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Anyone have some good tips for helping clean up / restore old tires to make them look better?

1) how to help get tires unglued?
2) how to help get the glue off the rubber?
3) How to get the rubber looking clean? I have some tires that have some reddish clay that just WILL NOT come off around the spikes. Soaking in soap and scrubbing w/ a plastic bristle brush just doesn't take it off.

I am just hesitant to try any harsh chemicals before checking around for proven tricks.

depending on the wheel and tire, you have basically two options for removing the crazy glue, cyanoacrylate:

baking: put them on a pan in the oven at something low, like 200-250 degree and you can sometimes get tires off that way. best for non nylon wheels.

IF, and a BIG IF the tires are good rubber and the wheels are NYLON and not a blended plastic, acetone in a plastic back will totally soften and remove the glue. the tire may swell but should return to normal size after letting it air out.

associated wheels are nylon. early losi wheels are blended, and tamiya wheels are generally ABS both of which WILL MELT.

as for cleaning off red mud, I had really good luck with yokomo tires with some hardened stained red mud by soaking in simple green cleaner for a few days, and scrubbing, then back in for a little longer, maybe a day, and the follow up with a scrub in dish soap. i used a pretty stiff brush and it took some elbow grease but they came up great. I also kind of scratched the mud off with a plastic stick to let the cleaner get under the mud which i think helped a great deal.

Jwscab,
I agree , undiluted simple green is awesome stuff for cleaning.


Tire glue is a pain. I've tried nail polish remover, acetone, boiling water, Xacto knife. They all help, just sometimes not as much as I needed.

yeah, one thing to remember with acetone is that is dissolves the glue, but once it flashes off, it leaves the glue there, so you need to really flush the glue away, otherwise, all you really do is spread it around. ugh i hate it.

For restoring rubber, and removing stains I've had success with Armorall. Agree with comments on Acetone - works for crazy glue removal, but hate the process as well. Usually have to replace the acetone 2x to get all of the glue residue removed.

- Limestang

Are you guys submerging the wheel and tire in the acetone?

orangemazda wrote:Are you guys submerging the wheel and tire in the acetone?

nope. The fumes do the work. If you put a little acetone in the bottom and elevate the tire/wheel combo in an airtight container the fumes will be all you need to unglue it. If you put the tire in the acetone for any amount of time it will dry it out and pretty much destroy it.

Todd

Superglue de-bonder can work wonders if you take your time. See page 3 here: http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=36724&p=411417&hilit=remove+super+glue#p411417.

matt1ptkn wrote:Superglue de-bonder can work wonders if you take your time. See page 3 here: http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=36724&p=411417&hilit=remove+super+glue#p411417.

Hey! Thanks for the link......

I had been meaning to do it myself but you beat me to it!

I've never used the 'fume' trick, only submerged, however, really for less than an hour, tops. I had a super ugly set of 834B yokomo wheels and tires that had been flat out spray painted various colors, rubber and wheel. stuck them in acetone, and they unglued, washed the paint off. the tires swelled a little but then after 2-3 days were back to normal. your results may vary.

Thanks all. Grabbed a can of acetone to try this when i get some free time.

We need to bring back the 3piece wheels.

jwscab wrote: the tires swelled a little but then after 2-3 days were back to normal. your results may vary.

Yeah, I should clarify. Results will vary. I turned a nice set of Losi x patterns hard as a rock when I submerged them and a few sets of prolines. Some of my prolines came out OK but did the dry rot thing within a month of removal but some of the newer tires compounds I've done the submerge thing with because I was just scrapping the tires anyway turned out unscathed enuf to put them on my daughters runners. I just don't submerge them anymore if I want to keep the tires just to be on the safe side.

Todd

orangemazda wrote:Are you guys submerging the wheel and tire in the acetone?

I don't. I just apply it to the necessary area.

I submerge, just make sure you treat the tire with some sort of rubber rejuvinator to put some of the oils back into the rubber.

RC10th wrote:I submerge, just make sure you treat the tire with some sort of rubber rejuvinator to put some of the oils back into the rubber.

Armor All ? What do you use?