I bought 5 new tires Monday (yay!): Hankook Kinergy [Kinetic+Energy?] STs, bought from Tire Rack, installed at the cheapest bidder, a Firestone near my gym (so I could work out while they worked). They and the rims (I almost didn’t recognize them; couldn’t imagine why Firestone would want my old rims.) are shiny, as though shellacked. I assumed they had power-washed them, that it was just water, but it’s still there 2 days later. What is it? Why? Does it make customers happier?
They sprayed (or slopped) a shiny treatment like Armor All on the tires and weren’t too discriminating with the rims.
Makes 'em look shiny and NEW… I don’t like it but the tire shop must think their customer’s do.
It will need to wear off…in a while, maybe a long while.
You could ask the tire shop this question and get an actual answer .
If you want your rims to look crummy again, you could wipe them down with an appropriate solvent. That’ll take the polymer shine off.
“We waxed your car sir, no charge.” “Why did you do that??” Just kidding but you might want to think about making the rest of that truck match the tires. Wipe on wipe off instead of going to the gym one day.
When I picked it up I assumed they were just wet. I’d have to call to ask; I pay for each call.
I didn’t know about Armor all.
To remove the shine, you can use APC or degreaser and then agitate with a brush.
Petroleum distillates of any kind should not be used on tires. Rubber absorbs and is weakened by them.
I don’t mind it, I was just curious.
According to Armor All there are no petroleum distillates in either the regular AA or the AA tire and wheel cleaner products.
Odds are they hosed it down with the latter as a PR move and it will hurt nothing.
A few dealers I worked for used to have their detail guys slather the tires/wheels with AA; even on brand new vehicles. Shine sells.
As an aside, an older detail guy at one dealer was a genius at detailing cars. Even a heap would leave his hands looking good. Worn tires? Not a problem. He would take a small brush and paint the tread on worn tires with shoe polish so it would contrast with the road surface of the tire. Made those half worn tires look like new ones at a cursory glance and which was the point…
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I had a friend who ran amateur rallies back in the day. His co-driver was in the habit of sticking route notes on Post-Its to the dash. Unfortunately my friend was in the habit of sticking Armor All on his dash, which got him cursed at on race day. 