Help With Foams

[MrSlow]

Hi there

I have bought some of those new 1/10 contact foams. I haven't used foams before and I am a little stuck on the next bit......

I have removed the inner ribs on the outer surface of the wheels (as advised) but I am struggling to get the tyre on without removing one of the outer edge rims too.
(Hope that makes sense)
Should I just be more patient, or is the outer rim removal the done thing?

Cheers

Lawrence

[Staxman]

To be honest mate, i used the 1/8 doughnuts, as at the time the only 1/10 ones that they did were for the touring cars and were designed for smaller wheels. The 1/8 foams were still a tight squeeze to get over the outer ribs on the buggy wheels
I think perseverance is the key mate

[andy110m]

Hi,

I always remove all the ribs with the exception being the last one which would be the inside when on the car. This is just to keep some strength in the wheel.

Once you've removed the ribs, rough up the surface, you don't want the smooth shiny plastic because the glue will struggle to stick to it.

At this stage you'll want a good supply of kitchen roll and if you've got them, some latex gloves. This glue is sticky and it gets all over.

Then using EvoStick Red, coat the inside of the tyre and the outside of the wheel and allow them both 20 minutes to get to a dry, tacky state. Then reapply glue to one of the surfaces. This this to provide an easy way to mount them and stop the glue grabbing.

For interest you might wonder why Evostick and not super glue. Two reasons, super glue is not flexible so as the tyre moves its cracks and breaks the bond. The second is the super glue soaks into the foam so you'll get a reduced life. This is because you won't be able to wear them down as low because the foam will be hard.

Back to the process. Once you're at this stage I put the wheel on a solid surface, rib down, and push the tyre over the wheel. Its quite easy using the 10th tyre but still a challenge using the smaller 8th version. You'll notice most of the second coat of glue gets pushed out which is why you applied the first and let it set. That doesn't get pushed out.

At this stage leave them alone for a good 24 hours, 48 is better, then true them up. I also have a pull at the edges to try to find any areas which haven't stuck well. Any I find I use a small amount of super glue on.

I didn't do this last time and found one tyre had come unglued. Its worth taking your time over this process because these tyres will last many weeks and doing a good job will pay off with a good handling car.

However you choose to true them up, try to get a nice radius on the corners. Tyres with a square profile tend to be prone to grip roll.

The last point worth mentioning, they do take a few runs to bed in and get to their best so don't be dishearten when you put it on the track the first time and it possibly isn't as good as you'd hoped.

Hope that helps.

[MattK]

That's a fantastic guide.
How did you get on cutting the tyres and wheel ribs Laurence? Hope my advice helped

[MrSlow]

Andy - that's absolutely awesome. Exactly what I needed. Thank you.

I have no real method of truing the tyres up. Any pearls of wisdom on that one?

Chris - thanks, I have been as patient as I am able

Matt - I think it's gone okay. Your advice did help. I have slimmed down the front wheels to help with the steering too. Just wondering about truing and rounding the edges now.

[MattK]

I just let my true in running them on track. just check your camber settings and away you go.
Also I swap the wheels round every week to keep the wear even, otherwise you end up with more coneing on 1 side than the other.

[andy110m]

Hope it helped you.

Advice for truing. Well either trapping the wheel with a nut and bolt in a drill is a favourite.

Or if your using 12mm hex style wheels I have a tyre truer so could do them for you.

Its possibly not ideal to do them at the club, it does make a bit of a mess but I've no problem taking them and doing them for you.

[MrSlow]

Thanks Andy it was a huge help.
I am using 12mm hexes.

Is truing something that can be done even if I have used the tyres?

[Andy-j.smith6]

Not sure whether another bit of advice will be of use. My way is about basic as you can probably get, but worked well for me.

My technique was to get 1/8 donuts. Cut the inner ribs, using a Stanley knife along the base of the rib and then wire cutters to peel the rib off.

Man-handle the tyres over the rims. The harder compounds are more difficult to get on. But with a bit of effort and painful fingers and you can get them on.

In terms of truing I used the highly technical method of just cutting the tyre with a stanley knife as straight as posdible. You can get a pretty clean cut and left it like that. As Matt said after a few heats they shape themselves fairly well.

I have always used contact adhesive as opposed to super glue. It doesn't get absorbed by the tyre.

Sounds hard work but with foams they last for ages so you don't have to do it very often at all.

[MrSlow]

Thanks to everyone for your help on Friday.

Especially Matt for the loan of his dirty Guinness cloth.

[Lee1972]

I don't cut any of the beads off, yes they are difficult to get on. Has anyone else noticed that the 1/10th scale donuts rears are wider than the wheels? The fronts seem to be a perfect fit.

[MrSlow]

Lee - yes the rear foams are wider than the wheels.
I just left them as they were but cut down the fronts to fit on the slim 2wd wheels.

[Lee1972]

The fronts seem to be a perfect fit for the front wheels and I cut the rears down to suit.