Gluing up foams.
Hi,
I always remove all the ribs with the exception being the last one which would be the inside when on the car. This is just to keep some strength in the wheel.
Once you've removed the ribs, rough up the surface, you don't want the smooth shiny plastic because the glue will struggle to stick to it.
At this stage you'll want a good supply of kitchen roll and if you've got them, some latex gloves. This glue is sticky and it gets all over.
Then using EvoStick Red, coat the inside of the tyre and the outside of the wheel and allow them both 20 minutes to get to a dry, tacky state. Then reapply glue to one of the surfaces. This this to provide an easy way to mount them and stop the glue grabbing.
For interest you might wonder why Evostick and not super glue. Two reasons, super glue is not flexible so as the tyre moves its cracks and breaks the bond. The second is the super glue soaks into the foam so you'll get a reduced life. This is because you won't be able to wear them down as low because the foam will be hard.
Back to the process. Once you're at this stage I put the wheel on a solid surface, rib down, and push the tyre over the wheel. Its quite easy using the 10th tyre but still a challenge using the smaller 8th version. You'll notice most of the second coat of glue gets pushed out which is why you applied the first and let it set. That doesn't get pushed out.
At this stage leave them alone for a good 24 hours, 48 is better, then true them up. I also have a pull at the edges to try to find any areas which haven't stuck well. Any I find I use a small amount of super glue on.
I didn't do this last time and found one tyre had come unglued. Its worth taking your time over this process because these tyres will last many weeks and doing a good job will pay off with a good handling car.
However you choose to true them up, try to get a nice radius on the corners. Tyres with a square profile tend to be prone to grip roll.
The last point worth mentioning, they do take a few runs to bed in and get to their best so don't be dishearten when you put it on the track the first time and it possibly isn't as good as you'd hoped.
Hope that helps.
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