You came across vehicle showroom and automobile exhibition, the tyre looks shiny. You also saw some vehicles on the road have shiny tyres on it. You found the appearance looks good and wanted to try on your tyres as well.
You found the tyre wax / tyre dressing product, saying that it will clean your tyres, protect your tyres from dirt, protect your tyres and make your tyres last longer. You spray it, and it really looks good on your vehicle on the appearance.
What the appearance does not reveal, is the chemical reaction behind the layer of wax. You thought the wax looks fine with it simply because the exhibition people are doing it too. Similar to a cosmetic salesperson telling you about their good-looking products without telling any side effect.
Let’s look at what’s actually behind the tyre wax.
1. ph value of tyre wax
To show the Ph value paper is working, it is used to test on another product.
Bleach: ph value = 14
(very alkaline)
Lemon: ph value = 2
(very acidic)
The other one serve as a control
one of the sample bought
tyre wax: ph value = 8
(slight alkaline)
Although tyre wax is not acidic , it doesn’t mean (slight) alkaline does not affect tyre degration. Alkalkine solution will dissolve the chemicals inside the tyre such as anti oxidant, speeding up tyre aging.
Tyre wax may contain “bleach” materials inside the solution as it causes the ph paper test white after sometime. It’s evident of bleach existence (refer to first image above) that causes the ph paper white.
2. Most tyre wax contains alcohol
(chemical formula R-OH) Tyre wax contains alcohol such that it will clean and dissolve things on the tyre surface. In turn, it speeds up tyre aging also by dissolving the chemicals inside the tyre.
3. Tyre wax contain petroleum(oil)
Oil based tyre wax contains oil in order to make the surface of the tyre looks shiny. Oil causes tyre degradation by breaking down the chemicals inside the tyre, resulting in tyre failure.
4. Tyre wax covering up the crack of the tyre
The oily wax makes the tyre looks good such that it’s not easy to find the cracks of the tyre without looking at it carefully. Crack is an indication of tyre ages. The more / larger the crack, the more performance loss is the tyre, and succumb to tyre slip especially on rainy days as tyre fails to drain the water out.
5. Accidental apply tyre wax on the tread area
You spray it on the tyre sidewall but some solutions go on the side of the tread area. The oily based solutions remain on the tyre tread, making your tyre slip especially when steering.
Conclusion
Tyre wax makes your tyres appearance look good in return of shortening your tyre lifespan. You may be using it for a very long time and didn’t feel anything about it, possibly you have replaced your tyre before the tyre fails on you, or you didn’t even know it’s the tyre wax effect that has made the tyre get your driving slippery.
Most oil based tyre wax have side-effect on the tyre. It implies there are very few products really did the work without containing petroleum in it, and it’s neutral (ph 7). Instead of getting a oil based tyre wax, you may look for a water-based tyre dressing to clean the tyre, though it may not give the tyre shiny look.
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