Restoring Lancia Rally Wheels - Risks?

[Grastens 2795]

Greetings:

Due to tremendous good fortune, I have some original wheels and tires for the Lancia Rally, model 58040. They are in good shape but I thought they could benefit from a proper restoration, treating the tires and wheels separately.

I do have one concern, though: I have heard that inserting wheels and tires in boiling water will help remove CA glue attaching said tires to wheels, but have also heard that certain Tamiya wheels tend to melt, warp or deform otherwise under this treatment. Has anybody attempted to restore this specific style of wheel this way, and safely? I somewhat understand the rarity of these vintage parts and would not like to risk them needlessly.

Any clarification would be immensely appreciated!

P.S.: Any further insights on bleaching wheels, alternative methods for safely removing glue from wheels and tires and those on the use of Simple Green cleaner on tires would also be welcome. Thanks!

[Gruntfuggly 562]

I've tried boiling wheels/tyres with different amounts of success. I've ruined some wheels, and had good results with others.

Saying that, nowadays I usually just use my fingers to gradually pull the tyre off the rim and use a stanley knife to remove the old glue and cut through the old rubber if really necessary.

I guess it depends how much glue has been used - it really annoys me when people have plastered super glue all the way round...

[Percymon 2184]

The superglue may be pretty brittle by this stage so the bond may break easily, or use some superglue debonder which will soften the glue suffieciently to remove the Tyres.

If the rims are nylon then they should survive boiling, as they do when dying with rit dye

[hammerstien 187]

put them in an air tight tub with nail varnish remover in bottom of tub and place wheels on something above Nvr seal and leave for a day or so works a treat and no risk as with boiling

[Grastens 2795]

Thank you all for the advice! I had forgotten all about CA debonder, and may have some time to pick some up tomorrow. If not, then I will try my luck with the other methods!

[hndaman1 2]

bake them in the oven #350 for 5 mins and the glue will come off,or soak them..to soften your wheels use BELT DRESSING spray it makes them super soft and taky

[Grastens 2795]

I used the nail varnish remover method. Two days later: yes, the glue was weaker, but so were the wheels! They were hardly even round anymore; the remover softened the plastic of these wheels too... Thankfully I only did one pair, but it was incredibly discouraging.

It must work for other vehicle types - just not this one. Not feeling very good about this one at all...

Update: irony of ironies - I pitched another set into a bag full of silicone spray to soften the tires, wheels still glued. I did not even think that the softening rubber would also mean they would be much more pliable, and the tires came right off the rims as if they were never glued at all! Still deformed or possibly wrecked a pair of rare wheels, which I never wanted to do, but I still have a good set left!