How to soften up rubber tires???
 

-Is there any way to soften up the compund on tires to make them a bit more sticky/grippy & keep that added grip??
-I was thinkin like soakin them in wd-40 or somethin along that line but am unsure of what to use to do this.
-Some research i did: Quote *Spray a layer of WD-40 & dry them with a heat gun, do it 4-5 times and it will make the tires so sticky. If you do it right WD40 will break the tire down to soften it up some.* Quote. Others mentioned using Simple Green which i dont know what that is..??
-Altho ive read that WD-40 can swell the tires if done too much & wont fit on the rims anymore. Im broke so buyin new tires is not an option when i have chemicals on hand. ;^)

Any help is appreciated!!
Thanks!!

degreaser

Hot Lap

As in brake parts cleaner??

I have no idea what that is! Sorry!

Most people will use a cleaning product called simple green
most will mix it aprox 50/50 with water.

I use simple green for cleaning tires,and it does help soften them.

Hot lap is a product used in racing,its a treatment made specifically to soften the tires. Its expensive,its nasty.

+1. From what I have seen, Simple Green does NOT dissolve your tires over time either.
Other solvents can make the tire swell and dissolve, so I would tend to stay away from them.

Simple Green can be found at grocery stores, hardware stores, etc. Look in the "cleaning products" aisle.

Simple green does not "really" soften the tires, it just removes the oil from them and makes them temporarily sticky. I've had success (8th scale offroad) with coating the tires in WD40 and putting them in a zip lock for a day or so, then washing them off with Simple Green. The only safe and correct way to soften tires is to buy a softer compound next you need them.

forget he ever said this unless you wanna be this guy...http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/showt...highlight=wd40

x2 WD40 is not the thing to do. Back in my racing days, we used a few different products to soften rubber tires. The best was Trinity Buggy Grip. If you wanted the tire extremely sticky, we would soak them in buggy grip for about 15 minutes and then spin the tires to remove most of the excess, then use a lighter to burn the rest of it off. It's dangerous and I don't recommend it (I'm not liable if you burn your eyebrows off or worse), but it sure did work on buggy and truck tires. I seem to remember using some type of pipe dope compound on touring car tires a few times too. You can only take a hard rubber compound so far too, before they become slimey and just break down.

[QUOTE=CoalTrain;2937811]Simple green does not "really" soften the tires, it just removes the oil from them and makes them temporarily sticky. I've had success (8th scale offroad) with coating the tires in WD40 and putting them in a zip lock for a day or so, then washing them off with Simple Green. The only safe and correct way to soften tires is to buy a softer compound next you need them.[/QUOTE]

Like I said "thumbsup"

right but youre also planting bad ideas in the heads of noobs.....an epic fail like that could turn thgem off to the hobby as a whole

Simple green does not soften tires. It cleans them really well but it also dries the rubber out after awhile. Spray WD-40 on your tires then seal them in a zip lock bag. Check them daily. When they are as soft as you want them wash them with simple green. Don't leave them sealed in the bag for any longer than three days or they will start to swell up.

what hey said"thumbsup" its really hard to mess your tires up with dw40 unless you forget that you have 45 bucks woth of tires soaking and in that case you deserve it hehe :lmao:

Lots of good info,, thanks guys!!!!

http://www.needhp.com/hotlaporiginal...nt-gallon.aspx
Not all tires are available in all compounds.

This is safe,and it wont make your tires smell toxic.
You can overdue it
I have used this product in a mix,using roughly 20% hot lap
I have used it on my tractor tires,bmx tires,bmx brake pads,windshield wipers,and yes,crawler tires.

It works,but less is more..

WD40 is made to leave a sticky residue when it dries. Does anyone use it for the residue effect? If I were to use WD40 on my tires, I'd try to keep it on the tread and away from the sidewalls, then after applying it, place the tires in front of a fan to hasten the evaporation of the solvents.

-I landed up lightly spraying some brake parts cleaner on each tire & lighting them on fire for a few seconds. I did this about 4 times per tire & it deffinately made an overal difference. However as the tires cooled they hardened a bit so if im about to do some rock crawling, it can be done directly before u start climbing for better grip. But like i said, it made an overal difference & as long as ur carefull, it didnt ruin any of the tires & im happy with the results!!
Thanks guys!!

:shock::ror:"thumbsup":shock::ror:

I even took pics of em on fire!! LMAO!!