widening tires

[62rebel]

since i build mostly rep stock and such i usually take what i'm given as far as tires in a kit, but there are situations which call for fairly wide tires and i have a method for widening (vinyl!) tires which is fairly easy but does require a lot of patience and caution. i'm often trying to get a heavy duty tire from AMT Firestones, both supremes and the late "plain" offering. since the "plain" tire has well-defined tread ribs, i slowly work my way around the tread between the first and second rib with a box cutter blade.(this is the extreme caution part, and i MEAN this!) If you're really patient and careful, you'll end up with a narrow slice and a wide slice. pair up two of the wide slices so that the outer tread is flush and the center hole is well; centered, and cement together with CA glue. extra tip: use the black colored CA and the seam will almost disappear. you'll be left with some thin outer sidewalls, don't throw them away! i have used the thin slices from nice supreme tires to fake wide supremes out of the "plain" tires. this trick also works well with the "ancient" old school slicks from AMT; by cutting out about 1/8" you get a good representation of old 9" slicks.

[Steven Zimmerman]

I've done this also,on the rear tires from the AMT Prowler and the R/M Silverado/59 'vette front and rear tires,only I use a new single edge razorblade. Go slowly and carefully and it works well,using the tread pattern as a 'cut' guideline. I also use superglue to 'put em back togedder'....this is much harder to do with the soft rubber tires like you get from Pegasus,etc. but can be done ifyou insert a rim into the tire to give it some stiffness. Steven Zimmerman aka the'Z'man

[Marc @ MPC Motorsports]

I've done this also,on the rear tires from the AMT Prowler and the R/M Silverado/59 'vette front and rear tires,only I use a new single edge razorblade. Go slowly and carefully and it works well,using the tread pattern as a 'cut' guideline. I also use superglue to 'put em back togedder'....this is much harder to do with the soft rubber tires like you get from Pegasus,etc. but can be done ifyou insert a rim into the tire to give it some stiffness. Steven Zimmerman aka the'Z'man

Hey Z,

I've done that with Pegasus 23" tires 8)

I've yet to build anything with this combo but it is way cool!!!

[62rebel]

so, with AMT's current kits offering the venerable goodyear polyglas GT hollow 60 series tires... it seems that whoever is cutting out the webbed centers and trimming the flash is doing it too well! none of the recent TRIMMED tires fits snugly into the kit rims, and i've had to plunder my tire box for old issues that fit. i'll run out eventually, and be stuck with all these new tires that won't snug up on the rim. idea i've played with in my mind is to fill tires with epoxy filler to get a flush surface for the rim to glue to? use coil of waxed paper to hold putty into tire until cured? what are you guys doing for too-large tires? (checking my stash, i see this problem with lots of hollow tires, not just those GT's)

[Steven Zimmerman]

too loose rims,wrap rim im masking tape,pinstriping tape,etc. till tire fits .....Steve Zimmerman,aka the'Z'man