macgyver35

My wife and I are going Monday night to see Neil deGrasse Tyson at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas. Neil is the host of Fox's reboot of Cosmos and a world-renowned astrophysicist.

At any rate, I decided to clean up the old battle wagon for date night. This time, I thought I'd try a new product. Namely, Armor All Outlast Tire Glaze. I'm tired of all the other stuff that looks great for a few days, but then leaves your tires with that reddish-brown haze.

Firstly, it's $10 for a little 8 ounce aerosol can. Hope it's worth it...

Clean your tires and make sure they are completely dry. Spray on your tires. Immediately wipe off any over-spray from wheels and other areas. This stuff goes on and takes about 20 minutes to dry. Once it does, this stuff is dry to the touch, does not attract dust/dirt, and feels a bit like a thin, clear rubberized coating on your tires. Almost like clear Plasti-dip. Just be aware that if this film if not cleaned off, it will be on your wheels and paint and can be a pain to remove. It is VERY shiny! I think I would prefer something with a bit less shine, but if it lasts awhile, I may get used to it.
I can see this being a great product to help wheelbarrow and trailer/RV tires from getting dry rot as quickly.

The instructions say nothing about using this on anything other than tires. I have no idea what kind of effect this may have on fender flares, mirrors, or other exterior plastic. Maybe it works, maybe it leaves permanent discoloration. Who knows? Any brave souls want to give it a go? In the photo, you'll see the shine about 45 minutes after I sprayed it on. My fender flares and mirrors were shined with Black Magic spray.

I have a 30 mile round trip each day to work, and they are calling for some rain toward the end of the week. I'll report back in 7-10 days and see how it's doing.

Bustedback

You go and see guys like Neil and don't drive a Prius? That's just odd.

mrfajita

Neil is awesome, I'd go see him.

CanXJ

You are kidding right? LOL. If it was date night i hope she polished your rims.

macgyver35

Yeah, I'm a science and math nerd, but I'm an interesting balance of opposites. I work in IT and read books on physics, but I love Jeeps and grew up wrenching on old cars. I can design a network and troubleshoot your PC, or fix your refrigerator. In my 42 years I have been a factory Certified Briggs and Stratton and Echo small engine mechanic, a landscaper, a Texas licensed locksmith, and Texas certified Nurseryman, and Texas Licensed Irrigator, a construction superintendent for David Weekley Homes (a national builder) and Braswell Custom Homes (a local Dallas builder) building houses ranging from $180K to $1.6 million, the youngest ever store manager for the Calloway's Nursery chain, a car stereo installer, an Audio/Video installer/tech, a warehouse manager, a maintenance man at some apartments I lived at, and a used car salesman (I know...). I'm a member of the International High IQ Society, a member of the Hamilton Institute, and I'm trying to get into Mensa. My IQ puts me in roughly the top 3% of the general population, yet I'm a high school drop out. I read voraciously and knock out about 20 novels a year, yet I can't spell worth a damn. I'm very mechanically inclined and good with my hands in that regard, but I have crappy hand/eye coordination, so I always sucked at sports. If it involved a ball, I was doomed. Did pretty good in track and was only 1/10th of a second off from qualifying for the Junior Olympics when I was in school. I work on computers all day, but my typing skills suck. I have ADD, which often enough makes me appear far dumber than I really am. Squirrel!!

I'm not sure if I qualify as well-rounded. But If I don't I'm not sure who does. My friends and family's nicknames for me are MacGyver, Professor, or Einstein. My wife often calls me *******, but in an affectionate way. I'm smart, but my wife has to remind me where I put my keys and wallet every morning. The universe has a sense of humor and ways of keeping you humble. For every good quality I have. I'm sure I have two or three bad ones. My wife loves me and puts up with me, so I guess that says something.

CanXJ

You sound like a pretty cool guy. My wife figures you are the " most interesting man in the world". A actually living Sheldon. But did you get your rims polished? Rock on dude LOL!

Bustedback

Sharks worry when you going to the ocean for fear you will attack them.

Fred/N0AZZ

My wife is happy when I scrape some of the Cow S**&* off of my tires and hood/doors even the top sometimes.

You have a very nice XJ.

gpXJ

Your life and you sound like my twin....although born a few years earlier.. I did manage to finish High School, though I never did anything worthwhile in college. And you live close! XJ looks nice, bud!

ShowMe Cherokee

As a physicist and fellow shade tree mechanic, I understand where you are coming from. And thanks for the tip on the wheel polish. My stupid RV tires already have cracked sidewalls. Maybe this stuff will help the next ones.

One of my favorite quotes regarding our "condition":

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
-Robert A. Heinlein



I haven't gotten through all of them yet, but I'm working on it...

macgyver35

I like that one! It's great! Here's a few of my favorites you may appreciate:

"The doctor of philosophy who cannot make a simple wooden box is as poorly educated as the carpenter who cannot read" - Charles Cook

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain

"I have never met a man who was such a fool I couldn't learn something from him." - Abraham Lincoln

"Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of man; the balance wheel of the social machinery." - Horace Mann

How weird we start with tire glaze and end up in this kind of discussion...

Epk5150

I feel smarter already!

Teephphah

Okay, raise your hand if you aren't wicked smaht.

I could/should be in MENSA based on my LSAT score from back in the day alone, to say nothing of all the neat things I've taught myself since they came up with this whole "interweb" stuff.

I just always thought some degree of inate genius was automatically implied by XJ ownership so it went without saying. No?

F1Addict

Neil deGrasse Tyson is awesome but shiny tires aren't my thing. I use Mothers Back to Black which makes the tires appear very black but not shiny or wet looking, just black. I know a lot of people who do appreciate a sparkly tire so I'll watch for your results. I'm curious about what will happen if you brush against the curb after it's dry.

There is a lecture series on Netflix (streaming) called The Inexplicable Universe with Neil deGrasse Tyson that's fairly interesting. It's more of a freestyle science vamping/pondering than the delivery of a memorized dialog.

macgyver35

Okay... So the show last night was...
AWESOME!!!
Neil did a terrific job. The show was entertaining, and had a surprising amount of humor. My wife, who is not a science type at all, had a great time and said even though she anticipated that she would be bored to tears, she actually had a really great time and would enjoy going to see him again. I've seen his lectures and whatnot online for many years, but nothing matches the energy of being there along with a couple thousand other like-minded people to see the man in action. He started the show by "getting comfortable" and taking his boots off and did his entire performance in his socks. He engaged the audience regularly, kept the pace quick and interesting, and was able to put things into easy perspective in a concise way. The question and answer session at the end was definitely worth staying for.

I have to say - and I'm not trying to intentionally insult anyone's religion here - that being a person who lives in the heart of the very conservative bible belt, which is often anti-science, it was great to see so many people out there who just "get it" ,and appreciate depths of knowledge, and the awe and wonder that comes with, that most people I know and work with aren't even remotely aware of. I'm a senior manager and partner at my company. One of four. The other three guys and the company president are all Creationists that believe the Earth is only 6000 years old, and that fossils are the Devil's way of tricking us. I can't ever talk to them about things that interest me, because they are distructsful of science (as they enjoy their smartphones, the internet, satellite TV, and modern medicine), and tend to suspect me of not being "Christian enough" if I show too much appreciation for any actual facts and knowledge that doesn't agree with their creationist worldview. I needed last night to counterbalance the willful ignorance I'm routinely exposed to and have to bite my tongue about.

And btw, the tires are still shiny!