Truing Urethane Tires

[Mayberryman]

I purchased a used car with brand name urethane tires. Although I have cut and trued many rubber tires on my tire razor this was my first attempt at doing the same with Urethane tires. To make a long story short I was amazed at how quick these tires true, but I was also amazed that they lost much of their traction quality during the process. My question or questions would be did I perhaps cut them too fast or does the urethane tire have a sticky outer surface but a less sticky inner property. The person who I purchased the car from stated that he made a mistake by leaving his slot box in the trunk of his car on a particular hot day and wondered if the heat could have dried the tires out?

[HomeRacingWorld]

Heat could have harmed them. But using 1000 grit or even finer at low voltage will give you a very clean and smooth tire.

[Cincyslots]

I typically use 300 then 600 then dry or wet sand at 1000.

Bruce

[RichD]

To get the best grip urethane tires must be polished after they have been trued. We normally polish urethane tires by running them around a slid pad. I built a polishing jig with 1500 grit paper, but that did not work well. I have a skid pad made up of Ninco track and 30-60 minutes of running in both directions gets the job done.

[Cincyslots]

Video?? It seems that Ninco would put you right back where you started.

Bruce

[HomeRacingWorld]

[Cincyslots]

This is like the motor break in thread, find what works for you and go with it. :auto-layrubber:

[Mitch58]

Not having a truer I usually use sandpaper. Sometimes I'll take one down a long ways with a file just to make them fit something else but I've never noticed any change in the compound as I go. There are different urethane compounds that we may switch to seasonally for some of the garage tracks. Often the perfect tire in December is too soft and grippy in July.

[chappy]

As Harry mentioned too fast on rmoving urethane or to kuch pressure actually overheats or in my terminology cooks the tire. It really has a negative impact on the grip. Also i always glue the tire to the wheel before truing to avoid any slippage.
Take your time and do it for as long as it takes withiut overheating the rubber.
Without a machine be very cautious of the pressure applied and do both tires at the same time.
If it takes an hour to get it right ,
it may gain you 10ths on track, do it in a rush and gain nothing
Bob

[BARC 1]

Like others have stated 1500 -2000 grit sandpaper and water to wet sand them works the best for me. I built my own setup and have a spray bottle beside it that I just spray onto the paper as I am sanding to keep it wet.

I also am learning through proxy racing not to neglect the front tires if you are looking for that super smooth car that drives easy.

[HomeRacingWorld]