What tape to use to control tire swell?
 

What is the best tape to use for tires. I just did a set for my rustler using some duct tape. Worked for a minute but then my good ol Lehner managed to break the tape loose and the tires instantly started ballooning like mad. I even went threw the trouble of cleaning the tires with alcohol just to make sure the tape would stick good. Does anyone know which tape will stick like grim death? With my bigger monster truck tires I haven't had this problem, but my new street rusty goes like a scalded cat so I need these wheels to be able to handle the RPM's.

Oh and btw this was on a pair of Pro-Line Dirt Hawg II.

You wouldn't be willing to do an experiment would you?! :027:

I have a great idea of using some kind of fiber mesh, and using CA glue on the inside of the tire. This would create a bulletproof, high performance tire!

I would have done it, but I thought of it AFTER I glued my tires... :002:

I personally never used duct tape, and I never thought it would even hold anyways, IMO.

The duct tape should work. You usualy need to go around twice though. Did You?

Why would going around twice help it? It's not getting any more surface grip than once around.

I have heard the Gorilla brand duct tape is awesome... so that may be worth a try.

Something I have thought about doing with my street tread tires... is wrapping a durable thread around the outside of the tire in the center groove. Wrap it several times... with the ends of the string glued. That would create a belted tire without having to get inside it.

A heavy thread/light string of some kind would work fine imo.... I will do it on my xxcr buggy sometime...

I only went around once dangit. I do have some gorilla tape but I didn't use it because it is alot stiffer then regular duct tape. I'll buy another pair of wheels and tires from my lhs on Monday and try going around twice with the tape. Really is a pain flushing down $30 every time a set of tires doesn't work out.

I just use duct tape went around once only and it is working fine ,it really does the trick of preventing the tires from ballooning

I use package strapping tape...the kind with the little fibres in it...I think that is what it is...and i went once around and it is fine

Yah, that packing tape with fiber in it seems like it would work the best to me. It sticks very well.

Glassdoctor: To me, one thread in the center of the outside of the tire would make two (smaller) balloons, don't you think?

When I need new tires, I am going to try some fiber mesh with CA glue, or some glue that bonds very well to rubber.

Yeah... maybe. Depends on the tire and speed I think. It will be much harder for a narrow section of tire to balloon than the whole thing.

Maybe two "belts" would do it on a bigger tire.

Maybe tire manufacturers should wake up and mold in some fibers right from the factory! This issues isn't exactly new...

somebody once told me to use strapping or belting tape it was a black like tape does anybody know of this

GM360, no i don't think i've heard of that?

GD, i think it would still balloon though, just two smaller ones, about half the swelling.

And yes, I've said that many times, these tires NEED to come from the factory WITH fiber belting inside the rubber. They would be a lot better performing, and takes some variables from speed calculating, along with less power for a given speed.

Maybe, I'll try this and make after market modded tires for purchase? :027:

Actually, the Proline MTR tires have internal ribbing that seems like it should reduce ballooning. My Revo has not noticed a difference in ballooning between these tires and non-MTR tires :mad:1.

Yeah, they ought to mold in fiber "circles" so they don't expand at all. Ribbing helps, but the centrifugal force apparently easily overcomes the ribbing...

Fiber mesh, all the way.

Yeah I like where Pro-Lines head was at when they added the ribbing to their new tires. But in the end all the ribbing does is make it harder to tape. The very least these companies could do is make us some tape made specifically for this . Or better yet, sell the tires with the tape already installed. Tape would be super easy for them to do.

The problem with ballooning tires should be solved by using correct diff oil, shock oil and a good setup for the truck/buggy/car. Adding tape or mesh to a tire adds weight, and that's usually not what you want if you're racing.

If you just add tape the tires will still be up in the air spinning and not on the ground. Having lots of power doesn't help if you can't use it correctly.

at 40mph+ diffoil doesn't offer help.

That's pretty much a direct quote from Adam Drake ;) and it is true for racing.... but that doesn't apply to doing speed runs and bashing... that works on the track (short bursts of speed and power)

But at a certain speed, tires will balloon no matter what setup is on the vehicle.

I was thinking about using that packaging strapping, the only thing that converned me was the glue is water based, and its also a paper based strap. Don't know what would happen if it got really wet. I was thinking about gettin some from our shipping to try out on my mashers. At least with beadlocks you can take them off and fix it if it doesn't work.

As far as a fiber strap, there is a drywall tape that is a fiber mesh about 2" wide. Its a type of fiberglass IIRC. It is heavy duty, and may work well also for belting. It is glueless, so this would need to be figured out.

The trick is to find a glue that is strong, yet flexible enough not to break with wear. I'm not sure how CA would fill this role as it tends to be stiff and brittle when cured. A polyurathane glue may be better.

I'm going to be trying racer's tape. It's what you see them use in the pits when cars have minor contact with each other. It's sticky and strong.

I agree that a fiber mesh adhered to the inside of the tire with a flexible yet strong glue is a great idea. The MTR series has additional ribbing but not sufficient for the speeds/acceleration of brushless vehicles. We are just going to have to use what we can until this type of power becomes mainstream enough for the tire manufacturers to create a more durable tire.

The only problem is that the main downside to any type of tire reinforcement is loss of traction due to loss of tire deformation. The light weight of rc vehicles requires this deformation for traction, and taping tires gets rid of the tire flex. What we need is a strong mesh tape that stretches. Any ideas?

wont work, tire will still balloon then. imho.

And this would be the result of that.
http://www.rcpics.net/img/53162
The one on the right was wrapped with small wire.

Precisely what I predicted! I wonder how it would perform?

Well, on my 18T, I went around nearly 3 times for the rear, twice on the front. One of the front's belts snapped and the tire blew off the rim. I reglued after going around 3 times...

However, you have to remember that my 18T does ~50mph and for it to go that fast the tires need to spin stupid fast, so its alot more stress.

I'd say 2x around for MT tires is fine, but once is certainly not enough.

Actually I think the bigger tires have more centrifugal force on them than the smaller tires. The distance from the center of rotation and the mass are the other 2 factors besides the speed of rotation that are factors when calculating centrifugal force. The bigger tires have more mass farther from the rotation center.

The thing I found to work the best is, turn the tire inside out. Clean the whole inside with dish soap (grease cutting kind) that takes all of the demolding residue off of the inside of the tire. Just like you do on the tire bead before you glue them to the wheel. Apply 1 layer of good quality duct tape and overlap the ends by an inch or so. Turn em back right side in and glue em up. Haven't had one fail yet after cleaning all of the silicone demolding goo off of the inside before taping it.

That mold release agent is tough for anything to stick to. Tape glue or tire glue.

EDIT: make sure the tape is wide enough to cover the whole tread surface of the tire or you will just wind up with smaller baloons on the edges of the tire where the tape missed

Hey.. cool double balloon there. In all fairness to myself... :D... I had in mind 1/10 buggy street tires, not bigo monster trucks. :)

Yah, i would think it doesn't matter too much how big the tire is, within a relative mass factor. Look at the onroad cars, they hardly balloon at all.