Can making your tires shine cause you to fall?

I'm a noobie so I tend to listen when someone is willing to give me advice, I was told today that putting Armor All or any type of tire shine product on the bikes sidewalls could cause a fall, is this true? While I like straight lines, I respect corners, I'm not even thinking about dragging a knee yet, but when you do get fast in the twisties are you really riding the sidewall to the point that a tire care product could cause you to wipe-out? Thanks in Advance guys!

 

I'll take it one step further, don't put armor-all on motorcycle tires at all. Just a dumb idea, and who cares if that 1.5 inch of sidewall is shiny or not.

 

Stop at the sharp edge of the tire. Anything beyond that is meant to have road contact. So basically you would be shining up about 1/3 of the surface visible from the side, and the rest would be dull. I wouldn't think that this would look good at all. Just scrub the tire so it is good and black, but not shiny

 

risk is too high, just keep the sidewalls clean and move on... all of those tire dressings are very slick and therefore not worth the risk of a drip or accidental overdose. Also, it's one less thing to have to think/worry about.

invest the time in cleaning/lubing your chain regularly - much bigger bang for the buck

 

while on that subject, be careful not to get cleaning products on your tires while cleaning the chain... I was using PineSol to clean the rear sprocket and put it in a spray bottle, diluted of course, but failed to notice that overspray got onto the side of the tire and ran down and underneath. So as I'm moving the tire forward the overspray ran down the middle of the tire. Caught it but did notice a little "greasy" feeling the first ride after that. Not significant, but enough to grab my attention.

 

your tires actually last long enough to invoke the thought of the tires needing tire shine? I must ride too often. (such a thing? naaaaahhhhhh)

 

Dang, you caught onto me.......actually I've only owned the bike for a few months and have put on over 2,000 miles, weekend use, but just haven't grown the nads to drag a knee yet. Plus I'm a cage guy from wayyy back, making the tires shine is just part of the regular cleaning routine, take care of her and she'll take care of you.....

 

I say, ........ dress your tires all you want. Its your bike. Just do it in the safe manor mentioned above.

However,..... ArmorAll is crap. It causes a rebound effect. It actually dries out your tires.

 

I agree, I usually use one of the gel products, they stay on a lot longer, plus no worry about overspray, just a dab does the sidewalls of the bike.

Oh, my buddy found out NOT to use the gel to make the seat shiny! Dumba*s.

 

ArmorAll the tire side walls? Man, I'm neglectful of even keeping the plastic half way clean. Never gave the tires a second thought, other than checking the pressure before a ride. Does this constitute VFR abuse? Am I some kind of monster?

 

I put shine on motorcycles tires once, it was my half brothers bike and he thought I was trying to kill him. Never did look at me the same again. Soap and water, all you need.

Another thought, I would think centrifugal force would drive the Armourall into the tread once you started riding? Make for great burnouts though...........

 

Never though of this. Too bad the ex wife didn't ride

 

wowzers! lol

 

Woulda had to get her a fat boy though

 

I think I was married to her sister! Dark hair, green eyes, horns coming out of the top of her head....right.

 

HOLLY CRAP MAN. WE ARE NEAR RELATED! Bring out the Shine

 

It's your bike so you can dress it up the way you want.
But what's the point of of shining up that little 2 inch strip?

I know you said that you're a big car guy and that tire shine is just part of your routine, but keep in mind that motorcycling is different than cars. I can't expect to go to India and order a hamburger in English because that's what I'm used to, I have to adapt. So you can't expect everything from the car world to translate well into bikes.

Congrats on getting into riding btw!

You mentioned that you're not thinking about dragging a knee yet because you don't have the nads to do it yet. Once you start feeling more comfortable, try taking a few "advanced" riding courses, it'll really open your eyes...there's a right way to ride fast/safe and a wrong way...simply growing enough courage isn't the right way (IMO).

I suggest Lee Parks ARC program (took it a few years ago, great class for beginning/intermediate riders...when I took it they said they were in the process of making a ARC part 2 with a mini autoX style course involved).

Went with a friend of mine, he got his knee down for the first time during that class on his Ninja 250.

Sorry, long post.

Congrats again!

 

Mav, I 've got to agree with the others above...

It's your bike, put turds in the tank if you want. But making that 2 inch sidewall shiney.

What the hell is the point of that?

BZ

 

I'll take another step further...Armor-all is the devil's saliva and is evil. It will rot anything...kinda like the goo that came out of the Alien in the movie "Alien." It will disolve metal, cement, diamonds, anything! EVEN TAINTED PEANUT BUTTER!
Plus, you'll have BAD KARMA for 10,000 lifetimes!