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iluvmud

How to get rid of haze in tires?

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Hey guys I've been lucky enough to not have to severe a haze in my tires but I got a Blackfoot Xtreme and the tires are in great shape just have a haze to them..... I tried armor all wipes to no avail. Any suggestions?? My net step is to try silicone spay..... so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

MUD

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If you mean that white coloured stuff that I assume is release agent, just scrub them with dishwashing liquid on a nail brush, rinse and dry.

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This is referred to as "bloom" in the rubber industry. Over time the plasticizers in the rubber begin to creep out and cause a white film on the surface.   While I have no clue what the these RC tires are made from, we always handled the issues the same way regardless of compound by applying heat. This causes the compound to soften and reabsorb the plasticizers. The way we handled it was by placing the o-rings and gaskets in large mesh bags and tumbling them in an industrial dryer for a few minutes.  I don't recommend that you do this at home as it causes a fair bit of stink and will get you divorced in quick order. 

For RC tires I've had good luck with a normal hair dryer set on Hot. Different compounds soften at different temps so you might have to get the tires pretty darn warm.  Afterwards I would wash the tires with simply green and a tooth brush in very hot water to get any remaining grime off of them. 

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3 hours ago, racer1 said:

This is referred to as "bloom" in the rubber industry. Over time the plasticizers in the rubber begin to creep out and cause a white film on the surface.   While I have no clue what the these RC tires are made from, we always handled the issues the same way regardless of compound by applying heat. This causes the compound to soften and reabsorb the plasticizers. The way we handled it was by placing the o-rings and gaskets in large mesh bags and tumbling them in an industrial dryer for a few minutes.  I don't recommend that you do this at home as it causes a fair bit of stink and will get you divorced in quick order. 

For RC tires I've had good luck with a normal hair dryer set on Hot. Different compounds soften at different temps so you might have to get the tires pretty darn warm.  Afterwards I would wash the tires with simply green and a tooth brush in very hot water to get any remaining grim off of them. 

Good info right there buddy. 👍

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Awesome!!! I will give that a shot racer1.... hope the wife will let me use her hair dryer...lol

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It can actually be bloom or release agent - they look very similar to each other.

Vintage tires are more likely to have bloom, but I have had new tires look like that after getting wet for the first time because the water affects the release agent.

Something that I have never encountered before was what happened with my second Tamiya kit just yesterday.

I was putting the tires on the wheels, and wherever the tires stretched, they became white.

I thought at first that this was stress lines (like when you bend ABS plastic) but it turned out to be a hard waxy release agent.

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I lile the thought process behind heating the tires up.

On my Wild Willy restoration I soaked the tyres in glycerine for about a month and that definitely softened them up and also got rid of the light hazing I had.

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I've tried the glycerine method too and it dramatically improved some really old ranger wheels.

From these: 

IMG_1115.jpg

to these:

IMG_1255.jpg

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1. Don't ever use "Armor All" on R/C tyres. There was a lengthy thread on these forums years ago explaining how that stuff is likely to damage the type of rubber used for toy car tyres. 

2. Use 100% pure silicon oil. Brush it onto tyre with a tooth brush, then dry off the tyre with a cloth.

This not only helps preserve tyre rubber, the thin layer of dusty white residue will be soaked up, leaving the tyre looking black and fresh.

I don't like the idea of heating tyres up quite so much - it seems risky, except in extreme cases when a tyre is actually deformed and you're attempting to correct flatspots.

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