For those who enjoy car care, a little tip I've learned and adopted in the detailing world for tires.
Products used: Armor All (AA) Tire Foam
(orange can, black cap), Armor All (AA) Tire Gel
(orange squeeze bottle), and a generic degreaser.
A little background, for those who don't know, I used to have a detailing business on the side, and still do some work here and there. Of course I still take care of my own and family's vehicles.
Proper tire dressing is very important, and not just for aesthetics. Proper products will greatly help the rubber and protect the tires.
The way I like to clean tires is to take either Purple Power, Simple Green, Meguiar's Super Degreaser, etc. I then take these and dilute them 1:1. Spray on the tires after wetting them, and scrub, then rinse.
Apply the tire foam on the tire after you've cleaned the tire/wheels (and car). Applying the foam is one of my last steps when I detail a vehicle. I first clean/wash the wheels/tires before I wash the car, this way the dirty water will not splash on the newly washed surface of the car.
It doesn't matter if the tire is wet or not when applying AA Foam. Usually the tires are still semi-wet when I get to this step. I foam all 4 tires, let settle for about 1 min., and then take an old bath towel. I go around and wipe/clean all tires. It's usually good to do this when there is still foam on the tires. The foam is a GREAT cleaner and a good base for the next step.
Then I apply the AA Tire gel. The gel goes a very very long way since the foam makes a great base. It also helps last a lot longer. Gel is a very good durable tire dressing.
This process is something that is very cheap than anyone can do.
There are a few tires that are not compatible with these products. Reason being is these products contain silicone and possible might turn your tires brown. The only ones I am familiar with like these are drag radial's and other soft composite tires. For these, I use Meguiar's Non-Silicone dressing.
Aftermath:
Hope this helps some.
