Anybody ever hear of that before? I had some minor repair work done at a body shop this week and the owner mentioned to me that they found a lot of silicone on the surface of my fender and that they had to scrub it off before they could paint. According to the guy silicone reacts very badly with paint and can break down existing painted surfaces or prevent new surfaces from bonding with a new coat of paint.

I've used the guy before and his shop does top quality work. They didn't charge me anything extra for cleaning the silicone, so there's no motivation for them to make up the story. I'd just never heard of it myself before.

So if it is true, how do you wet black your tires without getting silicone particles on your paint? Supposedly airborne silicone can travel a long way in the air, so how can you keep it only on your tires? I've always used aerosol cans or pump spray containers in the past - would it be less of a problem with a wipe-on paste?

Thoughts?

 

silicon and wet paint dont mix, i'm not sure about cured paint.

 

wat do you mean by wet black? you mean saucing or dressing your
sidewalls?

I use Griots PaintPrep and it removes all silicones including wax.

 

Silicone based dressings don't get absorbed into the rubber and have a tendancy to sling on to the paint. This silicone can harm the finish so I typically try and apply a thin amount of a water based dressing. Sometimes when I detail people's vehicles I can tell just by looking at the paint they use silicone based dressings. Its also not really good for the rubber like water based dressings that get absorbed into the rubber. Poorboy's World Bold n Bright works great for me and I would recommend to anyone looking for a safe tire dressing that still gives you a dark shine.

 

I've been using it for years with no probs.

 

Yes! If you put to much tire gel on your tires and you drive off it can splash on the paint. It is not super noticeable on light colors, but it happend to me on my black paint and you can def see where it is. It goes through the clear coat so its a pain in the *** to get rid of.

 

Silicone is only bad for paint that is still burning off solvents, so new un-baked paint. It will not effect factory paint.

 

If you want to avoid getting the "tire shine" stuff on your paint, simply apply the tire shine (spray or liquid) to a pad or sponge (they make curved ones just for tire dressing) and use the pad/sponge to carefully rub the dressing onto the tires. This will prevent you from spraying your paint and your wheels.

 

http://www.infinitihelp.com/Ownershi.../ITB05-003.htm

 

That's good info, Curt. I've heard the same story as the OP and this kinda qualifies the story.

 

That's one good way to cover your @ss.

 

My favorite tire dressing is Meguiar's Endurance. The instructions tell you
to apply with an applicator and wipe off the excess. As advertised this
stuff lasts weeks and always looks great......remember wipe off excess!!

 

meguiars insane shine aerosol spray is the best, it doesnt get all over the place and it actually sticks to the tires.

 

Used to have the problem a lot where the tire dressing would sling onto the paint when driving. When I tried to wipe off the black specs off the paint they didn't come off readily. Solved the problem for me by ensuring the tire is throughly cleaned before applying dressing. After apply any tire dressing I usually wait a few hours for it to dry and adhere to the tire before driving. This seemed to solve my problem. BTW I currently use the Armour Arm High Shine on my tires. Works ok so far.

 

In my opinion as a detailer, get Finish Kare FK-108. No sling, nice clean, matte finish, and no damage to paint. Good for interiors and plasic trim too.