TOPIC:

So now that I have 24 pairs of rims and tires , I only use like 6 pairs in my pit box. Should I be spraying my tires with armour all tire gel like my real-life car.? It seems like they would benifit from this. I store them out of the sun and also make sure my chassis are elevated and not resting on tires for long periods when on shelf. I tried the old-school baby oil trick but the gel seems much better.

TBH I'm skeptical about using tyre preparations on 1:1 tyres - quite why anyone thinks sidewalls that look like they've been freshly greashed (or there are multiple brake fluid leaks) is a good thing is beyond me ... I'm also not convinced that something intended for short term "improvement" isn't damaging in the medium or longer term, browning & cracking seems to be more prevalent (often within months in me observation) where such preparations have been used.

Even assuming these preparations are good (or even just ok) on 1:1 tyres, I don't think it's necessarily safe to assume that they're ok on RC tyres - Tamiya generally refer to them as "semi pneumatic, rubber like", which implies they're not rubber based ... that said, there do seem to be two distinct types of Tamiya tyres:

- the ones that do seem very much like rubbe (found on most vintage models {Wild Willy, SRBs, Brat, etc etc}, these crack/craze {and break up}, soften, flat spot, surface whiten & loose definition {especially on sidewall lettering} in time);

- and the more plastic like ones, found on some vintage models (Bruiser/Blackfoot, Hoshot/Fox/etc) which are pretty hard to start with and get worse; Monster Beetle tyres are a lot worse - IDK if it's a different compound or it's they're just thinner/larger that's the problem, but they go, for want of a better word, "biscuity" and break up a bit like a jigsaw, especially when they've been standing...


I'm also skeptical about using Baby Oil - it might smell neutral, but the "mineral oil" listed in the ingredients is a petroleum distillate, AKA white parafin oil ... again it seems a short term gain risking long term issues (seems more as likely to be leaching stuff out rather than replacing it).


Glycerol (AKA Glycerine) esepcially the kosher/food grade stuff is gernerally reckoned to be safe long term - in my experience it restores older rubber type tyres to their previous grade of bounciness & closes up minor crazing in the medium term, on "plastic" types it helps a little in softening them, in the longer term it seems to get completely absorbed (it seems unlikely it's evaporating) ... in the short term (especially if it's not buffed off properly) it'll give that "fluid leak" look


Otherwise you're doing the right thing - UV and pressure aren't good for tyre health. Heat/cold (and variations between the two) too, ditto extremes of humidity, and air ... though unless you keep things sealed and/or a nitrogen atmosphere it's difficult to do anything about it...

Of course there's a list of Tamiya cars you can't get replacements for (the older they are, the bigger the problem), but in general with mid period stuff the re-release programme has covered a lot of ground, and with newer stuff it's difficult to foresee a time when you wouldn't be able to get replacements - so burn that tread off though spirited driving & replace when necessary

Lol fair enough. Do you not have sun in you're country? After dropping 12 to 1400 on new rubber I definitely protect them and from a guy with an extensive car collection, believe me when i say they absolutely do prolong the lifespan of your rubber.

If you're running a set of tires for longer than 4 years on any vehicle you should replace them.

Interesting point on the material difference. I will skip the mineral oil because even that crap kinda works on cars but it's more of a mess.

Well I guess I'll keep them in there dark dry box and maybe try some armour all and a few 1:1 products on some old ones and monitor the results.

Cheers!

So met a guy at the local track who used to work for Aka racing. He gave me what he called a tire bag. It was logoed up and fits 3 sets of rims and rubber and apparently it has uv filters in it and it seems to seal like a vacuum bag . He advised this is the best thing to do with the tires as the air is apparently the quickest damager of rubber after sunlight.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk