Sand in wheels (DT-03)

[TimVdb]

Hi,

When running on my dusty sand track in our garden, the back wheels of my Racing Fighter start collecting fine sand inside.
Anyway how to prevent this?
I'm scared of glueing the tires on the wheels. Cause if then sand slips inside, I won't be able to remove it :-)

I saw somebody put foam inside his wheels in a build video. (No idea why)
Is that something that might help?

Thanks!

[Twinfan]

Aren't there some drain holes in those wheels?  You could tape over them as that would stop a lot of dust getting in.

Foams are to stop the tyres deforming, more for use on high grip surfaces like those used for carpet racing I think.  Adding them might help, but then if they get wet you've got to strip the wheels down to get them properly dried out.

[alvinlwh]

There is no simple answer to this as while you can tape over the vent holes like @Twinfan said, you end up with a hard bouncy tyre.

I wonder if the solution to water in tyres can work here, punching holes in the tyres, but bigger holes so that sand get fling out when the wheel is spinning. You may want to try it on an older set of tyres. 

Note that due to the fact that vent holes are present in the rims, holes in the tyres will not really affect performance. 

[TurnipJF]

+1 on holes in the tyres for sand and water release. The Hornet comes with them as standard and they work well.

[ad456]

If you vent the tires you can glue without worrying about taking them off to remove sand. 
 

The other option is tape up the holes in the rim and not glue and then you can still take the tyres off so that you can empty what creeps in through the unglued bead. 

[TurnipJF]

This tool works well for making tyre vent holes, leaving nice neat edges.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Revolving-Leather-Punch-Plier-Workshop/dp/B00WEMGKW4/ref=asc_df_B00WEMGKW4

[ChrisRx718]

4 hours ago, alvinlwh said:

There is no simple answer to this as while you can tape over the vent holes like @Twinfan said, you end up with a hard bouncy tyre.

Or worse, in my experience, the tyre compresses, air gets out (via tyre bead) and then no air can get back in, so it loses it's form and becomes like a hexagonal wheel 

[Juggular]

I wonder if you could use shoe glue on 3 or 4 spots? 

That might be enough to keep the tires from peeling off while you are driving. It also allows you to easily remove them when you need to take them off?

 

[Juggular]

please delete

[ad456]

10 minutes ago, Juggular said:

I wonder if you could use shoe glue on 3 or 4 spots? 

That might be enough to keep the tires from peeling off while you are driving. It also allows you to easily remove them when you need to take them off?

 

I do this often with my lower power cars as I like to be able to switch tyres/reuse rims without a headache cleaning up. It’s Zhanlida T7000 I use but I think it’s much the same as Shoo Goo. 

[alvinlwh]

35 minutes ago, ChrisRx718 said:

Or worse, in my experience, the tyre compresses, air gets out (via tyre bead) and then no air can get back in, so it loses it's form and becomes like a hexagonal wheel 

The solution to your "flat tyre" problem is to....puncture it properly!

[MadAnt]

Like others have said, make a hole in the tire or just glue the rim in a few spots for easier removal.

 

[Wooders28]

I normally run foams, it's a bit like adding a bit of tyre pressure. 

Found the foam acts like a bit of an air filter, so air can get in and out of the vent holes, but stops sand and dirt getting in.

[El Gecko]

13 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

Found the foam acts like a bit of an air filter, so air can get in and out of the vent holes, but stops sand and dirt getting in.

That's what I've found as well. I don't have a pic, but there's usually small dust spots on my foams right where the vent holes are on the rims, and only minimal ingress of actual particles. Sometimes there's more crud trapped in the beads of the rim than in the center.

[alvinlwh]

16 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

Found the foam acts like a bit of an air filter, so air can get in and out of the vent holes, but stops sand and dirt getting in.

On the basis of this, I wonder if sticking some cloth over the vent holes will work? Or even just cloth band aid? 

[Wooders28]

2 hours ago, alvinlwh said:

On the basis of this, I wonder if sticking some cloth over the vent holes will work? Or even just cloth band aid? 

Seems a bit of a faff, when you can just throw a pair of foam inserts in (medium or hard) and have better handling too, they're about £2.