Best tyre shine 2023

A good tyre dressing adds that last, finishing flourish to cleaning your car, and it can make all the difference. But which is best for keeping your tyres looking brand new? That's what we're finding out in this product test.

How we tested them

We tried out our tyre dressings on tyre walls, and also on black rubber trim on an older, 2001 car that had some greying trim to brighten up. Making sure that the tyres and plastics were clean and dry, we followed the application process as recommended by each product manufacturer. Any provided applicators were used and factored into the results, otherwise we used our own clean cloths or sponges. The dressings were then rated for ease of application, the finished look, and how long they kept the tyres looking good. As ever, value for money is also a factor.

The products or services referenced in this story have been reviewed independently by our experts. When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network. However, this will never influence our opinion or ratings.

Top 10: tyre dressings

1. BEST BUY - Diamond Shine Tyre and Trim Dressing

This tyre dressing did a brilliant job of getting our faded plastic trim back to a like-new black finish, plus the applicator that it comes with really helps to get into awkward nooks around door mirrors, or into the edges of your tyre. It’s easy to layer on for a really shiny finish if you want it, or it gets your rubber back to a more understated, clean-looking finish with one application. It lasted well, too, and kept the plastics and tyres looking fresh for a couple of weeks and more. At the price, especially given that it includes the applicator, this is a great buy.

What Car? says 5 stars

2. RECOMMENDED - McLaren Gloss Tyre Dressing

This is a water-based dressing that’s really effective. We found that one application brought a nice, medium shine, or it was easy to apply a second coat for a really good shine that lasted well through a few rain showers and routine driving. It did a reasonable job on harder black rubber trim, too, but it faded quickly on these surfaces compared with some others. Still a great option, especially if you’d rather avoid silicone-based dressings.

What Car? says 4 stars

3. BEST BUDGET BUY - King of Sheen Eco Tyre Shine

This solvent-free, water-based cleaner leaves a really good shine on tyres, and comes with an applicator to make it easier to apply to trims. It’s safe for any plastics, but we found that it didn’t have quite the transformative effect on our greying plastics that our winner did. It smells good, is really easy to apply precisely and is effective on both trim and tyres. Impressive for the price.

What Car? says 4 stars

4. Nano Go Tyre Dressing

This is one of the best products here, leaving a really high shine on tyres and doing a fine job of restoring depth of colour to our faded plastic trim. It lasted best of all of our products, and kept the plastics looking good after a month or so, although the tyre finish had faded a week or so before. However, it’s expensive, especially for the quantity that you get, and it doesn’t come with an applicator.

What Car? says 4 stars

5. Autoglym High Performance Tyre Gel

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, or if you wipe it clean straight after application then it leaves an even, clean-looking matt finish. It lasts well, too; the shine had faded but the tyres still looked clean and smart even after two weeks.

What Car? says 4 stars

6. Meguiar’s Endurance Tyre Gel

You apply the Meguiar’s tyre gel with a cloth, which makes the whole process nice and tidy and with no chance of overspray. 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 despite a few rain showers, with the tyre still looking smart after more than a couple of weeks. No mention of it being appropriate for plastic trim, though, which is a shame, because it’s one of our favourites for the tyres.

What Car? says 4 stars

7. Auto Finesse

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 cloth, too. A good all-rounder, but not the best-value option.

What Car? says 3 stars

8. CarPlan Demon Tyres Instant Shine

The CarPlan tyre shine is really good value and does a fine job of getting your tyres back to a deep, black 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; it’s runny, so you’re likely to end up with some of this product on your driveway. It is silicone-free, though, so it’s not too hard to clean up. It doesn’t last so long on the tyres; a heavy rainfall or a few days of driving has it fading.  

What Car? says 3 stars

9. Turtle Wax Wet ‘N’ Black Tyre Dressing

The Turtle Wax product is a silicone-based tyre dressing, and we immediately noticed that it smells quite strongly of chemicals compared with the others here. It’s another of the ‘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 of rain.

What Car? says 3 stars

10. Simoniz Back to Black Wet Look Tyre Shine

This was pretty ineffective on the plastic trim that we applied it to; that’s a shame, because it’s specifically branded as a trim and tyre dressing. It did a reasonable job on the tyres, though, leaving them with a good shine, albeit with the same risk of overspray as other spray products that recommend you don’t apply with a cloth or sponge. It lasted reasonably well on the tyres, but faded after a week or so.

What Car? says 3 stars

How we test products

The products or services referenced in this story have been reviewed independently by our experts. When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network. However, this will never influence our opinion or ratings.

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