Gunny Highway

Tire glue is always called CA tire glue, with CAbeing an abbreviation for Cyanoacrylate. This is the generic name for cyanoacrylate based fast-acting glues, such as methy-2-cryanoacrylate, and ethyl-2-cryanoacrylate, often sold under the trade names Super-Glue and Krazy-Glue. So will Super-Glue and Krazy-Glue work as good as the "CA Tire-Glue" being sold by the R/C car companies, or are they really just the same thing?

EReVoNuT

I think they are they same.

Ive had to use Krazy Glue in the past and it worked great.
I tried a cheap super glue once and the tires pealed off the rims from cornering.

But either Super glue or krazy glue works the same as tire glue. You just have to get the name brand stuff, The cheap stuff does not cut it.

Gunny Highway

Hmmmm.....






Guess I'll just go to Wal-Mart and get me some super-glue then!

EReVoNuT

Just dont get the Gel kind. It doesnt work at all.

You want the regular old Super Glue or Krazy Glue whichever you perfer.

samguan

my friends have been using super glue for years for their tires without problems.

I guess they are the same.

Chris_RC

They definitly arent the same. I guess super glue would work in a 1/10 car with a slow motor, but I wouldn't dare glue my tires on my 1/8 buggy with super glue. AKA glue FTW.

samguan

that is very interesting, my friends all use super glue for their 1/8 buggies and they hold up fine...

Alot of stuffs in RC are not RC specific, they just change the name to make more $$. That is what most people don't understand.

Like the Nitro Force cleaner, they are just brake cleaners which are much cheaper

nitrocomplex1776

CA glue is just super glue and any other names given to it, Krazy-glue, CA, super glue it's all just Cyanoacrylate same stuff just a different name to sell more product.

AMOUREDTANK

Good to know thanks for the topic.. every bit saved in a new hobby would be more money for hop ups!!

dacaur

Though the base ingredients ARE the same, MFG's use additives and different mix ratios to get "better" glue. Go to the grocery store and buy a bag of "chips ahoy" brand cookies, and then a box of "store brand" chips ahoy style cookies... The ingredients are the same, but the chips ahoy brand just tastes better.....

 Just like there are some super glues that work better than others, Tire glue will, in general, work better than superglue. That's not to say that superglue wont work great, and 95% of the time it wont matter... Really the care you take gluing the tires is more important than the glue you use (so long as you aren't using 5 year old crap super glue from the dollar store....)

Personally, i have never bought "tire" CA, but I do buy hobby shop brand CA instead of superglue, because when it comes down to it, it cheaper to get a 1/2 ounce bottle of hobby shop brand CA than to buy that much superglue at the store.... I have also used superglue in place of real ca and never had a problem, in fact i love how some types of superglue come in a bottle with a brush, which makes it easier to apply to some things... I( do keep a bottle of that around as well as the store brand CA.

EReVoNuT

Brand name super glue or Krazy glue will hold on any tire that CA Tire glue can hold. Ive used it on my emaxx and Ive seen people use it on 1/8th Truggies.

Ive had more problems trying to get tires off of rims that where super glued then with tires that where CA tire glued.


And yeah they are pretty close to being the same.

DaveG55

Hobby grade CA just has addatives in it to make it different consistancies and affect curing times. I've used the tire specific CA glues before and, to me, they were harder to work with. For years I've gone to WallyWorld and bought the least expensive CA I could find. It usually comes as a 4 pack of small tubes for a dollar or two. I've never had any more issues with that than I did when I used the tire specific stuff - both have failed on me. I've used it on 1/16, 1/10 and 1/8 scale nitro and electric vehicles (including a high powered brushless system)and not had recuring issues with tires coming unglued.

If I were building planes then I'd probably get some hobby specific CA but for tires I've been happy with the cheapie stuff. 

total3d

just buy a decent super glue.
i bought a small superglue bottle from a auto shop nearby, and used it to glue my rubber tyres. it was around $10usd cheaper than glues from a hobby store.
it dries instantly, and sets within 24hrs. i used the tyres the next day on my cen ct5-s, and did multiple passes over 80kmh and the tyres are fine.
why bother paying extra for "tyre glue"

Damo_MadTruck

I haven't used superglue to glue my tires to my rims but after driving my Savage i found the one of my tires got a cut on them (on the sidewall), so i used superglue to glue it back together and it hasnt un-glued since.

