Advice for Foam Tires

[6666hotrod]

Along with my usual scratch building, I have recently been building cars on the LVJ Cruiser, and LVJ Champ chassis. As I've stated before : I absolutely LOVE the
LVJ chassis !! Also quite pleased, with the ProTrack foam tires, that go on these chassis. I've learned of several easy ways to make the foam tires work really well.
But for my upcoming two LVJ projects, on one of them, I'm going to substitute Paul Gage urethane's, on the rear : PGT-22160.095's ! Here's my Question : Can
anyone advise me on if it's possible, to get the foam tire off the ProTrack wheel, without destroying them ?? Would prefer to save them, if I can. Thanks, in advance !

[chrisguyw]

Here's my Question : Can
anyone advise me on if it's possible, to get the foam tire off the ProTrack wheel, without destroying them ?? Would prefer to save them, if I can. Thanks, in advance !

Simple answer,......NO.

Soaking your ProTrack wheels/tires in a jar of lacquer thinner for a few hours will soften the contact cement they are glued on with and they will slip off easily,.....unfortunately, you won't like what the lacquer thinner will do to the sponge.............buy a new set of wheels for your PG urethanes, and leave the Protracks' as they are .

Cheers
Chris Walker

[wizardgm]

One trick I used to do when racing on sponge tyres was to place the rim on the tip of a temperature controlled soldering iron and watch the foam expand off the rim.

It took a bit of trial and error to get the right temp, but it allowed the foam to be pealed of the 'HOT' rim !!

You need lots of ventilation as well :}