Do you think you could use AT 2020 to stop dry rot on car tires?
I don't think so. You can't stop nature.
No. If your tires are dry rotted, they need replacement. Tires are the only thing connecting your car to the roadway. I don't suggest skimping on them.
I just see Scotty use AT 205 on a lot of rubber components on his cars to keep the rubber supple, was just curious if it would do the same for tires as preventative maintenance on new tires.
thanks for the answers fellas
I was curious about Scotty's miracle in can too, so I decided to research AT-205 Re-Seal.
The safety datasheet reveals that this product is purely made of glycol ether, which is a versatile industrial solvent (in paints, cleaners, strippers etc.). It's been around for at least a century. (Guess what else is a glycol ether ... DOT3/DOT4 brake fluid.)
The action is fairly simple. The ether is absorbed into the rubber, causing it to swell. This might be desirable in an application where you need to seal something. The rubber gasket swells, fills a gap and prevents the escape of whatever you are trying to contain. You probably need to keep applying it though, because after the ether leeches out, the rubber will shrink again. You are not making the rubber new, you are just temporarily swelling it.
When you swell rubber (or any other polymer) you are making it less dense, which makes it less durable, and lose strength. It doesn't seem like a good idea to repeatedly swell and shrink rubber. It won't bring back cracked rubber. I don't think it helps slows down aging either. In fact I think it might accelerate it by leeching out the original plasticizers. All you're doing is swelling and softening it temporarily.
I say with AT-205, stick to the intended application. It's right in the name: "Re-Seal". But I'm open to other opinions.
I also found this:
"Rubber that gets regular use will retain its flexibility and molecular properties longer than neglected rubber. For example, although they’re exposed to UV rays daily, the tires on the car you drive regularly are actually more resistant to rot than tires hidden away in a dark garage. During the manufacturing process, the tire-maker adds a protective compound to the rubber formulation. Regular use causes the tire to flex and compress, pushing this protective substance to the surface. This doesn’t happen in an unused tire, so the rubber is more vulnerable to damage from ozone and oxidation.
Lack of use, exposure to extremely high or low temperatures, or prolonged exposure to UV radiation can all cause rubber’s molecular chains to break down over time — and time itself is a factor, too. Rubber is one polymer that just doesn’t last forever, and its descent into decay begins the moment it’s manufactured."
https://www.polymersolutions.com/blog/why-does-rubber-dry-rot/