foam tubber tires

[btaylor]

Does anyone know of a way to bring life back to old foam tires? while digging thru the attic boxes,i found at least a dozen sets (new bagged) foam threaded wheel and tire sets in there mail order auto world pacs.
they are not hard,but when i put a set on one of my old cars that needed tires,they would not hook up,spun like they where plastic! i hate to just toss them,as they worked well back in the day.found two old parma womps,and three chassis kits as well!

[FootScoot]

You can sometimes bring them back to life by applying some traction compound, like NSR Traction Oil. Some even use suntan lotion which softens the rubber. I like the Trinity stuff made for the foam tires on RC cars, but you have to be careful with it as it will remove paint. If the tires are real old they may have dried out beyond help, but new donuts are available from Parma, but you have to have a tire truer and trimmer. :)

[btaylor]

Thanks,ill try that! the tires are still soft enough,kinda thought they would still be good.i have some that were not bagged,and they are dry! beyond repair.
not a real fan of these aluminum wheels,as they are out of scale for 1/32 when tires are removed for old scratch builts,i used 1/24 wheels,with vacuformed wheel inserts from model car wheels.(done on an original mattel vac-u-form). worked pretty good and looked nice when painted.

[padirtfan]

If you clean them up good you can coat them with silicone. They hook up very nicely on plastic track that way.

[DAVE]

Goop hand soap will clean them up. Massage it into the foam rubber and let the tires sit for an hour, or possibly
longer if they are real stiff. Rinse them thoroughly and let them dry. Them massage some WD-40 into them.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Just to add to what Padirt says... We have several discussions here on HRW about coating foams with silicone. If you can't find them, post here about it, and we'll show you how to do it right. Its pretty simple.

Silicone coated foam is the only responsible tire I know of that translates across the boards as a universal high traction tire. I, like so many other veterans, consider the chemically treated, glue coated tires that make a mess to be cleaned up on people's tracks to be irresponsible. Anybody who shows up here with glue gets issued a house car to run, and they aren't allowed to open their box.

[btaylor]

I remember the "pine tar" traction adhesives from the seventies on the local commercial tracks! NO way is is that stuff getting on my track.I will have to look into that silicone trick,as i have never done that before?sounds like it would work great. Speaking of silicone tires,i just got in an order of rear silicones for my three screw strommies, made my two can ams have lap times comparable with my two new carrera cars! I am lovin this new technology!

[FootScoot]

If you like the silicones, you should try some urethanes. The urethanes aren't as sensitive to dust as silicones. I use either SCC Yellow Dog's or Paul Gage Tires exclusively. :)

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Yeah, I'll second that. I like them both, but for a lot of my cars, Paul has the perfect size.

And by the way don't try to coat foams with urethane. The urethane from a tube is too thin, and it just doesn't work at all. Its meant more as a glue for waders and hip boots.

[smithspeedway]

Use suntan lotion, at least 45 spf. I restored a 7 year old pair of Champion rears with the stuff. Rub it in, squeeze into the tire pretty hard, then blot dry.