Removing Paint From Tires

[Winger]

Does anyone have any tried and true methods for saving old parts like these? Not concerned with the wheel, just the tire. Just grabbed these off fleabay. Appreciate any suggestions.

[Hanibel75]

I would start with hot water and soap. Use the Dawn blue dish washing soap. Just let them soak for a awhile. The hit them with a stiff bristled scrub brush.

Next would be something like Simple Green. Try a test patch. See what happens.
After that you get in to the chemical realm. You could try silicone, Goof Off, rubbing alcohol, etc.

There are other threads on here about preserving tires. They might have better, more exact instructions

[Coelacanth]

Use this method with caution, and test first...

People often use the acetone fume method to remove tires crazy-glued to nylon wheels, and it usually doesn't harm either...however I recall gomachv encountered an issue with this method and old foam tires falling apart after trying this out. The idea is to put a container with a small amount of acetone in it inside a plastic bag, then put your wheels & tires inside the bag beside the container, then tie it up for 24 hours. The fumes from the acetone should soften CA cement and should also soften most kinds of paint.

Be careful though as acetone will also melt ABS plastic, so you want to be sure the wheels are nylon, not plastic. And test the rubber first...maybe slice off a sliver of tire rubber with an X-Acto and soak it for a few hours in a bit of acetone. If nothing happens to the sliver, I'd assume it would be safe.

[Winger]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I tried the least invasive first (soap/water). Then nail polish remover with q-tip, paint did not budge. Next carb and choke cleaner on q-tip, which did the trick very slowly. This was rather labor intensive and slow going. I am soaking in ultrasonic cleaner with the heat on at the moment. I am not optimistic about this step, but the carburetor and choke cleaner is very labor intensive and slow. I really want to avoid prolonged exposure of the tire rubber to harsher chemicals in fear it will compromise the rubber. All else fails....fight fire with fire...flat black or dye I suppose. ugh

Probably should have passed on these.

[jwscab]

Try acetone, not nail polish remover. On a qtip at first and see if black comes off after the red. If not, meaning the tire isn't breaking down, you can lay it in some acetone and wipe clean. I did this to some yokomo tires and wheels with no ill effect.

[Winger]

Tried a variety of things. The best is in the ultrasonic cleaner with the heat on, which softens the paint making it flexible and can then be picked and peeled off. Took a small sample of rubber and soaked it on the acetone with no ill effect to the rubber, but also little effect to the red paint after 26 hours. Throwing an entire tire in with the acetone and a prayer....