Autocar product test: What tyre dressing is best?

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