Armor All Tire Foam Review


Thread Starter #1
Prabhagar

Prabhagar

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Armor All Tire Foam​
I was at a local car spa ([lol]) shop last month and noticed a small 113gm bottle of Armor All Tire Foam with an atrocious pricing of Rs 250. Immediately pulled out my phone and looked up its price on Amazon. The bigger sized (567gm) can was listed for Rs 499 and placed my order on the same day. I have never used a tire care product in my life, be it cleaner, shine or protectant. The only reason I ordered it was due to my curiosity and prior experience with Armor Ultra Shine shampoo for quite a few years.

- Product: Armor All Tire Foam
- Price: Rs 499 for 567 gm
- Bought From: Amazon India (Product Link)

Likes:
- Specially made for lazy folks. Just spray on and let it dry. No wiping or brushing required.
- Can be used on wet or dry tires.
- Leaves a dark black look that I prefer over glossy appearance.
- Should last at least 6 months when used every fortnight.
- Claims to protect tires.

Dislikes:
- This is actually a learning curve for me. The nozzle does not throw a consistent spray when shaken often. YouTube helped me with the right way of using it.

Genuine USA import. They have different products for various shine levels. This product has the lowest shine level:
01_Can_Front_Back_Collage.jpg​

Instructions and warnings. Product claims to block harmful elements ([confused]) that can cause cracking and fading.
02_Can_Directions_Collage.jpg​

Here's how I sprayed (after 2 incorrect methods) it on to my tires:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKnqSqZDlhs&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVEV_KnEB28&feature=youtu.be
Left image: Few seconds after spraying.
Right image: After 5 minutes. They advise 10 minutes of drying time but it is better to allow 15+ minutes for proper dry out.
06_Drying_Collage.jpg
​

Front Tire before and after images. It is difficult to get a natural looking picture after the spray due to high contrast between alloy and tire.
03_Dry_Front_Collage.jpg​

Rear Tire before and after images. I have not evenly sprayed the product and the results show that.
04_Dry_Rear_Collage.jpg​

Up close:
07_Close_Up.jpg​

Side View:
05_Side_Collage.jpg​

Water resistance after ~10 days of application (I do not drive daily though):
08_Water_Beading_Collage.jpg​

Overall, I am satisfied with the product and will continue to use it on my tires. Please do leave your feedback on this review and share your experience with any other tire care products you use(d).
 
#3
Driveright

Driveright

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Prabhagar said:
Armor All Tire Foam​
I was at a local car spa ([lol]) shop last month and noticed a small 113gm bottle of Armor All Tire Foam with an atrocious pricing of Rs 250. Immediately pulled out my phone and looked up its price on Amazon. The bigger sized (567gm) can was listed for Rs 499 and placed my order on the same day. I have never used a tire care product in my life, be it cleaner, shine or protectant. The only reason I ordered it was due to my curiosity and prior experience with Armor Ultra Shine shampoo for quite a few years.

- Product: Armor All Tire Foam
- Price: Rs 499 for 567 gm
- Bought From: Amazon India (Product Link)

Likes:
- Specially made for lazy folks. Just spray on and let it dry. No wiping or brushing required.
- Can be used on wet or dry tires.
- Leaves a dark black look that I prefer over glossy appearance.
- Should last at least 6 months when used every fortnight.
- Claims to protect tires.

Dislikes:
- This is actually a learning curve for me. The nozzle does not throw a consistent spray when shaken often. YouTube helped me with the right way of using it.

Genuine USA import. They have different products for various shine levels. This product has the lowest shine level:

Instructions and warnings. Product claims to block harmful elements ([confused]) that can cause cracking and fading.

Here's how I sprayed (after 2 incorrect methods) it on to my tires:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKnqSqZDlhs&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVEV_KnEB28&feature=youtu.be
Left image: Few seconds after spraying.
Right image: After 5 minutes. They advise 10 minutes of drying time but it is better to allow 15+ minutes for proper dry out.

Front Tire before and after images. It is difficult to get a natural looking picture after the spray due to high contrast between alloy and tire.

Rear Tire before and after images. I have not evenly sprayed the product and the results show that.

Up close:

Side View:

Water resistance after ~10 days of application (I do not drive daily though):

Overall, I am satisfied with the product and will continue to use it on my tires. Please do leave your feedback on this review and share your experience with any other tire care products you use(d).
Click to expand...
nice info Prabhagar! just wanted to know if its ok for the foam to run down on the alloys /wheels ?does the rubber feel different to touch after the foam dries off?
 
#4
CRACING

CRACING

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Silicone vs Water Based Dressers

Hello Prabhagar,

I'm glad to see that you are slowly entering into car detailing world and I expect more product reviews from you.

Armor All Tire Foam is a directly used product and it being foam aerosol spray, we cannot control the amount to be applied. Yet it gives uniform coating and decent appearance.

However, it is silicone based and some of you know that its not a good thing. I would like to share some details about silicone vs water based dressers so that users will understand better and choose products wisely.

