14 replies to this topic

[Alan Dodson]

Searching on this forum I see a lot of different adhesives used on urethane tires. Super glue seems to be the most popular, but how is it applied when the tire and hub are fairly wide? How do you keep the tire from just squeezing all the glue off as it slides on? Would a silicone adhesive work better since it is remains flexible? The hubs I'm using are .560 wide.

 

 Thanks, Alan

[mickey thumbs]

Slot Car Corner sells a flexible type of CA glue for this purpose as well as a tire mounting tool. They have a video demonstrating technique on their website. Pretty clean method. Also works for silicones.

[bbr]

clear finger nail polish

[Courtney S]

Micky Thumbs is correct i use the black flexible CA it works great I use acetone to clean it up. (Dont put acetone on the tires)

[Thom]

Gorilla Glue has a moisture activated clear polyurethane glue that doesn’t foam up as it cures like original Gorilla Glue.

[Alan Dodson]

Thanks guys! I went to the Slot Car Corner web site and watched the video on using the SCC tire gluing tool. It looks pretty slick, but they were out of both sizes. I ended up using tooth picks to hold the tire up off of the wheel while I squirted some Loctite Professional super glue into the gap. The first one was pretty messy, but by the time I got to the fourth one I had it down pretty good. The wheels I used are straight hubs with no center ridge, so  i could push the toothpicks clear through and lift the tire completely off of the wheel to let the glue coat clear across. Paul Gage recommends using clear nail polish so I may try that next time. Meanwhile I will keep looking for the tire gluing tool as I can see it would be a big help especially for wheels with a center ridge.

[munter]

I havent seen the SCC video but hope they show that you only need to glue each side of the tire and not the complete inner surface.

 

I use cheap runny superglue....the stuff that leaks out of the tube onto your fingers, bench, tools, tires, rims etc....

[A. J. Hoyt]

I'm curious, Alan. What are you racing on urethane tires. I ask because I intend to race urethane/silicone tires on Womps and 1/32 hardbody cars on my "Lazy 8" six lane wood routed track. I intend to run the track absolutely dry, no spray glue.

 

So far, the ones I have work great but you need to find the right compound and that seems to change with temperature.

 

All that I have used have been on double flange aluminum wheels and don't slip on the wheels at all.

 

In fact, the Womp class will be virtually unlimited - any motor, any gears, any fronts but they have to roll, any chassis mods but they cannot be seen from below and any commercially available Womp body using reasonable wheel well openings for that body. I have a spec aluminum wheel in mind and will keep the tires in a zip-lock bag in a box and they will be handed out at the start of practice, then handed back in at the end of the day. If you split a tire, you get a replacement.

 

I welcome any input from anyone who reads this whether this tire rule can be made to work. I think it will be a fun class in spite of potential bodily injury from de-slots!

[bbr]

not all urethane tires are equal. if they come from the same molded batch then they are for the most part, otherwise the traction will vary.

the cool thing about them over silicone is that they can be easily trued.

but there are all kinds of "tricks" to enhance the grip, like polishing them with super fine grit sandpaper and even putting a cone shape on them

[munter]

Down here we dropped silicone tires when NSR and Slotit rubber tires became available...The NSR ultrgrip gives a ride as close to sponge as I have experienced in 1/32 scale. Lots of guys will glue and true and then treat the rubber tires with there preferred secret sauce.

 

I use urethane for lots of reasons...1) I can make them myself 2) they are easy to true 3) they cannot be chemically improved ie treated 4) their grip level improves with use....the surface gets a very smooth finish

 

They do deteriorate after a year or three though.....ever seen the red glow?

 

Also on my tracks (gloss enamel finish) a little tire bite helps their level of grip.

[Alan Dodson]

A.J., a guy here in town found a 1/32 scale 50', 8 lane tri-oval track and set it up in his garage. He asked me to help get it running and install a lap counter. We too are trying to avoid glue and are running womps with stock car bodies and all sorts of Scalextric type cars. We have been running sponge tires on the womps using Barney Poyner's "Love Lotion" formula found here on Slotblog. The sponge tires wear quickly even though we try to swap them side to side frequently to prevent coning. I bought some Paul Gage urethane tires on ebay for the womps and was just trying to mount them. These were made to work on the stock womp wheels that have no flanges at all, so I wasn't sure if they would stay put, and I wanted to true them too. I haven't tried them out yet but I will let you know how they work.

[MG Brown]

Trinity used to sell a glue that was used to bond R/C tires to the hubs.

 

This glue was great for attaching 1/32 urethane tires to hubs.

 

I haven't seen it available for some time. No idea what they are using now.

[munter]

Trinity used to sell a glue that was used to bond R/C tires to the hubs.

 

This glue was great for attaching 1/32 urethane tires to hubs.

 

 

 

Could it be this?

https://www.amazon.c...e/dp/B002N507I0

[Sirslotalot]

Non magnet racer here. Mostly wood routed, braided tracks but sometimes plastic. 

 

My process is to wash with soapy water the inside of the silicone/urethane tire, and the wheel , to get any release agents or manufacturing oil off. I have been using a black weather strip adhesive I get from an auto parts store.

I know you talked about the glue squeezing out, but I look at that as a good thing. When I was 1/24 racing, I would solder my pinion gears on to the armature shaft, and I would think, the more solder the better. But in fact, 50% of the time, during the race, the pinion would spin on the arm shaft. It took me a while to figure out I was putting on too much solder. I then basically Tinned the motor shaft, then soldered on the pinion. Problem solved. 

So I believe to have just a thin layer of glue to glue the tires on, is the best way to go. Ya, the glue squeezes out, but you just wipe that off.  In addition, when I do get the tire on the wheel, I will spin the tire on the wheel to help smooth out the application of the glue and to make sure the glue is on ALL the contact surfaces.

 This also helps to make the tire conform more to the perfectly round wheel ( metal ) so the truing process takes less time. I also have tested gluing the center rib and not gluing the center rib. Testing indicates gluing the center rib produces lower lap times, not by much, but noticeable. 

 

In addition, I have tried coning the tire for more grip, but at the end of the day, putting a nice round curve where the sidewall meets the tire treads, inner and outer,  ends up getting the best traction. And truing/polishing tires is a whole nother post.

[MG Brown]

 

Could it be this?

https://www.amazon.c...e/dp/B002N507I0

 

That is not what I was referring to. I think it was called Kinwald tire adhesive. What you show may work, I just have no experience with it.