Old Wheels & Tires

So I'm still pretty much still laid up and limited as to what activities I can participate in. I've been able to do some sorting through my large collection of slot car parts, which includes pairing up the old wheels I have. And I have a LOT of old wheels! Most of which have the old sponge rubber tires glued onto them.

Here at TooBad Motorplex we have found that urethane tires work very well, and specifically Paul Gage urethane tires. Well, Paul Gage now makes urethane tires for the old 60's wheels and other 1/24 cars. With the new Over 50 Class we have started racing on Odd Thursday Nights I figured I could use some of those old wheels and reshod them with Paul Gage tires.

First I cut and scraped the old sponge rubber off of a couple pairs of wheels. Of course the sponge rubber was old and hard and it half disintegrated in the process of trying to get it off the wheels. It was way too much work, and it left scratches on the wheels. I always have a covered plastic container filled with some sort of liquid cleaner that I use for stripping paint off of bodies close by. I have recently noticed with the newest cleaner I have been using the cleaner loosens up the glue on the car bodies where parts are glued on. It makes it easier to strip off those parts to restore the bodies. My idea was maybe this cleaner would loosen the glue bonding the old sponge rubber to the wheels?

For the first try I put two pair of wheels in the solution and left them in there for two days. When I removed the wheels from the solution I could easily cut the sponge rubber and then peel it off the wheels. Cool, I put another eight pair in the solution. These wheels I left in the solution for approximately one week. This time I was able to stretch and peel the sponge rubber right the wheels without even cutting them! In addition the solution seemed to bring the softness back to the old sponge rubber! Not only were the tires soft again, they were no longer brittle, and they came off undamaged! They did not tear or chunk apart. I am convinced once the tires dry out completely I could re-use them with just a little sanding to the running surface.

And here's another plus. In this most recent batch were some Mila Miglia wheels which are magnesium. You all know about the corrosion that takes place with those magnesium parts after a few years. I had heard sometime back that you could soak magnesium parts in citrus juice and it would remove the corrosion. This cleaner has citrus juice in it and it would appear citrus does remove corrosion on magnesium because the Mila Miglia wheels came out of the solution clean. The corrosion was gone!

So here's the part you've been waiting for. The most recent solution I have been using is called The Big Orange. It is listed as a cleaner and degreaser. I purchased it at Wallmart. It is great stuff! I strip painted plastic bodies and parts with it, sometimes leaving them in the solution for months with no damage to the parts. One disclaimed though, it will take the chrome plating off of parts!

==========Bill