Tires- Glue em, true em .....etc

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Yep. Been there, done that. I thought I could get away with not doing any more than the old nail polish hardener trick, and if used liberally, it does work, but the old dependable is the black rubber superglue that you made a photo of. The trouble is, it goes bad so fast. I tried keeping it in a sealed jar, then I tried keeping that sealed jar in the 'fridge (I am fortunate enough to have a 'fridge in my shop for beer kegs). It still went to a nearly solid lump of glue by the third use.

[B-nova]

"You cant use lighter fluid on NSR euro-thane as they split."

I am surprised you have had trouble with lighter fluid on NSR tires. We have used it to clean the super grip and ultra grip tires at the club for years! Cleans them and makes them very sticky for the first few laps.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Explain the inverting of the tire to me. Why? That stresses the heck out of the tire.

[B-nova]

You do want to treat these with a lot more care. Inverting any urethane tires puts a lot of stress on them, making microscopic stress cracks. When the lighter fluid gets in them they expand as it evaporates, causing the splits. I use side cutting /flush cutting nippers to remove the filler nib and a piece of 320 grit sand paper wrapped around a sharpie to lightly sand any flash/release agent off the inside edge. The superglue sticks better to the urethane than the aluminum or magnesium so lightly sand and clean those edges also.

[buspor63]

Very informative thread.
Can a silicone tire be glued to an alloy wheel or plastic for that matter? I've been using Super Tires and basic super glue. After glueing, it seems I can lift the edge as easily as before glueing. Is there a trick or should I try a different glue?

[Florida_Slotter]

I totally agree with the philosophy of gluing, then truing and sizing tires.

My tires that I use in the commercial slot car world are mostly natural rubber sponge tires. I have found that the tires come off the rims easily when you soak them in lacquer thinner. So that's what I use to remove old tires from metal wheels. Please do not try this with plastic wheels as the lacquer thinner will remove the wheels from the tires!

I tried the clear nail polish on metal wheels. In my opinion it does not work. I just bought some Paul Gage .800 x .900 "donuts" for Pro-Track wheels. I used clear nail polish to glue the wheels on, but they have all worked loose.

My solution was to order some of the IC2000 from Slot Car Corner. It should be here tomorrow, so I'll follow their directions and attempt to re-glue the tires to the rims. I'll report back on the results.

Once you get the wheels and tires nice and round, the cars run so much better. Try it. You'll like it.

[bkrownd]

Very timely - I am gluing some tires and bushings tonight. (for the first time)

I was shaping some tires with my Dremel last night and it was quite interesting to watch how quickly and how much they expand around 10kRPM

Anyone use IC-2000 to glue their motor to their plastic chassis? Does that sound OK, or would it make the motor too "stiff"? I'm not a fan of the stuff that comes out of hot glue guns.

[SlotCarCorner]

[HomeRacingWorld]

I must echo his comments.

Try and avoid "permanent" adhesives when you are dealing with running gear. Never say "I'll never need to remove it". I have and there are more chassis laying in my boneyard than I care to admit. Curly is quite happy, but my wallet wasn't.

So try the GOOP and let it dry for a few hours. It is a silicon based adhesive that is strong, but can be removed with a quick slice of the old hobby knife.

[bkrownd]

I don't trust hot glue at all, so I'll try the goop if I can find it at a decent price. All these supplies at $4-8 a pop really add up $$$$$.

[Abarth Mike]

I just use common or garden black silicone sealant, Even on plastic wheels. I tried ordinary UHU. What a mess!