It is a test and only a test.

[ddyke]

Making tires is easy once you have a mold and know the compound of urethane or silicone that is best. That is not the point of this post. A long time ago I worked on recapping tires - yes recapping. If done correctly you can preserve the shape, lettering and general look of the original. The problem is getting the capping material to bond with the original. I am trying different compounds on old hard Fly Classic tires. I will report what works. My first try is drying - it is a 90 shore silicone. Why that one? Because that is what I have. I am just seeing if it bonds.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Is the plan to restore original dimensions or to slightly increase diameter as well as grip?

[ddyke]

Increase diameter and grip are only secondary to the question of will it bond.

[DAVE]

I've never tried this on Fly tires, but it works on other hard rubber tires.

Mount the tires on the wheels you will use. If you have a tire machine, take a skin cut off
the tread of the tires to round them out and scuff the tread surface for better bonding. If
you don't have a machine, do it on the chassis with the motor spinning at a moderate speed.
Use a lint free cloth dipped in laquer thinner to clean the tread surface of oil and loose rubber dust.
Do this just before coating the tires, do not wait longer than it takes for the thinner to evaporate,
or some of the oil mixed in the rubber will leach out onto the scuffed surface. Using Permatex black
silicone # 16B ( comes in a tube ) apply a very thin coat to the tread surface. You can smooth it out
with the axle mounted in the chassis and spun with the motor, but remove the body since some
silicone may sling off. Your finger whetted with a mixture of dish soap and water makes an excellent
tool for smoothing the silicone out. The coating should be less than 1/32 inch thick. After the silicone
cures you can sand the rough edges at the sidewalls to remove any silicone that ran over the edge.

These tires will not hook-up as good as urethanes, but are leaps better than the stock tires.

[ddyke]

I have tried that Dave and it works. I am trying a specific silicone which gives better than urethane grip on Carrera. Next I will try an odd urethane which is a killer on wood.

[ddyke]

The test failed. Certain materials have strange reactions to slot car tires. I have run into this with other compounds. The one I tried hates Fly rubber. The portion of the material I let dry by itself cured correctly but that which I but on the tire did not. Now to try a Ninco tire. SHould have done both together.