I don't have many Carrera cars but it has not happened to any of them yet. I do get the same problem with various other makes though, particularly Scalextric. It only affects a small proportion and seems to be completely random, often just one tyre out of four an a single car. Doesn't seem to relate to whether they are untouched or race prepared either. Sorry, can't think of any real way to prevent it.

 

Hi!

I have experienced the same thing but mostly I do not care if the tyres become rock hard becouse I am not racing them anyways. I had one Chevy tyres melt and that is not good since liquid residue can cause stains on plastic.

Whichever Carrera cars I run I will replace the original tyres with my own tyres. I cast polyurethane tyres to replace the originals. Also if I have melted tyres I can replace the tyres with my parts.

Cheers!

Julius

 

That is a well documented problem. Natural rubber is an unstable material, Charles Goodyear invented a way to stabilize rubber. If the rubber is formulated correctly it might still be in good shape after fifty years, otherwise it might fall apart or turn hard after a year or two. A person that formerly had his cars made in China posted that he witnessed the delivery of a batch of molten rubber to the plant that made the tires, clearly the QC of that material can be haphazard at best. If your tires have not been formulated correctly there is not a lot that you can do. If the tires come apart they will damage ABS plastic, so never leave your cars parked on the track. They will also fog up the inside of a jewel case. Storing the tires in a freezer would greatly slow down the rate of deterioration. Since there is no way to tell a good tire from a bad one in advance you would have to store everything. If the tires have simply turned hard there are products that will help to restore their grip, most of those only have a temporary effect. I have been told that Trinity Tire Tweak works well, but I have not tried it myself.

 

I think Carreras tyres usually are rubbish from the start! Replaced all rear tyres with Ortmanns.

 

I guess it's down to personal preference. I dislike most after-market tyres because I find many of them too grippy for enjoyment. Does anyone know of a manufacturer who produces after-market tyres that have a similar level of grip to the originals?

 

I have the same problem with Carrera cars. Not happy at all with the quality of their tyres and a lack of original spare parts. Am currently ordering Ortmann tyres for them.

You may be able to swap knackered rear tyres for the front tyres and keep them running for a bit longer on some models.

 

I have the problem with front and rear tyres melting. The rears melted in the packet I stored them in, the fronts on the car.

 

I guess it's down to personal preference. I dislike most after-market tyres because I find many of them too grippy for enjoyment. Does anyone know of a manufacturer who produces after-market tyres that have a similar level of grip to the originals?

Try NSR zero grips...

 

If you put urethane tires on a Carrera car you may find that it has too much grip to be any fun. You could try removing the rear traction magnet, or possibly put a shim under it to get it a little further away from the rails.

 

I have the same problem with Carrera cars. Not happy at all with the quality of their tyres and a lack of original spare parts. Am currently ordering Ortmann tyres for them.

I find eBay to be a good source of original Carrera spares, whether it's tyres or wheels, wings, mirrors, wipers etc. When that fails, Googling the Carrera part number often finds what I'm after, but usually only from Germany or the USA, not UK suppliers. Wherever they're sourced, they are generally expensive.

Carrera's spare parts list is comprehensive but I can't find it on Carrera's newly modernised (and harder to navigate) website, so have attached the 2017 version here: View attachment carrera spares 2017 evolution.pdf

If you put urethane tires on a Carrera car you may find that it has too much grip to be any fun. You could try removing the rear traction magnet, or possibly put a shim under it to get it a little further away from the rails.

I don't use magnets, race on both Ninco and Scalextric Sport and in 99% of cases am happy with the grip provided by the standard Carrera tyres. The problem is that replacement original Carrera tyres are expensive and I don't know of any after-market manufactures who make tyres with similar levels of grip to the originals. This applies not just to Carrera tyres, but other slot car brands too. Most of the guys at my club use Paul Gage tyres, but I don't like them. Too much grip for me.

 

What I have seen done with urethane tyres to lessen the grip is to cut grooves in them with a scalpel while spinning on a tyre sanding machine. The idea being to decrease the size of the contact patch. I've not tried it because I usually need more grip, also I wouldn't trust myself with not destroying the tyre.

 

I find eBay to be a good source of original Carrera spares, whether it's tyres or wheels, wings, mirrors, wipers etc. When that fails, Googling the Carrera part number often finds what I'm after, but usually only from Germany or the USA, not UK suppliers. Wherever they're sourced, they are generally expensive.

Carrera's spare parts list is comprehensive but I can't find it on Carrera's newly modernised (and harder to navigate) website, so have attached the 2017 version here:

carrera spares 2017 evolution.pdf

I don't use magnets, race on both Ninco and Scalextric Sport and in 99% of cases am happy with the grip provided by the standard Carrera tyres. The problem is that replacement original Carrera tyres are expensive and I don't know of any after-market manufactures who make tyres with similar levels of grip to the originals. This applies not just to Carrera tyres, but other slot car brands too. Most of the guys at my club use Paul Gage tyres, but I don't like them. Too much grip for me.

Thanks for sharing the link to the Carrera spares guide, I also have given up trying to use the Carrera website. It dosen't seem to work at all for my location (have tried a couple of different browsers too).

Interesting about your experience with standard Carrera tyres, I couldn't really get my Carrera 917k around the Carrera track without magnets until I put Paul Gage tyres on, then went to NSR tyres as I wanted even more grip! (Was trying to catch up to my partner's Sideways Lambo!)

Had another thought, if you happened to buy a lot of your cars through one supplier, perhaps you could raise it as an issue with them? They might be willing to escalate your concern to Carrera since you buy a lot by the sounds of it? It might just get lost in the distributor supply chain but might be worth mentioning to them?

 

I have three Carrera cars and all have been afflicted with the melting-tyre disease.

 

I had that on some very old cars from the 90's. I had to use almost pure alcohol and soak them overnight to get them off...

 

It would be possible to formulate urethane tires that mimic the grip of stock Carrera tires. Super Tires has low grip front tires and those are 60 Shore. I can't recall what their regular Yellowdog urethane tires are, possibly they are about 30 Shore. I do have a durometer and I tried to measure a Yellowdog, but I really need a slab of material to get an accurate reading. I would guess that 40 Shore urethane is what is needed, if that is not available 30 and 60 Shore material would have to be mixed. I speak to the owner of Super Tires from time to time, if I remember I will bring up the subject the next time that he calls. He made some special hard front HO tires for me last year. The hitch is that he would have to do 12 pairs of tires.