Calde315

iTrader: (6)

Well they are essentially garbage unless I can get them off!!

Tried nail polish remover with a qtip last night and it was an exercise of frustration like someone said. I don't think I loosened anything up.

Will try a little bit of heat first today.

Losi Chaser

Toaster ovens work well also.

Calde315

iTrader: (6)

Used a heat gun and got the bead loose on outside facing side, but was having trouble with the inside part of the rim/tire. I gave up for the time, plus my hands were getting hot even with gloves on.

lowspark

iTrader: (7)

Bent a brand new rim this weekend.
Dropped the wheel in a Tupperware of acetone and snapped the lid closed. Note, I added a piece of plastic block on top of the wheel so it would be completely submerged. Opened up the container 12 hrs later and the wheel fell off the rim.
I've been doing to this way for years... Works great every time.

JsK

iTrader: (10)

This will completely destroy an open cell foam and does not do anything good to a closed cell foam either. Also some clay compound tires will shrink and Crack badly. The acetone dip.works fine for recovering used wheels but the heat gun or exacto knife is the least invasive if your trying to recover the tire and foam.

Calde315

iTrader: (6)

Thanks for clarifying. That was my concern was with the tire and foam material.

ta_man

iTrader: (168)

In my experience this (bolded text above) is false. What the acetone does is make the open cell foam swell and it is very fragile while wet with acetone. If you don't destroy it by trying to wring it out (meaning twisting it - which will tear it) the foam will be fine once it dries. If a liner gets destroyed because you twisted it or pulled on it, that's you, not the acetone.

I recently got a set of Proline 3.8 BadLands. Proline stuffs the foam liner in the tire in a V shape with a crimp so when you take it out the crimp is like the V in a heart shape. After sitting for two weeks, two of the liners were still crimped and nowhere near round. I put some acetone in a big Tupperware container, proceeded to completely wet the liners (which made them swell), then squeezed the acetone out (wearing good rubber gloves). The key here is to squeeze (like squeezing a lemon), not wring (like twisting a towel). Once they completely dried, they were back to normal size, shape, and firmness, and ready to be put in the tires.

I would not have done this if I thought I would have damaged the foams of my brand new tires, but 13 years experience using acetone on RC tires made me confident all would be good.

As far as closed cell foams, I've not tried soaking them since I've never got a set that were deformed enough to need it.

iDChuck

iTrader: (8)

I would just cut along the bead.

tommynash

iTrader: (8)

I have heard that boiling works well, I'm sure there is a youtube video somewhere

bash bros

iTrader: (2)

Acetone works great, but just don't submerge the whole wheel. All you need is an old tupperware container and a small rag soaked in acetone, or just a splash of acetone in the bottom. The fumes are enough to separate the tire from the rim.

I like this method the best, but it usually takes 1-2 days to get the tire off cleanly. Once it's off you can soak the bead in acetone to get the rest of the glue/rubber off.

I've always been able to re-use my closed cell AKA and Proline foams using this method.