cirec

To save money would boiling wheels and tires to separate them be a good idea? I ask this because I was wondering if the boiling water will effect the wheel and do something to the performance of my truck. The truck I use is strictly for racing.

collector1231

My Feedback: (1)

No, boiling water will be absolutely fine.

DieHarder

But it doesn't work... At least for me, I always glue my tires on too well. I never have any performance issues with them, but after the tire is junk so is the rim. It might work for you though.

SyCo_VeNoM

I've tried boiling with terrible results
acetone works (caution though as it can melt the rim depending on what its made of)
and some people say freezing can do it too

If you just want to save the rims you can cut the tires off, and use a dremel to dremel the rubber off the rim, and lighly sand it to make it smooth.

DieHarder

This would be the first thing I would try. Great idea SyCo!

EXT2Rob

My Feedback: (1)

What ever you do, cut the tire off first and remove it and the foam. You don't want to deal with soggy tire foams that are already falling apart. Dremeling might work if you're REALLY careful. (Got any tips there, Syco?) You don't want to mess up the bead channel. If you have a small-ish tupperware with a lid that will fit all four wheels, acetone will do it. Put the wheels in the tupperware with enough acetone to cover one side of the wheels with the left over rubber and cover it. Let it sit over night and the next day you can easily peel off the bead. Flip the wheels over and let them sit again. Do the other side. Providing the wheel plastic isn't affected by the acetone, you're ready to glue up another set of tires.

EXT2Rob

My Feedback: (1)

What ever you do, cut the tire off first and remove it and the foam. You don't want to deal with soggy tire foams that are already falling apart. Dremeling might work if you're REALLY careful. (Got any tips there, Syco?) You don't want to mess up the bead channel. If you have a small-ish tupperware with a lid that will fit all four wheels, acetone will do it. Put the wheels in the tupperware with enough acetone to cover one side of the wheels with the left over rubber and cover it. Let it sit over night and the next day you can easily peel off the bead. Flip the wheels over and let them sit again. Do the other side. Providing the wheel plastic isn't affected by the acetone, you're ready to glue up another set of tires.

As an alternative, you might want to look into some bead-loc wheels. No glue! Just unbolt 'em take off the old rubber and put on new ones. Bead-locs are heavier since they use a metal ring, but as long as you're not racing, who cares?

RustyUs

Bake, boil, soak, cut...is any of it really worth it? Not so much. Is putting the time and effort into reusing a low priced item an enjoyable process? No. Do I do it? Yes. The only reason I reuse some rims is because I can't get the same rear rims anymore to match the front rims (florescent yellow and spokes non-hex) I go through about 10~20 rear sets of tires before the front tires need replaced. I have a limited number of rear rims to use. If the style of the rims that I use were still made, I would not do any of this tire removing/rim reusing nonsense.

I can use up the tread on a new rear tire in as little as two battery packs. So I boil the CA glue to get it to break down, and reuse my rims. Baking...stinks, and may melt some plastics, and if the smell doesn't bother you, just make sure the wife isn't home while you do it . Acetone takes too much of the color off the rims (in my situation) and long wait times to desolve the CA glue. The possibility of "melting" or softening some forms of plastic is a risk, but ranks up there as one of easiest ways to go. Cutting/sanding/Dremeling is to tedious. I've found 45 minutes in boiling water is the easiest for me...just have leather gloves handy.

Edit: And don't boil white rims, after you get done with colored rims, in the same water as florescent yellow rims....

BKoz559

My Feedback: (3)

This works every time, boiling doesn't always melt the glue and you risk warping the wheels. Acetone isn't foolproof as some generic plastic wheels can melt also. Most Proline, JConcepts, etc. hold up fine.

SyCo_VeNoM

Sanding disk, lowest speed, and be very VERY careful holding it. Generally when I do it I stop right when I see the rubber disappear while there is still glue there, and use either sandpaper, or a file to remove the rest, and to smooth it.

But then again I only do this on rims I really like, are not sold anymore, hard to find, or expensive(my one truggy requires a weird offset, and rims alone cost me $30 or so)

I've done the opposite cut the rim off while keeping the tire(rim hex stripped after a few runs, and tire was pretty much still new) that was a tad harder to do.

When I tried boiling I destroyed a tire, melted a rim, and burnt my hand as well as dirtied up a pot.

jigawatt

For the time, effort, and cost of your heating source (fuel or electricity), it is more cost effective to just buy new wheels.

BKoz559

My Feedback: (3)

I have a Savage wheel that is junk but I want to reuse the tires as they are still in very good shape. I have a cordless Dremel and a box full of cutting, grinding and sanding bits. What did you use to hack out the rim?

SyCo_VeNoM

Its been quite a while since I did it, but from what I remember I grabbed any cutting disk I had laying around to cut the inside rim on both sides to get the big piece out till I had 2 semi pliable pieces. Then I think I used the sanding drum to sand the circular section down just till I could see the rubber to make the plastic very pliable, and used a sanding disk to take off the outer plastic til rubber, and then I more then likely would have turned it inside out to get the other side. Its been probably 3-5 years since I did it. I do remember it was for a pair of masher 2k's I just put on the friggin rim though, and didn't even get a run through on my old HPI MT2

RustyUs

You got that right! Happy, happy, joy, joy.