SPONGIEES Options

[The Vitter]

A little insight on spongiees.....

ALL DO-NUTS are from Alpha Racing, and you can find them HERE


FROM LEFT to RIGHT..... Piranha do-nut, Super Natural do-nut, "Treated" Piranha do-nut and "Wonder" rubber.





STUFF YOU WILL NEED BESIDES A TIRE TRUER , SOME "Q" TIPS , AND LACQUER THINNER

Contact Cement....



Diamond coated files..... 100 grit & 220 grit. A great deal for $15.00 for the pair, they blow away emery boards



Fine tooth hobby saw......



A little bit about the do-nuts that Alpha has to offer. The piranha is a very soft tire that is used in fast scale cars (EURO SPORT, GT-12, and LMP) they offer a lot of traction, and are just as fast as the cars they are on. If used on a slower car they will have to much bite and the car will be "stuck" to the track. Super Naturals offer less traction and are a firmer type of sponge and are not as fast as the piranha's. "Treated" Piranhas are just that, they are treated in chemicals to make them firmer, they have alot of track time in them. As with "wonder" rubber these last two types of rubber are used in wing cars also. "Wonder" rubber is a very hard rubber.

Now, the whos, whats, and whys and use of these various types of spongiees. To give you a idea on how I use them, we will say I have these mounted on a D-3 car. The Piranhas work very well on a clean track with low rubber on the track, when the car stops sliding in the turns and is "stuck" the tires are giving you to much bite. "Treated" Piranhas like the track with medium to almost heavy rubber on the track, they will let the car slide again. they also are firmer and help on the chute speed due to less rolling resistance. "Wonder" rubber is used when the track has heavy rubber on it , they also help the chute speed due to their firmness."Wonder" rubber will take a few laps on them to get warm and work.

Then we have tire widths to tune with, with all of these types of spongiees. If a Piranha has too much bite, I will narrow the tire a bit , to see if the car becomes "unstuck" before going to a "Treated" Piranha. I will do the same to the "Treated" Piranha, before going to "Wonder" rubber.

Then we have rim size I.E. circumference, small, medium, large and just plain big. The size of the rim will also change the do-nuts gripping ability or lack of it. I have class tomorrow and it's getting late, we will finish this up tomorrow

As always gentleman Agent

[Edo]

Excellent Dave!
Please continue! We're all ears!

Eddy

[lowrider]

Thanks for spelling it all out, Dave.
Looking forward to the next part of the story.

Regards,
L.

[Swissracer]

Nice source for tyres but the last two, correct me if I am wrong.
The last one is not sponge so not legal right?
The third one is treated so definately not legal.

and where did you get the diamond files!! I have been looking for such as these for awhile now.

[Markus Reichl]

The third one is treated so definately not legal.

Mmmmmhhhh. We´re just talking about the manufacturing process. No substances which can go on the track, the rubber is just hardened during fabrication.

BTW, aren´t you supposed to be at the fair?

I´ll come 2morrow, Inshallah.

Cheers,

Markus

[one27ray]

Cool V

One question I have is /beef Why don't they make a smaller can of Contact cement. Don't they know people can't us a big can fast enough At lease I can't I'm glad I got that off my chest- I feel better now Staying tuned until tomorrow- got my ears on good buddy
wide tires are so cool....

O2R

[gene/ZR1]

Cool V

One question I have is /beef Why don't they make a smaller can of Contact cement. Don't they know people can't us a big can fast enough At lease I can't I'm glad I got that off my chest- I feel better now Staying tuned until tomorrow- got my ears on good buddy
wide tires are so cool....

O2R

"DAP PRODUCTS"
Theses are bottles with a screw on cap
Product #001 > 2 oz. > $2.00
Product #007 > 3 oz. > $2.62
Go to office depot or office max or a small hardware store

[300SLR]

Nice source for tyres but the last two, correct me if I am wrong.
The last one is not sponge so not legal right?
The third one is treated so definately not legal.

Which set of rules say they are not legal?

If they are definately not legal, how does the scrutineer tell the difference?

[Edo]

...Which set of rules say they are not legal?...

Hi 300SLR
Swissracer was thinking at the 2008 Proxy Thingie rules which require all foam tires this year.
Because the "Wonder" type of tires are called "Wonder rubber" Swiss thought that they were illegal (last year we mandated rubber tires like Ortmann's, ABslot Ultrathane, etc).
In fact they are actually foam tires, so they are legal.
About the "treated Piranha": Markus is right when he says "We´re just talking about the manufacturing process. No substances which can go on the track, the rubber (foam) is just hardened during fabrication..
So they will also be legal.
Regards
Edo

[The Vitter]

SWISSRACER

Here you go! You also get a third file in the deal, A 600 grit model.....



