Prepping Urethane Tires No Grip

[dw5555]

Scott you can't run PG urethanes on Mikes wood track. Every time I tried I got zero handling due to the build up of silicone. Not exactly the same but have you tried them on his plastic track?

Dave

[cj74]

I did try them on the plastic track. Only marginally better than driving on a sheet of ice. That track had seen a ton of silicone racing as well. Good info in this thread add I had the same question for the same reason. Looks like I need to do a little polishing before I send the car off for the proxy. Then just hope for the best.

[btaylor]

Don't know if this will help this dilemma, but before each proxy I run on either of my tracks, I clean the entire surface with White lightning cleaner from the dollar store. It removes any trace of tire debris, and does not hurt the painted surface. I have no problems running any type of tire from rubber to silis. It does seam to improve the traction of stock rubber tires somewhat.
Bob

[Audi1]

Good tip, Bob. Thanks. Is your track surface painted latex?

Allan

[Ky.Slot Racer]

So the consensus is any track/clubs that normally runs a majority of silicone tires, said tracks will cater more towards silicone tires. and reduce the grip of urethanes !

Tracks, that run urethane tires get the surface nice and clean so the silicone tires will grip great?

Wow took me this many years to figure this out... :violence-smack:

[BARC 1]

Interesting and since I got back into slotting I was questioning why everyone running proxies seemed to require urethane or rubber. IMO Silicone is the best gripping tire, and I used to run silicone on all my old Cox 124 stuff. I never realized the silicone was laying down a path of anything, and if that is the case then I see why guys don't want to run them in proxies.

I have since switched to urethanes, as it seemed a must if you wanted to run in proxies. They seem better then stock rubber, but not as good as silicone to me. They true easy, but they also leave a lot of marbles on the track when running them.

So I finally have the answer of why silicone fell out of favor. Much like tire goo or any of the other product used to make rubber soft, it comes with a price. I guess the logic is if you use urethane tires only, the results are based on chassis set up , not tire choice. In addition since urethane is unaffected by chemicals you don't have the issue of chemically altered rubber tires showing up leaving a residue.

So I am now enlightened over silicone.

For me I found the best traction out of my urethanes comes with a final wet sanding on 1500 grit sandpaper. My new track has never seen silicone tires so residue is not an issue, and the traction obtained using the urethanes is very good.

[btaylor]

[Ky.Slot Racer]

Makes for a great argument if you have a proxy race, specify silicone or urethane/rubber. Because in sense, with 20 cars participating on a moderate to small 4 lane or less track. If the option for either compound is allowed, and 3 people opt for silicone and the other 17 choose urethane. I would think early on the urethane's would prevail, but as the race wore on, and the track got the groove, the silis would start to accumulate their goo on the groove. Would they not be at the advantage for the remainder of the runs as the urethane's start to loose traction ?

[Cincyslots]

try cleaning the tires with denatured alcohol. It works great for us on plastic. It may help you too??

Bruce

[jscot111]

Thanks everyone for the insight on the urethane tires. The hudy doesn't leave a smooth polished surface so I will retrue with some 1000 grit paper, clean with alcohol and send the car off.
Scott