Let me start with tires construction; the tires are designed to perform under extreme conditions of heat via kinetic energy transfer, high speeds for long periods of time and incredible forces of torque and flexing.

Modern rubber contains ingredient called Anti-Ozonant. It helps to prevent the rubber surface from cracking, oxidizing and premature degrading or failure. Once the Anti-Ozonant works its way to the outside of the tire and is exposed to the ozone in the air, it turns brown. The technical term for this effect is blooming. This is why you see a brown film on the surface of tires. You can wash the tires with shampoo or an all-purpose cleaner and remove this film, but in a few weeks, it's back. That's because the Anti-Ozonant continually works its way to the outside of the tire every time you drive your car.

Now when you use silicone or solvent based tire dressers, the solvent evaporates leaving the dressing's active ingredients (Silicone oil) behind, which gives gloss appearance and probably some protection from from UV rays, cracking, fading and etc. However, the solvent or silicone leaches the chemical or protectant used by tire manufacturers, thus increasing the tires vulnerability to dry rot and lose elasticity of rubber. So to keep the tires protected, you'll have to apply dressers regularly like an addiction and yet you aren't sure whether the product is protecting the tires.

Water-based dressings doesn't contain petroleum distillate, silicone oils, waxes, or solvents so it doesn't harm rubber, vinyl or plastic. Instead they use a combination of natural oils and polymers to offer a non-greasy and satin finish. Most, if not all water-based dressings are environmentally friendly / biodegradable, whereas solvent-based silicone is not.

I would highly recommend to use water-based dressings only, like Meguiars Natural Shine, Chemical Guys Natural Shine Dressing, Chemical Guys V.R.P, Proklear TTD and etc. Otherwise don't use tire dressers at all. [;)]

Note: All the above info I have given is based on my research and understandings.

Bonus - Tire cleaning Instructions:

Tires attract oil, dirt, brake dust and road grime. For any type of protection to work efficiently on rubber it must be able to adhere to the surface. So first you'll have to thoroughly clean the tire prior to applying protectant.

Spray or apply your favorite cleaner and allow it to soak in for a minute or two. Use tire brush to scrub if necessary. Finally spray some clean water and dry it using cotton or microfiber cloth. It should be almost pristine, if not repeat the cleaning procedure. Tire cleaner needs to be strong enough if you have used silicone-based tire dresser but must not damage the tire or wheel coatings. A quality citrus-based cleaner should clean the tires down to the original rubber surface, this is especially important when you apply a new dressing.

Rather then directly applying tire dresser, spray it over applicator pad and apply on the sidewall. Incase you have foam tire dresser, spray it directly over sidewall and use applicator pad to spread the product. This way, the coating will be uniform on the surface and work efficiently.

Thats it. Enjoy detailing your car. [:D]

Thanks...
Best Regards
 
#5
K

karteek

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Re: Silicone vs Water Based Dressers

CRACING said:
I would highly recommend to use water-based dressings only, like Meguiars Natural Shine, Chemical Guys Natural Shine Dressing, Chemical Guys V.R.P, Proklear TTD and etc. Otherwise don't use tire dressers at all. [;)]
Click to expand...
Cracing, How about Wavex Tire Dresser ? Please advice. Thanks.
 
Thread Starter #7
Prabhagar

Prabhagar

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Driveright said:
nice info Prabhagar! just wanted to know if its ok for the foam to run down on the alloys /wheels ?does the rubber feel different to touch after the foam dries off?
Click to expand...
Thanks Driveright. There is no warning on the can about letting it touch the alloys/rims although it dries up even before there is any time to run down. The only times it may come in contact with alloys is when spraying close to the rims.

CRACING said:
Hello Prabhagar,

I'm glad to see that you are slowly entering into car detailing world and I expect more product reviews from you.

However, it is silicone based and some of you know that its not a good thing. I would like to share some details about silicone vs water based dressers so that users will understand better and choose products wisely.
Click to expand...
Thank you CRACING for your kind words and expert advice. This tire foam does contain silicones (no phosphorus) and I will ensure to check the ingredients on all my future purchases. You have also opened up a great topic for research too, thank you for that [:)].
 
#9
vishnu vichu

vishnu vichu

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Prabhagar said:
Another reason to stay away from tire foam. Even with slight rain, the black coating melts down on the wheels:

Click to expand...
Ouch ! Now that's a very big disappointment . I used to try these foam sprays in my initial days of care caring. Now I've been upgraded myself to another better product.
Smartwax tire Gel. This is the one i'm using since 3 years now and I'm extremely happy with it. Attaching a pic just for reference.
smartwax-korean-best-selling-car-exterior-care-trim-tire-and-hardplastic-restorer-and-polisher-s.jpg

Though the bottle is 1600 rs, I till have more than 90% of the product still left cause you only need a little of the product to get the entire tire protected. Another plus point is that, even it can be applied to your matte finished black/grey alloys to get a depth effect to the alloys as well. Been using this on my alloys as well. Usually lasts around 2-3 rains. The only disadvantage is that you have to sit down and put it manually rather just spraying it off [lol]
 
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