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09-28-2005, 05:15 PM
| #1 |
| Newbie Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Olathe
Posts: 1
|  Diesel softens rubber!
All you have to do to soften rubber (especially vehicle tires) is to let them soak up some diesel fuel. I've seen the rear tank on big pickups spring leaks where the spare tire is hung under the tank and I can tell you it works. In a vehicle's case it ruins the tire but a controlled soak will obtain results such as softer stickier rubber.:-P The rubber will swell some as well, kind of like an allergic reaction. Try starting with an hour long soak on rc tires. Repeat as needed and make sure to wash and dry the tires in between soakings. I work for Goodyear so the disclaimer on this one is diesel ruins vehicle tires!!!  Don't try this on real vehicles!
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09-28-2005, 05:22 PM
| #2 |
| Quarry Creeper Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: In the saddle...
Posts: 473
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The only problem I noticed with petroleum softening is that during the swelling process the tire bead also grows in diameter. I ended up fitting 1.9" Pajero tires onto 2.2" Superten rims. Additionally, in my experiements with gas and WD 40 it made glueing my tires more difficult as well.
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09-28-2005, 06:43 PM
| #3 |
| 06 Super National Champ   Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Stark Industries Bar and Grill
Posts: 11,361
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Rumor has it that some of the pro racers treat the faces of their tires with diesel.
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09-28-2005, 08:19 PM
| #4 |
| Quarry Creeper Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: St.Louis, MO.
Posts: 369
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I've used WD40 on some tires over the years, just the tread face though. Makes 'em a little bit more sticky. Actually just did the set of slicks we have on our brushless Willy last weekend. Quite a bit of difference, especially since the tires are 15 years old  Dunno if you can still get it but "fuel oil" works decent too. Not sure of the long term results though.
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09-30-2005, 07:16 PM
| #5 |
| Newbie Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Sandy, Oregon
Posts: 25
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i have meet many racers that soak the faces of their tires in deisel. I takes way less than an hour to acheive results, u can do it in less than five minutes with good results. It is illegal in racing but if you don't swell the tire too much many people get away with it. zack |
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09-30-2005, 07:29 PM
| #6 |
| Rock Crawler Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Columbia, SC
Posts: 661
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could this eat away at the tire? how exactly could you do this? could you do it on the little nylint rigs?
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09-30-2005, 07:49 PM
| #7 |
| Pebble Pounder Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Alberta, Canada
Posts: 100
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Considering that Deisel fual is an oil, its not really that surprising that this happens. Same with WD-40. It will make things harder to glue if you get it on the bead, because glue+oil=no sticky. Eating away the rubber is actully how it softens the rubber, although it won't do any harm, if you leave them in waaaaay to long (I'm talking days/weeks here) it can totally destroy the tire. Don't try this with Petrol though, in theory it should actully dry out the tire.
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12-04-2005, 07:05 PM
| #8 |
| Pebble Pounder  Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: N. Arkansas
Posts: 143
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Fuel oil is kerosene. You can buy it here at the pump.
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