Deformed rubber tires

[racingmunk]

Greetings everyone. Was wondering if anyone knew of a way to fix/restore rubber tires that have deformed from age/improper storage. I was given a few 1/8 scale kits and 1/12 Tamiya kits that have wheel issues. Replacements are sometimes hard to get and can be costly. I would like to try and restore these if possible. Any help would be appreciated.

[Oldcarfan27]

Easy, just use an inner tube, or "Fix a Flat".? J.K.

Seriously, I had that problem. The weight of the built model was making the tires go flat. Especially on large scale kits.

What I did was pack the inside of the tires with florists modelling clay (the green kind that never hardens) and then attach the wheels inside them. They're still round to this day! Plus you can put a little flat spot on them for realism.

Hope this helps. 

[Miatatom]

I usually just hide mine on the inside or bottom, whichever works best.

[Kit Basher]

I've only done this once, but it seems to have worked OK. I cut little "donuts" from foam pipe insulation, and put them inside the tires.

[racingmunk]

Thanks for some of the suggestions. One of my wife's colleagues is a science teacher and he suggested to soak the rubber down with a silicone and place them is a seal-able container for a minimum of 10 days. The 1/8 tire seem to spring back after a few days and looks pretty good, is a little softer than it was. The 1/12 Tamiya looks a little better and is pretty soft. At this stage if I add some foam as suggested to the inside of it, it should look pretty good. I think I will soak it for a few more days and post the results.

[70mach1]

Throw that stuff away as far as you can! You don't want that stuff anywhere near your hobby bench It will cause you years of grief and problems 

[racingmunk]

I wouldn't dream of letting this stuff get anywhere near my model parts. Before I even use the tires I will soak them in hot water and then wash them down in with warm soapy water.

Besides that, I always wash my model parts in warm soapy water before paint and assembly.

[peteski]

I agree that silicone and modeling (especially the painting process) do not agree.  While it does seem to be fixing the deformation now, I wonder if it will start leaching out of the tire after some time period.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Silicone will cause fisheyes during any painting process...if you're not sufficiently careful. Handle siliconed parts with gloves that you throw away afterwards, and never EVER touch a model before ANY painting process after handling something with silicone on it.

Soap and water will NOT remove silicone, but a careful wipe with isopropyl alcohol will usually do it...from your hands as well as from your model.

It's good practice to get into the alcohol-wash habit anyway. You'll save yourself a world of grief.

Far as supporting larger tires that tend to go flat, the RC shops have foam inserts made just for it.

If cost is an issue, if you ask nice, you can probably get miles of this stuff free (after it's been used) from any local body shop. It's used to mask panel openings on real cars, to get a "soft edge".

Edited August 1, 2018 by Ace-Garageguy

[BigTallDad]

Fuel line, such as that found on small gasoline engines (mowers, trimmers) or R/C aircraft (found in hobby shops) comes in a variety of sizes and might work well when stuffed inside the deformed tire.