Tire truers, where did they all go?

[Michael Squier]

Does anyone know when we might see the simple tire truers like the razor design back in shops? Nobody seems to have any I. Stock and I see that a few different makes were available at one time. I’m specifically talking about the kind that will true the whole axel assembly from RTR cars.

[Kevan]

RSM3 is back in stock... https://www.overdrive-shop.com/Tire-truer-RSM3

[Scatman]

Michael, I ordered one, and it arrived in less than two weeks

[Kevan]

I made a reciprocator for the RSM 3, files on thingiverse.

[F1Fan]

Thanks Kevan, I am going to take a look as I have one of those machines, in addition to the Area 3 and Hudy, they all seem to have their own pro's and cons. One thing about the RSM 3 that's disappointing is that it does not have an adjustable stop, so if you want to true multiple tyres to the same size it's a pain. I also found the motor very underpowered and replaced it with a higher torque version.

[War Eagle River]

Check with CincySlots. I know they had a Tire Razor a few days ago for sale.

[War Eagle River]

Too late. The Razor at Cincy has been sold.

[Michael Squier]

I guess that’s why I couldn’t find it. They go fast.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Then again....maybe....there will be more soon.

[Michael Squier]

🤔, sounds like someone knows something.

[Kevan]

Oooh!

[RexCadral]

If you have a lathe at home and you're mechanically accurate, you can true your tires on that.

[HO RacePro]

I have been able to true tires on a benchtop milling machine. One advantage, truing on a vertical axis allows you to true under water, inside a tank. I add some dish soap to break the surface tension and make things more slippery. Wet truing is great for soft and gummy tires. Prevents stick/slip and overheating. With my digital readout I can match tire diameters to a thousandth of an inch.

[Kevan]

A thou' eh, good for roughing out then

[ALS]

Go to Ebay i just saw a few Hudy truers

[Kevan]

OP specifically said wheels on axle type.

[MrFlippant]

Hudy and similar are only good for metal set screw wheels.
For those trying to get "toy" cars to run smoothly without replacing half the parts, a "whole axle" machine like the Tire Razor, Area 3, or RSM, is money well spent. Besides, you can use it for the metal wheels as well.

The market needs a new supply of such machines.

[slothead]

I have about 200 cars with stock plastic wheels. I know a Tire Truer is the ideal way to get round wheels and tires but chose not to go that route because to it'd be a ton of work to do all of them to keep things even. All my cars get aftermarket rear tires (silicone for cars on the smooth oval and urethane for MDF road track cars). I check for flashing on the wheels while changing tires and remove any with a file.

Though not ideal, has anyone found a way to clamp down an RTR chassis and sand both wheels or tires evenly while running the motor?

[4424ever]

Belt sander

[Michael Squier]

I’ve been trying to come up with a way to do that but so far haven’t .

[HomeRacingWorld]

Although this does not work for ideal for wheels, it does help true your stock and urethanes.



Using different thickness shims to adjust to the desired height, you can get a pretty good true. We used powered sanding blocks or just the track if need be.

Not perfect. But it works better than you might think.

[slothead]

Thanks Harry. I need to make a sanding block like that.

[Michael Squier]

I use a Carrera power supply track to do it now. It works ok, but I like the idea of not using the cars gear and motor to sand them. I’m hoping your prediction comes true, tru.

[Bluevista]

I used the advice here and tried a belt sander under water.
It doesn't work very well at all.

[Kevan]

Who said use a belt sander under water?...I bet that's hilarious to watch, please post a video

[HO RacePro]

When wet sanding on my benchtop mill I can only do one wheel at a time. It is fully immersed in a tank of water. I keep the RPM's low. I also feed only a few thousandths at a time.

I have done some work building a 'Tire Razor'-like machine for wet sanding, designed to mount a full rear axle. It has a micrometer feed. It has a very shallow pan for water and a slow -- approximately 100 RPM -- speed. Unlike all of the other tire truing machines I have seen it uses a gear reducer and a timing belt drive. It is intentionally designed to work slowly. The low speed is to prevent splashing.

I haven't come up with an axle mounting system I like yet, and that is why it remains unfinished. It was not designed with a shifter system. If I ever get back to working on it I'll try to integrate a shifter.

[F1Fan]

Very clever! Can you perhaps post a picture of your wet sanding system that you use on your milling machine? I have both the Harbor Freight/General Machine mini mill and 7x12 mini lathe and recently started work on a system to true tyres on the lathe while cooling it with water using a Ninco lid, small aquarium pump and some Loc-line spraying water on the tyre. Not completed yet as other projects interrupted this idea.

[RichD]

If you want to have perfectly round tires you need to be able to keep a constant distance between the wheel center and the surface of the sanding media. In order to do that you need to use a lathe or some type of dedicated tire truing machine. Methods like the one shown in post #9 should improve things, but a fanatic racer seeking absolute perfection would want to use a tire truer or a lathe.

[oldtribefan]

I have this Tire Razor with a 3-12v regulated power supply that I am looking to sell. It works great. Wife and I are downsizing to a new house and no room for my track anymore so no need for this anymore. Not sure what to ask for price though.

[MrFlippant]

Easy $200 for everything shown.

[oldtribefan]

Thanks for the info!

[HomeRacingWorld]

Methods like the one shown in post #9 should improve things, but a fanatic racer seeking absolute perfection would want to use a tire truer or a lathe.

Well, when there are none to be had and some folks cannot afford a lathe, you do what you can. Besides a lathe is useless for ready to run axles popped out of the chassis.

Not everyone is a "fanatic" about precision when looking to just improve performance/new to hobby.

So before criticising...think about those newcomers with tighter budgets before claiming a method is not effective,.

[slothead]

You described me Harry. While I don't have a tight budget overall, I opt for quantity to create robust fields of cars (such as 50 legit replicas of SCCA Trans Am cars from '66 - '73) over creating a few proxy-tuned speedsters. If a car hops or chatters I tune on it till it runs better and is competitive with the others. What you offered as a solution is just my speed (no pun intended).

[MrFlippant]

I didn't take RichD's comment nearly as harshly as you appeared to have. He was only pointing out that other methods, while they can be very helpful, were not as precise as using an appropriate tool. When people use sandpaper on track, they're not usually truing the tires, but making a smoother egg. It certainly helps most cars, but is not the same as truing.