Bring the shine back to your tires with just a few minutes of time and some basic household ingredients. If you’re looking for a low-cost, environmentally safe homemade tire shine, you’ll love this simple DIY tutorial.
Homemade Tire shine is made with a mild dish soap, rubbing alcohol, and castor oil. The dish soap strips off the initial dirt and grime, the rubbing alcohol removes the residual dirt, the castor oil provides a natural, environmentally safe shine.
Do It Yourself Tire Shine
You’ll Need:
Rubbing Alcohol in a Spray Bottle
Dawn Dish detergent
Strong hand brush
warm water
A lint free cloth
Castor Oil
Fill a bucket with warm water and add a few drops of dawn dish detergent. Dip a heavy duty scrub brush into the solution and scrub it on face of the tire, soaping the tire well. Let it set about 3-5 minutes.
Rinse the tire very well and dry thoroughly before proceeding.
Spray your tires with rubbing alcohol to strip off any old polish as well as any remaining dust and dirt. If the tires are older and don’t have any sheen left to them, use a mixture of 50% alcohol and 50% water. Spray one section of the tire at a time, using the lint-free cloth to wipe it off as you go.
Allow the tires to dry completely.
Using a clean, lint-free cloth, apply a light coating of castor oil to the face of the tire, avoiding the tread. This will give the tire a nice shiny sheen!
DIY Tire Shine Safety
Be aware that when you’re applying the castor oil to the tire, it should only be applied to the sidewalls, or “face” of the tire, never to the tread. Applying oil to the tread could reduce grip, posing a safety hazard.
I can’t be the only one who wondered, Does tire shine hurt tires?
In most cases, no. However, they cause damage to the wheel finish and brake performance. The tire dressing should be applied directly to the tire sidewall using a towel. Always avoid spraying tire shine directly onto a tire.
Where do you get castor oil?
You can get castor oil at any big box store like walmart, target, etc over near the beauty supplies. Sometimes it’s in the pharmacy area. You can also get castor oil online at amazon.
You can also buy Castrol oil in ethnic food stores notably an Indian food store. Here in Canada I buy a 250 mL bottle for about $3.99 or $4.99, if I remember correctly. The price can vary on the purity but some oil is sold cheaper if it is not used for consumption [used on dry skin or for massage etc.].
I hope to try this on my own tires 🙂
Do NOT use rubbing alcohol. It dries rubber out and makes tires look discolored/brown!