Need adhesive suggestions...

[CTDude]

Hello all...I’m looking for input about the best adhesive to use to glue wheel rims to the drag slicks. The rims are just a “hair” too small for the slicks but will stay put if you don’t mess with them. So my thought is to cement them to the rims. Any thoughts and all suggestions are appreciated! I really don’t want to buy bigger rims if possible.

Thanks!

CTDude

Edited March 11, 2021 by CTDude

[NOBLNG]

I don’t know what type of glue would be best. This is what I did for the same problem...but these tires are solid, so it may not work for you. Or maybe you could stuff them with cotton or something to keep the beads pressed against the rim lips? Good luck.

Edited March 11, 2021 by NOBLNG

[bisc63]

You could just carefully brush a layer or two of thin super glue around the wheel perimeter, letting it dry between coats, or hit it with accelerator to cure it instantly. The idea is not to glue the wheel in, but to build up the diameter a little bit to get a tighter friction fit.

[misterNNL]

When faced with this problem I would glue a layer of .005" plastic to the rim then sand it down until I could press fit the tire in place.

[935k3]

Tape.

[Venom]

5 hours ago, 935k3 said:

Tape.

Yeah, masking tape cut to the same width as the rim. Wrap it round just enough times to take up the gap. I’m sure you could also apply some glue to the tape/tire if necessary.

[Chariots of Fire]

13 hours ago, misterNNL said:

When faced with this problem I would glue a layer of .005" plastic to the rim then sand it down until I could press fit the tire in place.

I agree.  Wrap some thin sheet stock around the rim and build it up so that the tires fit.

[peteski]

I'm not a fan of masking/electrical/duct tapes for modeling.  After few years their adhesive either dries up, or gets liquefied, oozing out and making a mess.  Using some thin stock with either liquid cement (if the materials are all polystyrene/ABS), or CA glue if the rim is resin.

If just gluing the tire to the rim is preferred, CA glue should work well for that. Just make sure the tire bead is clean (use alcohol or naphta, aka lighter fluid).

[John1955]

I use Fix-All for many things. It will work on vinyl and rubber tires, and for resin. It's inexpensive and bonds anything to anything. Unfortunately though, it's almost impossible to remove if you make a mistake. 

[peteski]

It has a flammable solvent.  That likely means that it can craze/soften/melt styrene.  Might not be desired in all the cases.  Packaging shows that it works on metal, wood, rubber. Plastic is not mentioned, possibly for the reason I mentioned.

[gman]

If building up the wheel with plastic to friction fit into the tire isn't the desired option, a slow-setting epoxy might do the trick. Epoxy should be pretty inert after setting. 

[John1955]

On 4/18/2021 at 1:54 PM, peteski said:

It has a flammable solvent.  That likely means that it can craze/soften/melt styrene.  Might not be desired in all the cases.  Packaging shows that it works on metal, wood, rubber. Plastic is not mentioned, possibly for the reason I mentioned.

I use it on plastic a lot, as I said, it glues anything. It doesn't craze, melt or soften styrene. Testor's model cement also has a flammable solvent and it certainly is great for styrene. Super glues have flammable solvent, yet can be used on styrene. They don't mention glass on the package either, but it works on glass. 

Fix-all adhesive is the strongest glue I have ever used, it can even help hide the severe warping on old dealer promo models. Using strong clamps, I force the warped body back to where it was when new (being careful not to break it), then apply Fix-all and allow to dry for days before removing the clamps. I'm always amazed when it works, it can eliminate the "Jo-Han smile" on old promos. 

It's stronger than epoxy is and no need for mixing like you have to do with epoxy, use it straight from the tube. I use it to assemble resin kits and it's great. 
 

[Rick L]

? ditto on the Fix-All. 

[Snake45]

On 3/12/2021 at 3:27 AM, Venom said:

Yeah, masking tape cut to the same width as the rim. Wrap it round just enough times to take up the gap. I’m sure you could also apply some glue to the tape/tire if necessary.

Agree completely. I do this quite often--twice in the last week, in fact. I cut strips of masking tape and wrap them around the rim until the wheel is a snug press-fit into the tire. It might only take one or two wraps, or five or six. It's a low-class but easy, cheap, practical, and invisible fix. And it's completely reversible if you someday decide you'd like to change out either the wheels or the tires. 

Edited April 20, 2021 by Snake45

[peteski]

7 hours ago, John1955 said:

I use it on plastic a lot, as I said, it glues anything. It doesn't craze, melt or soften styrene. Testor's model cement also has a flammable solvent and it certainly is great for styrene. Super glues have flammable solvent, yet can be used on styrene. They don't mention glass on the package either, but it works on glass. 

Fix-all adhesive is the strongest glue I have ever used, it can even help hide the severe warping on old dealer promo models.

I was just being cautious. Thank you John.  But super-glues (Cyanoacrylates) have no solvent (flammable or otherwise).  Those harden by chemical reaction, not by solvent evaporation. Same goes for 2-part epoxies.

Does Fix-All dry hard (as hard as styrene iteslf, CA glue, or epoxy) or does it remain somewhat flexible?

[NOBLNG]

1 hour ago, peteski said:

I was just being cautious. Thank you John.  But super-glues (Cyanoacrylates) have no solvent (flammable or otherwise).  Those harden by chemical reaction, not by solvent evaporation.

The CA is flammable cause it sure burns when you take a lighter to your applicator to clean it. Maybe not technically solvent, but I don’t even dunk my clean hot applicator back in the bottle till it’s cool.?

[peteski]

6 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

The CA is flammable cause it sure burns when you take a lighter to your applicator to clean it. Maybe not technically solvent, but I don’t even dunk my clean hot applicator back in the bottle till it’s cool.?

Well, CA is a type of acrylic (plasitc), so yes, if you  actually light it on fire, it will burn (just like any other plastic).  But show me any CA glue label that states that it is flammable (like the warning label on that fix-all stuff). If you find one, or I'll eat my keyboard, one key at a time.

[John1955]

13 hours ago, peteski said:

Does Fix-All dry hard (as hard as styrene iteslf, CA glue, or epoxy) or does it remain somewhat flexible?

Once completely dried, a thick coat of Fix-all is a bit flexible, but not much and thin coats are very hard. I have even painted over it and water based or oil based paints will adhere to it, no primer needed. This morning, thinking about this thread, I put a glob of Fix-all on a piece of scrap metal and then lit a match to it. It would not catch fire but smelled awful. 

I tried again using a cigarette lighter until it finally caught fire, but it burned only a couple seconds and went out. Testor's cement has a similar warning label. Such labels are simply safety precautions that companies use to protect themselves and are often required by law. "Use in well ventilated area" and "avoid smoking when using this product" - same thing. And of course, according to the state of California, everything is known to cause cancer. 

Any product is unsafe if not used properly and if such labels scared me off, I would never have gotten into this great hobby in the first place. Testor's (in the orange tube) can get you high and could be "fatal" says the label. Beginning at age four, I've used Testor's and never got high and I'm not dead either. A friend of mine chain smokes when using Testor's and Fix-all, and he has yet to blow himself up or burn down his house. 
 

[peteski]

Thanks John. I use wide range of adhesives (for general repairs and for model building. I think  I'll have to pick up a tube and give it a try. I ask about its flexibility to compare it to the E6000 adhesive I use in certain instances. It is clear and remains fairly flexible after drying

As for the flammability, I was disputing your statement "Super glues have flammable solvent . . ."  CA glue doesn't have any solvent since it sets by chemical reaction (not by solvers evaporation, like solvent-based glues do).