Tyre shine... Dangerous stuff?

[TdM]

Had my car valeted, they did a great job but put shine on the tyre wall and first inch or two of the tread. Onto a busy roundabout on a steady throttle *in traffic* maybe doing 25-30mph and I'm into what I'm sure looked like a very impressive show-off drift.

I am assuming it was down to the tyre shine as conditions are good, I wasn't going quickly, as I say, steady throttle, no crazy weight transfer. I'm not inexperienced when it comes to oversteer so caught it fine but I wasn't expecting it so it got further around than you would appreciate on a busy roundabout!

I think I'm going to add 'no tyre shine' to my request on top of 'no air freshener'. First time the car has done something really unexpected!

[exeterjeep]

Also give bikes a bit of an issue?

https://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/threads/never-use-tire-shine.150895/

[Bravo73]

Personally, I’d be very surprised if that amount of tyre shine would have such an effect on traction. 

I suspect that it was maybe more a case of cold, summer tyres on a cold, greasy road surface. 

[TdM]

Thing is, I've been driving said summer tyres throughout winter sometimes significantly more enthusiastically on significantly colder and more challenging roads and whilst they certainly unstick if provoked it's in predictable circumstances and under reasonable load.

Today isn't that cold, certainly above what I would deem summer the problems, I wasn't putting anywhere near enough load through to upset the tyres in those conditions and it wasn't a weight transition or anything. It was practically diving miss daisy then... Oversteer for days.

[jerzybondov]

Might have also been something on the road surface? Unless they were liberally coating the contact surfaces of the tyre I can’t imagine the tyre shine would make that much odds!

[Dave Eds]

Was it a professional valet or was it your local hand car wash? It's not unknown for the latter to brush on a diesel based solution to make tyres look shiny....

[Greg | ValetPro]

tyre shine should only be used on the walls of the tyre. I use it all the time even before I go on a track day. Never had an issue.  

 

If they applied dressing the the tread of the tyre that could cause an issue but should wear of very quickly as it's not designed to withstand road abrasion they should only be resistant to weather.  

 

 

[TdM]

Thanks Greg. It was only at the start of the drive I had a moment so I'm still suspicious of the shine considering the weird loss of grip.

Suppose it can't be proven what caused it but it was very strange!

[pete]

Diesel is common on roundabouts

[Champale]

That tire shine can DEFINITELY cause some moments like that, no matter the weather.  Even if it is only on the very edge of the tread where it meets the sidewall, it is so incredibly slick.  When I used to use it years ago on my Mitsubishi Evo, the first couple of corners were always pretty exciting!

[dogtag114]

I recommend kicking the habit on a track focused car.  I once put it on very carefully and waited a full day before driving.

The following day, it still spun to the outer driving area of the tire.  I scrubbed it all off before track day.