Foxy

lol... In fact, a high quality superglue over the hardware store counter is often much better than your average CA tire glue. I use regular superglue (and a cheap one too) on my 1/5th scales (MUCH more torque and bigger wheels than 1/8th nitros), and never had a problem.

quietnas1

Your correct they are not the same. I bought Pro-Line Premium Blend CA Glue to use on my Jato with the BadLand Tires. Within 5 minutes of run time the rear tires came flying off. I will never use it again. It cost me $8.50. What a rip off. I have been using the super glue in the pic below for about 10 yrs. They come 2 in a pack at Wal-Mart for $2.49 and the tires hold up until all the thread is gone. Then I got to boil them off or wait until the tires rip apart. Yeah I run a 1/10 Jato with an OS .21TM (not a slow motor lol). Lots of torque and power. Slipper tightened all the way and this cheap super glue hold better than the expensive CA glue that I bought. So yes this super glue will work alot better on your 1/8th buggies.

Chris_RC

Pro-Line CA Glue sucks, that is why it is bad. AKA glue is undoubtely the best tire glue available! You just need to get the Losi glue tips for $2.50 and keep the glue in a freezer or fridge and it will last until the last drop. Also, I noticed people would use CA glue over a year old and wonder why it doesnt work. I know some people wwho throw it away after one gluing session (about 10 sets of tires) then throw it away but it is not necessary.

corneileous

Exactly. I know this is an old thread that hopefully a lot has changed since 2009 but it’s just like way back when Ronsonol and the Zippo brand lighter fuels was still essentially just Naptha; you could spend a little bit less on the Ronsonol brand, a little bit more on the Zippo brand just because low and behold, it said Zippo on it or you save a few bucks more than that if you just went down to your local hardware store and just bought you either a quart can or the little bit smaller can for even less than the quart can of straight up naphtha over in the paint section that would last you ten times longer.

bill_delong

I know a lot of team drivers in my area that have switched to LocTite brand "Professional":

The following 18ga glue tips work very well with this glue bottle too:

corneileous

Holy crap, that’s eerie..... I literally after reading a few other threads about alternatives to tire glue, just bought a tube of that very same glue you just recommended. Lol.

may have to think about those dispenser needles.

bill_delong

If you don't use the dispenser needles then the bottle of glue will go bad, you don't want to contaminate the tip on the bottle.

Very important to refrigerate your CA after opening... stale/tainted glue will not be effective and will be very likely to break the bead very quickly

RustyUs

I don't know what it is, but I get better results, and easier application with a CA glue (with application tips) that is water-ish thin. I like my tire glue to seep in/wicks in there and get things done quickly.

The Loctite Professional stuff I would consider it to be more on the medium side of CA glues. I've used it in a pinch when I had seen others using it around the RC world. From the first drop, I knew it wasn't going to be my go to glue. I currently have a bottle (half used) in fridge for other RC/household choirs that pop up.

BSI (Bob Smith Ind.) Blue bottle glue has been my favorite since '91.

I didn't even know it was BSI glue I was using back then, because the label had the hobby shop's name on it. I came to find out a lot of hobby shops have their "house brand" CA glue come from Bob Smith Industries.

I will only buy the 1oz. size bottle as that will last me at least a year or more. YMMV of course.

For the past year, I've been using Starbond Super Fast Thin CA glue.


I honestly can't say why I've veered away from my usual CA glue, but, after many sets of off-road tires being glued up, so far so good. I'd buy Starbond glue again, IF I planned on doing a lot of gluing. The 2oz. bottle will be more than I will use in a two year timeframe.

Big Alice

I just use the ca I get from Lowes. Way more important to have everything very clean than to use any particular brand of ca. Did I mention you should clean everything very well before you glue them?