begins eating away the protective wax and before long reaches the tire polymer. Often by this time, the surface carbon black has lost its ability to protect against UV. With UV light and ozone working in concert, degradation starts. The tire dries, checks, and will eventually crack.



Why silicone is bad:
Petrochemicals and silicone oils can remove the protective waxes and increase the rate of degradation (on tires/rubber/etc). Common automotive "protectants" and "tire dressings" are typically devoid of UV stabilizers of any type and contain petrochemicals and/or silicone oils which dissolve away the protective waxes and can actually aggress the sidewall or other rubber/vinyl/plastic surface. In the event of warranty sidewall failure, one of the first things tire manufacturers look for is evidence of the use of these types of products. When found, this is often cause for not warranting the sidewall failure.


For car interiors:

Virtually all vinyl manufacturers agree that no type of oil should be used on vinyl. Silicone oil vinyl treatments should not be used for several reasons; 1) Silicone oil formulations typically attack the vinyl topcoat, 2) Silicone oil formulations usually contain no effective UV screening ingredients, 3) Silicone oil formulations are build-up products which accelerate heat damage, 4) Silicone oil formulations are greasy and oily, attract dust, and soil more quickly. READ THE LABEL! Product directions suggesting more than one coat for better cosmetic enhancement are build-up products and are recommended against by vinyl manufacturers.




And, thus, I will not use cheap crap on my car just for the sake of saving a buck. If the average joe thinks it works great....fine, ignorance is usually bliss. For many, a car/truck/etc is usually our second largest investment we can make, so why sacrafice in quality to keep it looking and performing it's best. Like I said, for the average person who drives up to AutoZone in a swirled up car or whatever, they aren't going to care, and that's why there's a BIG market of products to this customer base. Sure, it looks nice and shiny, but in reality it's doing more harm than good.

So why is it used so often? Well, it's extremely CHEAP for one, and two, the target customer base won't know the difference anyhow. Hey, if it's shiny, it must be good right?

And, using (bad) silicones on paint is a whole 'nuther issue......
:yuck:

Mike

:cool:

Originally posted by MikeLS
Well, I'm gonna have to take the Anti-Silicone approach here. But, it would be naive to say that all silicones are just plain bad or harmful, as it depends on the TYPE used in the formula. Most of the low end products, and even some "high end", use the crappy silicone that can lead to problems.

Here's a little info on why this is the case, mainly in reference to tires, but I'm sure it applies to other rubber surfaces, vinyl, plastics, etc:


Why silicone is bad:



For car interiors:




And, thus, I will not use cheap crap on my car just for the sake of saving a buck. If the average joe thinks it works great....fine, ignorance is usually bliss. For many, a car/truck/etc is usually our second largest investment we can make, so why sacrafice in quality to keep it looking and performing it's best. Like I said, for the average person who drives up to AutoZone in a swirled up car or whatever, they aren't going to care, and that's why there's a BIG market of products to this customer base. Sure, it looks nice and shiny, but in reality it's doing more harm than good.

So why is it used so often? Well, it's extremely CHEAP for one, and two, the target customer base won't know the difference anyhow. Hey, if it's shiny, it must be good right?

And, using (bad) silicones on paint is a whole 'nuther issue......
:yuck:

Mike

:cool:

I don't see the need to use any expensive special dressing with UV protection on tires. Nothing is going to happen to them at least I've never heard of any problems. I do use decent stuff on the interior though.

From my own experience I no longer use Armor-All. I used it on my dash for 4 years straight and I have small cracks that I feel are a result of the stuff actually drying the vinyl out. Wherever
I have used other products on similar material I do not see this problem. That's just me tho'