Preping and Mounting VTA Tires
 

Im probly gona get a new set of rims and tires for my T/A since the first set I had was used and in crap shape. dose anyone have any tips on preping and mounting the tires? I had to keep adding glue every week because they were crap to begin with so im trying to avoid that problem. Thanks

Clean the bead area of the tire throughly with motor spray and a rag to remove ALL the mold release. CA doesn't stick well to the mold release.

I would take a dremil or sand paper and remove all the chrome in the wheel bead and you will get a good bond that way.

Steve

What kind of Glue do you use ive heard CA, and there is some other kind of glue thats suposed to be better then CA but since I can't think of the name of it theats probly no help

Team Losi makes a tire glue that works pretty good.
Dave

Losi 'Blue' label. I'm pretty sure it is still a CA based glue.

Another trick is to use thick rubber bands and wrap them right around the outer sidewall. This will "pull" the lip of the tire over the contact part of the rim and help it stay round.

If you just throw a tire on the rim, look around the outer edge of the rim where it makes contact with the tire. In many spots the tire isn't completely wrapped and will have an oval or elongated shape.

You can "break" them in by either scuffing them on clean concrecte or asphalt (doing donuts and drifts), or like miller tyme said you can use motor spray or other strong cleaners and wipe down the tire completely to remove the "glaze". I think I've used Simple Green and it worked, but it was a really strong solution.

Here is what I did for a relatively pain free install using a very thin CA glue (important that it runs!).

1.Clean the tires - I did nothing to the rims as I just used the non-chrome ones
2.Put the insert in the tire and mount it on the rim properly.
3.Put a silver mark on the tire every 90 degrees on each side.
4.Start at one silver mark, and lift up the rubber ever so slightly and squirt CA in there, let the rubber back down
5.Move to the next silver mark on the tire and repeat.
6. Let that side of the tire dry when you've done all 4 marks - the last one may be difficult to peel up when you get to it, don't force it, just find a spot near the last mark you can lift and work from there.

Usually, the CA runs so much I can see it at the next mark when I go to do the spot, but it only needs to go 45 degrees in either direction from each silver mark for full 360 degree coverage :)

That's a nice method using thin glue. You can do the same thing with medium or thicker glue but you have to "massage" it around. Good idea Thirtybird :nod:

Honestly, on the back-side of the tires/rims I just go to town with the glue without regards to looks since no one will see that part anyway :D

Good points so far. Getting the beads to seat is key. I give them a good massage and workout before I glue them to make sure that the beads sit fully in the rims. this is particularly important on the outside of the TA tires. Use thin glue and the 90° system works real good. I have a bunch of those rubbery "affinity" bracelets, like the Lance Armstrong Livestrong bracelets. They are a perfect size. I stretch one over each tire bead and set them aside for an hour or so. Works really good.

Cool Thank you all for all the Tips!!:nod: it will save from another headace in the future but thats what you get sometimes when you get stuff used.:tire:

I too use the Losi Tire glue

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is to also glue the rubber to the outside face of the rim where it overlaps.

I also mount the tires and let them sit on the rims overnight so they'll seat properly.

Keep a paper towel handy and if you over glue a spot, you can quickly swipe the glue off with the towel. Has to be really quick though, otherwise you're car will look a lot like a dork walking out of the men's room with TP stuck to his shoe.

Any tips on conditioning new VTA tires?
 

Might have missed a thread on this, but I feel I'm in the right place. My track had low USGT draw so I went to VTA for my first race today. The new tires just didn't react to additive, 3 times of 10 minutes and it hardly did a thing. I was squirrely in qualifying rounds but ended up gaining a lot of rubber off the track. I left it alone and just ran about a second off pace at best.

I was advised to SXT green slime them multiple times with sunlight or heat days before the race. Wish I knew that yesterday!

Any tips appreciated. Green slime on the way...