..... Now Ray, do you feel better? I'm glad that you do! For another $3.59 you get 13 more ozzzzz's with the amount of tires that I use in GT-12 racing , it's the only way to go. But, if I were just glueing tires here and there, I still would buy the "can." The brush in the cap thing, that goes in the jar thing, is not user friendly for what you want to use it for. Sure, you can brush the glue on the rims, but the brush will not fit inside a do-nut. It's also a messy gig to boot the "can" my friend, the "can"..... Speaking of the "can," and glueing rims and do-nuts. Let's do some up!

I'm glueing some Lee Gilbert rims that I use in GT-12 racing, with Piranha do-nuts. The process is the same, after glueing the rims, take your "Q" tip and glue the inside of the do-nut, and let them for a day. Looks like a shishkabob



..... Why let the glue dry for a day, you ask? Why not just push the do-nut on the rim, and be done with it. You are not giving the glue time to bond to the rim, and most important, to the do-nut. By letting the glue bond to each item, when you dip the rim into the lacquer thinner and a light swap with a "Q" tip to the inside of the do-nut . You get a far better bond between the two. The thinner activates the glue just enough to slide the do-nut onto the rim and place it where it needs to be. I glue all my tires like this, no matter what type of car they are going on.

Now, let's glue and true some skins fit for a KINGIEE Eddy sent me some of those beautiful wheels made be KAI. They are a lot bigger in diameter then the hole in our do-nut (Super Naturals) so, this is what we need to do. Take a big Dremel sanding drum with a coarse drum on it. If you have never done this before, I would use a fine drum till you get the hang of it.



I have a little practice at doing this, so here goes. Hold the do-nut in your hand with a tight grip on it, but not squeezing it to tight. You need to keep the tire round as you do this, and start the drum into the do-nut.....



Now..... Crank up the old Dremel to warp speed, and start to bore it through the do-nut. Don't get skeeered if it flings it out of your hand this just means you were not holding it tight enough ! There will be plenty of smoke and the smell of burnt rubber ......



There you have it! A hole in a fresh do-nut that will fit over a "vintage" size rim. I do all my do-nuts like this when I'm using "vintage" size rims.....



Next, measure the width of the rim, this will give you a idea on where to cut your tire.....



Glue up your rim and do-nut as discribed above, and place your do-nut flush with the inside of the rim. If you like, you can go a little past the rim and sand the inside flush with a file. I try to get the tire on the rim where it needs to be, this saves a lot of time sanding that doesn't need to be done.....



..... After you have both of them glued, stickum on a axle and roll them back and forth and let them dry for a day before you true them.....



I have taken the tire cutter off my Hudy it gets in the way and is useless in my eyes! It is pointed and does not cut the sides of the tire true and straight like my good old trusty saw. Remember the width of the rim and get your saw a weee bit past this mark, and cut off what is not needed.....



Close is where you want to be! Nothing worse then cutting into the face of the rim .....



As you start to grind your tire to the size that you want, sand the corners as you go. If you just feed the tire to the machine with out doing this, the outside/inside edges will be taller then the center of the tire. NOTE: feed the tire slowly to the machine, you DO NOT want to get the tire any hotter then you need to. There will be heat, and the tire will grow. When you are done with a tire take a measurement and let it cool down. Then measure it again, expect a measurement anywhere from 7-10 thousand less.



After you have your tires to the size that you want, take a fine file (220 grit) and roll the edges and hit the center of the tire last.....



After cleaning them in some lighter fluid, we are done! Tires fit for a KINGIEE......





Now, if he only gets them in time

As always gentleman regards Agent

[Edo]

Just one word:

Actually two:
THANKS DAVE!

[nostalgic]

DAMN !! that was a great read Dave love the way you open up the ID of the tyres, smokin!

[one27ray]

Hey Bud

Those tire are fit for a King

Awesome !!!

O2R

[lowrider]

Thanks, Dave.

Some of that stuff I've learned from you already.
Lot of things there today that are new to me.
Valuable lesson.

Best regards,
L.

[JaakBeentjes]

Hi Dave

Thank you for sharing that

it is a great how to do

i learned a lot from this tread, thanks again