Heartbreak!

[violetmind]

I took my Kyosho Gallop MK II out to clean and when I started work on the wheels and tyres......low and behold, I realised one of the front tyres had a tear. A massive one!

I took it out from the wheel and looked closer and found that the rubber is really thin. I never noticed/knew that the rubber on these tyres were so thin. And now it feels almost cardboard-like...dry...really dry. These tyres were put together out of NIPs so I'm really ******* now that it's deteriorated while being kept in a good and save storage location. Grrrrr.....how can this crack so bad??

Has anyone encountered this before?

Now I got to look for a replacement. Sigh....I think it's going to be tough.....

[rc-martin]

That sucks! Could you repair it with some superglue and maybe a piece of inner tube inside to strengthen it?

[B.M.T.]

It's a sad thing, but dry rot will take out rubber parts if they are used or not.

Feel for you man, I have a set of Big Bear tyres heading down that path, only a matter of time.

[HunterZero]

It's a sad thing, but dry rot will take out rubber parts if they are used or not.

Feel for you man, I have a set of Big Bear tyres heading down that path, only a matter of time.

Glycerine or silicon oil will help preserve rubber and slow it from drying out... But once the rubber is rotted, there's nothing you can do to reverse the process.

- James

[violetmind]

Glycerine or silicon oil will help preserve rubber and slow it from drying out... But once the rubber is rotted, there's nothing you can do to reverse the process.

- James

How do you store your tyres James? I tried keeping some of my sand supers in a ziploc (air-tight) bag after "massaging" them with glycerine. Just started doing that (should have started on this set of Gallop tyres first!) but I haven't put them in long enough to see any notable difference.

Do you store them in a similar way and leave them alone? Or do you apply glycerine, wash them off, then store them and take them out every once in a while to apply glycerine again?

Thanks!

[Live Steam Mad]

Hi, I just measured the thickness of the rubber of the inner part (see photo below) of the rear of one of my rear MudStar tyres which is NIP (for my own Gallop MK2 ). The rubber is 0.061" thick ( 1.55mm). I cannot measure the thickness of the sidewall since I can't see how much the micrometer is compressing the rubber (false readings etc.). I just looked at a NIP Top Force Spire Spike rear tyre and it's maybe a little bit thinner than the MudStar rear on the tread, but the TF tyre is a bit softer. This rear Mudstar tyre is certainly not hard at all though. No dry rot, no cracks when flexed. I also looked at a NIP Schumacher yellow mini-pin front tyre and the Schumacher is quite a bit thicker than both of those, and a similar softness to the TF tyre.

I don't have a set of front tyres ( tires ) NIP for my Gallop MK2, but I had a feel of the correct original front tyres that are on it and they seem to be fine, certainly not paper thin, reasonable thickness, reasonable flexibility, no dry rot, no cracks, and they seem to be the original (used) tyres that were on the car when I got it at Xmas. I can't take the tyres off the rims though, they seem to be superglued on.

In my climate (England) it is at 80 per cent Relative Humidity most of the time, and rubber doesn't rot here, it seems to rehydrate!!

I put some old XLT (F150) (Brat) tyres (non-re-re) in some Glycerin for a month, and they came out quite a bit softer and blacker than when they went in, it really made them nice and restored them. However with other tyres ( Blackfoot ) the effect was not nearly as good. Depends how good the original rubber like material was at soaking up moisture in the long term ( glycerin is hygroscopic ).

If the rubber like material is torn, maybe (?) use Vulcanising ( vulcanizing ) rubber solution to re-bond it, as it works perfectly on punctures on tyre inner tubes (a rubber like material). Maybe also use a re-inforcing section of inner tube on the tyre like Martin said, but be warned this will unbalance the tyre horridly at high speed.

Cheers,

Alistair G.

[Chilihook]

Sorry to see the damage to your tire! I have heard that temperature can affect rubber's life span as well. I've been told on numerous occasions that cold will increase the lifespan of rubberbands... keep them in the drawer, they last 6 months. Keep them in the fridge, they last a year. When you find a new set of tires, maybe keep them in a cool place to help them last?