Tyre dressing is that last, important flourish to get your car looking show-worthy, but there’s a huge variety of products available, including silicon-based and water-based. So which tyre dressing is best?
We had a 2001 car with some very faded trim to spruce up for this test, as well as a newer car with some modestly greying tyres. Making sure that the rubber was clean, we applied the products as per the instructions, and used the provided applicators if they were supplied. We factored in ease of application, the finished look and how long they kept the tyres and trim looking good.
So who came out on top?
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Best buy - Diamond Shine Tyre and Trim Dressing
Price: £13.46 (500ml)
Buy from: Amazon
Applicator included? Yes
This did a brilliant job of rejuvenating our faded trim, plus the foam and sponge applicator is ideal for getting into awkward nooks around the wing mirrors or bumpers. You can layer a couple of coats onto tyres for extra shine, or it brings a more understated, clean-looking finish with a single application. It lasted well, too. The trim faded a little after a few days and needed another application, but it still bettered any others, and the tyres looked fresh for a couple of weeks and more. On balance of cost, and especially with the applicator included, this is a great product and a good price.
Autocar says: 5 stars
Recommended - Nano Go Tyre Dressing
Price: £18.99
Buy from: Amazon
Applicator included? No
This is silicon-based product that you spray on and leave to cure. It leaves a really high shine on tyres and also did a fine job of restoring depth of colour to our faded plastic trim. It lasted best of all of our products, although we wouldn’t say that it lived up to the claims of it providing eight to 12 weeks of shine. Even so, it’s excellent stuff if a bit expensive.
Autocar says: 4 stars
Best budget buy - McLaren Gloss Tyre Dressing
Price: £6.78 (500ml)
Buy from: Amazon
Applicator included? No
We found that one application of the McLaren dressing brought a nice, medium shine, while a second coat brought a high shine that lasted well over a couple of weeks of rain showers and routine driving. It did a reasonable job on hard rubber trim initially, but faded quickly on these surfaces compared with some others. Still a brilliant option, especially if you’d rather avoid silicon-based dressings that can affect grip levels if you get the product on the tyre treads.
Autocar says: 4 stars
Other available products - King of Sheen Eco Tyre Shine
Price: £8.99 (500ml)
Buy from: Amazon
Applicator included? Yes
This is another great water-based tyre dressing. Even old tyres look really clean and smart after one round of this, and it comes with a nifty applicator to make it easier to apply to awkward areas. It’s safe for any plastics, but it didn’t have quite the transformative effect on our greying plastics that the Diamond Shine did. Overall, it smells good and is effective on both trim and tyres. At this price, it’s one of the best all-rounders.
Autocar says: 4 stars
Autoglym High Performance Tyre Gel
Price: £10.90 (500ml)
Buy from: Amazon
Applicator included? No
This is a great product, although it’s a shame that it specifies a foam applicator yet doesn’t come with one. It’s one of the best for ultimate shine if you apply it liberally. Alternatively, you can wipe it clean straight after application and it leaves an even, matt finish. It lasts well, too. The shine had faded but the tyres still looked clean and smart after a fortnight of intermittent showers and fairly high mileage.
Autocar says: 4 stars
Meguiar’s Endurance Tyre Gel
Price: £15.00 (473ml)
Buy from: Amazon
Applicator included? No
You apply the Meguiar’s tyre gel with a cloth, so there’s no risk of overspray on the bodywork or on the driveway. It’s also easy to vary how shiny you want the tyre to be by adding more or less gel, and the product lasted well, with the tyre still looking smart after three weeks and more. No mention of it being appropriate for plastic trim, though, which is a shame because it’s one of our favourites for the tyres.
Autocar says: 4 stars
Auto Finesse
Price: £15.95 (500ml)
Buy from: Amazon
Applicator included? No
This silicone-based tyre shine leaves a wet-look gloss that lasted a good few days, if not as long as some of our others. It’s of the ‘spray and leave’ school of application but doesn’t drip as much as some others and is easy to apply neatly. It did a good job of restoring the depth of colour to some faded trim when we applied it using a microfibre, too. Good all-rounder, but not the best value option.
Autocar says: 3 stars
CarPlan Demon Tyres Instant Shine
Price: £9.99 (1000ml)
Buy from: Amazon
Applicator included? No
This is great value for the amount of product you get, and it turns your rubber back to a deep, shiny-looking finish. The instructions tell you to spray it on and leave it to dry, which is easy but can also make for a messy application because it’s very runny. It is silicone-free, though, so it’s not too hard to clean up. However, it doesn’t last as long as some others. The finish on the tyres fades quite quickly after heavy rainfall or a few days of driving.
Autocar says: 3 stars
Simoniz Back to Black Wet Look Tyre Shine
Price: £5.50 (500ml)
Buy from: Amazon
Applicator included? No
This faded almost immediately on the plastic trim that we applied it to, which is even more of a shame since it’s specifically described as a trim and tyre dressing. It did a reasonable job on the tyre walls, leaving a good shine with only one application, even though it also runs the same risk of overspray that the other ‘spray-and-leave’ products have. It lasted reasonably well on the tyres, but faded after a week or so.
Autocar says: 2 stars
Turtle Wax Wet ‘N’ Black Tyre Dressing
Price: £7.49 (500ml)
Buy from: Amazon
Applicator included? No
The Turtle Wax dressing smells strongly of chemicals compared with the others here, which is the first thing you notice. It’s another of the silicon-based ‘spray it on and leave it’ variety of tyre dressings, and there’s a risk of leaving marks on your driveway if you’re not ready to catch the drips with a cloth. It leaves your tyres looking shiny, but it fades quickly over a few days of normal driving and the occasional shower.
Autocar says: 2 stars
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I like to keep my cars clean and tidy, but polishing the tyres is a step to far.
Come on Autocar there is more important stuff to be reporting on. Leave the tyre cleaning products to the Classic Car connoisseurs! Why not test the actual tyres instead...
Petrol £1.60? per litre? £3,000p/a home energy bills? Mortgage going up but disposable income going down? Never mind, give your rubber a polish, that'll get you through the winter.
I suppose it's better than the annual, patronising, "now's the time for winter tyres".