Lidl used to sell an aerosol tyre cleaner, much like a typical upholstery cleaner in action, spray on foam wipe off after a short time and left the sidewalls looking not fake but like brand new rubber.

As with so many of the superb products Lidl used to sell i haven't seen it for years.

Through my pressure washer soap dispenser i use Dirtbusters Snow Foam Wash and Wax, that too leaves the tyres looking pristine, it also comes in various flavours, i use the cherry flavoured which leaves the drive smelling really nice afterwards...it looks expenisve at around £22 for 5 litres, but its concentrated and despite adjusting the soap dial right back i've still had to mix it with 50% water, only on my second 5 litre tub after probably 2 years of washing 2 cars most weeks.

Thanks both, helpful replies. It is probably a waste of time, money. Also, I agree, it does look backstreet sales. I'll stop.

I don't of course care what my tyres look like, but I have wondered if some treatment would protect them from ozone/ultraviolet etc and slow down the development of cracking. I experimented with sunflower oil on my last set of tyres, which I'm fairly sure was a mistake.

There is an anti UV spray used on rubber dinghies, called, IIRC, Aerospace 330, which might be a candidate, but I can't get that in Taiwan.

I can get boot polish though.

Burt Monroe used shoe polish on the tyres of his record breaking Indian motorbike (assuming the film was factually correct on that detail).

When I started working as a valeted in a SAAB dealership in 1990, the boss was mad keen on tyre paint. Personally, I thought I looked absolutely horrible, but he insisted!. By the time I left around 4.5 years later, he had been persuaded that tyre dressing was better than paint, both for the tyre and the appearance of the car.

But IMO, a shiny finish on tyres looks well naff!