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Anybody no a good way to remove tires that are glued to the rims with out ruining them?

Use tongs or a slotted spoon.
Drop 'em in for a bit.
Hold them under the boiling water.
Take them out and immediately start trying to peel the tire from the rim(s)


Just try not to burn your little piggies.

I put them in the oven @ 350 for about 5-7 minutes on a cookie sheet. make sure the tire is on the cookie sheet and not the plastic wheel.

Acetone, Acetone, Acetone works the best. I have mixed results with the heating. SCHUMACHER TIRES DONT DO HEAT, lesson learned. The only thing I don't like about acetone, the evap into the air.

Do you brush on the acetone?

Nope, buy yourself a small sealed tub, pour it into the tub and let the glue rest in the stuff for a couple of hours. The tires will come literally right off. It's totally a cake walk.

And it wont ruin the tires or the wheels? Then does the glue wipe off coth parts? Man and all the tires and wheels ive thrown away

There are a few Losi rims that acetone will eat but it's safe for most. bearrickster taught me to put them in the actone overnight then tke them out and throw them in Super Clean. It works like a charm!

I can't remember if it's losi pink or silver compound, but I've been told that one of those is notorious for hardening in acetone.

all the above practices work but acetone worked best for me. I put it in a sealed tub with some acetone in the bottom of the tub. Put the tires/rims on top of a bare rim to keep them out of the liquid and let them sit overnight. Pull one out the next night, seal the tub up and pull it right off and use a little acetone on a rag to clean it off the tire and then pull the other one out and do the same. If you leave the tire in the liquid it dries out the rubber making it a little tuff and it definitely destroys the foam. The fumes are what actually do the work so this works great for re-using the tires.

And the new duratrax wheels turn to molten plastic even in just the fumes so those are a no-no for acetone.
Todd

Caution: acetone defintely works the best to dissolve the glue, but it can only be used with nylon or delrin (acetal) wheels. Acetone will damage polystyrene, polycarbonate and ABS. Associated wheels are nylon. Most old Kyosho wheels are nylon too. A lot of old Tamiya wheels are polystyrene or ABS. I don't know anything about Losi wheels.

Regards,

Robert

Oh thanks for clearing that up klavy. That makes a little more sense to keep them out of the liquid. That's probably what the guys I know are doin wrong. I will be trying that this weekend.

Most of the time, acetone will change the tires. I tried to remove some losi siver tires once this way. The tires shrunk to the size of 1/12th scale tires after drying out. Never could get them to hook up after that . I have had many other tires shrink this way as well. If you are looking to re-use the tires, I would seriously think about using another method. -Jeff

I've also heard many a time that putting the tires in the freezer overnight works. I don't know how effective that method is though.

There is a lot of different adhesives out there so you might have to try multiple methods.

i've never tried acetone but i have no reason to not believe its the best way to do it, since everybody swears by it.

i've had about 80% success with the oven method. all you have to do is bring the ca up to the temp that it will crystalize at. i've noticed the better the quality ca glue used, the harder it is to get hot enough to de-bond and crystalize. and make sure the wheels are vented, or else you will expand the air in the tire and end up with stretched out balloon jobbers. (i've done it...)

i've never had any luck with boiling the couple times i tried it, and if you try it be VERY VERY careful when you remove the tires and try to peel them off the wheels. i burned the hell out my hands once when the outside felt cool but the inside foam was still very hot. one squish of the tire and i boiled a couple layers of skin off.

all that being said, if you dont have access to acetone try the oven method first. i bring mine up to 400, then turn off the oven and throw the wheels in on a piece of tinfoil. then i just let them sit in there and cool. sometimes it takes a couple rounds. microwave might work as well...