by Audi1 » Fri Dec 30, 2016 6:35 pm
Tried my new SCC Tire Gluing Tool today on a set of 15x8 CBDesign wheels with NSR Ultragrip tires. Ultragrips are very soft and pliable, so rolling them up the conical surface of the tool is a bit of a challenge. I ended up using spray silicone on the cone and it worked very well; just slid straight up the cone and popped off onto the wheel. I use a silicone-based gasket adhesive to mount the tire to the wheel, so sliding the tire over silicone kept all the key chemicals in the same "family".
I use a smaller washer just in front of the retaining washer that comes with the kit and I find that the tire seats on the outer rim just a little bit better that way.
Since I'm using a silicone adhesive, I have a long working time, which, for me is a huge plus since it lets me remove the glued wheels/tires from the tool and mount the pair on an axle with bushings, which, in turn, allows me to roll the pair on a nice flat surface so that I can feel comfortable with the tire seating on the wheels.
I also put the wheels/tires-axle with bushings assembly on my Tire Razor and turn it slowly by hand to be sure that the tire is sitting squarely on the wheel [how many of you have had tires that seated just a little out of perfectly square on the wheels? When you true them, they look smooth, but when you look at them from the front, there's some "wobble" in the contact patch. I know, from experience, that tires with a wobbly contact patch are not fast!].
Probably the thing that I like most about the tool is that you can now see the adhesive on the wheel before you mount the tire. That gives you the confidence to know that you will have a good gasket seal when the units dry up. Using a toothpick just doesn't let you know that; it's little hit-or-miss. I slightly over-apply the adhesive and then use a Q-tip to wipe the excess off the rib and the inside and outside faces of the wheel before I put the wheel mounting unit into the tire ramp cone.
A great tool from SCC (with silent, telepathic input from Dennis)!
Allan