vacuum cleaning tires - how to get the dirt out?

[soko]

Ahhh OK. So boiling them in hot water for 45 mins and the glue comes loose?
Then I get all the dirt out and re-glue them with CA, correct?

 

[WTF MIKE]

Ahhh OK. So boiling them in hot water for 45 mins and the glue comes loose?
Then I get all the dirt out and re-glue them with CA, correct?

It won’t just fall off the rim get a pair of gloves and try prying them off. It may require more time. And yes clean them out and re glue with ca. Then cover those holes and drill up to 1/8 holes in the tires I like to do 4 holes. Drill them when the tires are off the rim so you don’t damage the foams

 

[soko]

OK, so I have to try to pry them off when they still hot? If I wait until they are cold they won't come off?

 

[WTF MIKE]

OK, so I have to try to pry them off when they still hot? If I wait until they are cold they won't come off?

Correct

 

[L0stB1t]

Glad I found this thread! My (DHK Zombie) tires went from 215g to 475g, reducing battery time, acceleration and jumping capabilities significantly...

Hoping to get dirt or water out, I've created 4 outer tire holes with my soldering iron. This works really well, as long as you set it to a high temperature and you keep the tip clean - once it gets covered in burned rubber it's much harder to make nice holes. The tip also becomes unusable for soldering, so better dedicate a specific tip for this job.

I haven't been able to reduce the weight though, so I've ordered some new tires to get a clean start. With those I'll definitely close the wheel holes and create tire holes right away. Once that's done I'll try to open up the old ones. I'll follow up with the dirty details...

 

[Jimbobjr]

Thank you guys, venting my tires has changed my life.

 

[WTF MIKE]

Glad I found this thread! My (DHK Zombie) tires went from 215g to 475g, reducing battery time, acceleration and jumping capabilities significantly...

Hoping to get dirt or water out, I've created 4 outer tire holes with my soldering iron. This works really well, as long as you set it to a high temperature and you keep the tip clean - once it gets covered in burned rubber it's much harder to make nice holes. The tip also becomes unusable for soldering, so better dedicate a specific tip for this job.

I haven't been able to reduce the weight though, so I've ordered some new tires to get a clean start. With those I'll definitely close the wheel holes and create tire holes right away. Once that's done I'll try to open up the old ones. I'll follow up with the dirty details...

You can always boil the the wheels to get the tires off the rim and remove the dirt that’s trapped in there

 

[L0stB1t]

After comparing the different ways to remove tires from the rim I decided to use the oven method. I figured this would be the cleanest option because boiling would make a hot wet mess and acetone could kill the foam inside.

I put one tire on top of some parchment paper and heated it for half an hour at 120 °C (with the convection fan on to spread the heat evenly). There was a bit of weird rubber smell but nothing too bad really. This method worked out great; with some old oven mittens on I could peel off the tire fairly easily.

So this is what a disassembled DHK Zombie wheel looks like:



The rubber has some reinforcements in the middle but it's fairly thin on the sides. The rim looks nice and it doesn't look like the heat affected it in any way. I was expecting a bit of molten mess in the foam at the spots where I made the holes with my soldering iron, but to my surprise the holes in it are really clean.

Now for the really embarrassing part... Aside from a few specks, this tire didn't contain any dirt at all. So why did I my scale say 475 now where it said 215 when I weighed them a few months ago? Because somehow the units were changed to pounds instead of kilograms! Yes, I feel so stupid now...

There's still some brittle glue residue on the tire so I'll clean that off with acetone (or nail polish remover if I can't find my bottle of acetone) and then glue it all back together.

Now my biggest question is why I'm seeing reduced battery time and performance , but at least I'm 100% sure now it's not the tires

 

[WTF MIKE]

After comparing the different ways to remove tires from the rim I decided to use the oven method. I figured this would be the cleanest option because boiling would make a hot wet mess and acetone could kill the foam inside.

I put one tire on top of some parchment paper and heated it for half an hour at 120 °C (with the convection fan on to spread the heat evenly). There was a bit of weird rubber smell but nothing too bad really. This method worked out great; with some old oven mittens on I could peel off the tire fairly easily.

So this is what a disassembled DHK Zombie wheel looks like:

View attachment 24216

The rubber has some reinforcements in the middle but it's fairly thin on the sides. The rim looks nice and it doesn't look like the heat affected it in any way. I was expecting a bit of molten mess in the foam at the spots where I made the holes with my soldering iron, but to my surprise the holes in it are really clean.

Now for the really embarrassing part... Aside from a few specks, this tire didn't contain any dirt at all. So why did I my scale say 475 now where it said 215 when I weighed them a few months ago? Because somehow the units were changed to pounds instead of kilograms! Yes, I feel so stupid now...

There's still some brittle glue residue on the tire so I'll clean that off with acetone (or nail polish remover if I can't find my bottle of acetone) and then glue it all back together.

Now my biggest question is why I'm seeing reduced battery time and performance , but at least I'm 100% sure now it's not the tires

I’m not sure why your losing battery time. But I I know I had Little Rock’s in my wheels and this was the out come when I removed the tires

 

[Jimbobjr]

I've seen rc cars in the tub, oven and now the kitchen sink. My wife would break my arms if I did that