New Life to old tires! 3+ Yrs and still going

[RespirologyRC]

So i race in regularly at RC Madness in Enfield,CT. Everyone uses tires on their MT's, Truggy's, Buggy's, or whatever. One of the problems are that the foams sometimes wear out before the tire itself wears out. So after 3+ yrs of racing on the same set of bowties and and foams i have decided to give them new life.

Here you can see the new foam vs. the older used foam. Man these things stink like a dirty gym locker. :eek:

[RespirologyRC]

Well i'm not sure what has happened to this website. Usually i have no issues getting pics uploaded, but now it seems that it doesn't let me show you guys the pics. THIS SUCKS!!! Either way. Below i attached images of how i pulled the old tire off the rim and cleaned and prepped it.

Use the non-acetone nail polish remover to clean the tire and rim surfaces of any grime and loose dirt.

When cutting with the x-acto make sure you move slowly and cut only where the glue is still holding the tire. I then use the dremel to remove and excessive glue that is still stuck on the tire and rim

[RespirologyRC]

Then i place the new foam on the rim with the tire still attached to the rim. I then push the tire up and over the new foam. This takes a little work and effort but don't worry it comes out fine.

[RespirologyRC]

Anyone that wants to fix my pics so that you can see them without having to open the links; feel free to do so.
Thanks

[LD3Furious]

They can be seen fine. The problem, I believe is that people have to be signed in now. I was not able to see them when I first opened this thread. but once I signed in, I could. Must be a quirk of the new system?

[RespirologyRC]

Thanks man, I was signed in when i loaded them. Then afterward i would have to click the link in order to view them. Strange as i have never had this problem before. NOw i can upload some of my Monster Madness Pics since i can view pics.

[chukb]

http://forums.radiocontrolzone.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=74746&stc=1&d=1182977944

I've opened up a tire like that before and the entire foam had literally turned into a pile of dust.

btw- I did the same thing and put in the PL molded foams a few months ago too.

[RespirologyRC]

It's amazing what a new set of foams can do to an old tire. I've actually had these bowties on a set of old Maxx rims. Then i stripped out the 14mm hex while racing. I decided at that time that i needed to move the tires onto another set of rims. So out went the 14mm and in came the 23mm. This is actually the 3rd set of foams these tires have seen. The first two were rubbish after a very short life. Hopefully these will last. I'll get some runs on them and let you guys know what i think. As for this project; it was easy and saved me money. I'm glad i decided to do this. Not only are my tires good for more track time; they can still be sold for a quick $35.00 if i wanted to. I'm actually going to keep these for life :)

[tadium54]

why not boil the tire off the rim? seems faster

[RespirologyRC]

Because i didn't want my rims to become warped or distorted. This way i can save the rim and the tires. Then with the dremel i can go around and clean up the edges of both.

[fourxblz]

Just soak the whole wheel and tire in acetone overnight. They come off like never glued. I learned acetone doesn't hurt the Proline or Losi tires.

[RespirologyRC]

I actually used the Acetone method while removing these tires the second time. For this project i was being lazy and just decided to cut the tire off the rim.

[balang_479]

wow.. 3 years on one set... they must be XTR compound.. impressive.