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Old 12-28-2011, 06:58 AM
  #501  
terry.sc
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Stockport, UK
Posts: 1,024
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Originally Posted by 2wdrive
What silicone did you use for that?
Silicone coated tyres came from 1/12th scale, we used to do it so we actually had some grip on the polished wood floors we raced on back in the late 70s. Any silicone mastic will do, just make sure it is silicone and not the modern acrylic ones. When you smell it it should smell strongly of vinegar.
You can use as soft a tyre as you want, they won't wear down and are protected from damage by the silicone.
You need a few things to prepare the tyres. A flat surface that you don't mind getting covered in silicone, I used to use a glass sheet. Some dish soap to stop them sticking to your surface, and something to act as an axle to help roll the wheels, I used a long screwdriver.

Do the tyres as pairs, helps to keep them even. Squirt a little dish soap onto your flat surface and squeeze some silicone onto each tyre. Now roll the tyres through the dish soap to spread the silicone around the tyres until it is even. Do the same for the other pair of tyres and put them aside to dry making sure the silicone isn't touching anything.

You now have silicone coated slicks, if you are racing in dusty conditions then adding some stipples to give a tread helps grip. To add stipples when the tyres are dry add some more silicone and roll the tyres together until the stipples are consistent around the surface. You can create different size spikes depending on how much silicone you add. These spikes won't last too long, when we raced 1/12th on wood floor we used a very fine spike which meant we used up one set of tyres per race, although we just had to create the spikes again for next weeks racing and tyres costs were zero.

You can see what siliconed tyres look like on my old 1/12th scale here. It shows bigger spikes on the rear with finer spikes on the front.
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