Heat gun - melting glue for wheel beads?

[DavidB1126]

Dad got a cheap genesis heat gun off of Amazon to restore some plastic. Wonder if I can use it to melt glue off the wheel/tire head or is it better to use acetone fumes and a sealed container?

 

[Relimar]

Most, if not all, tire glue is CA. Cyanoacrylate doesn't break down with just heat, it requires acetone, oil and/or other chemicals to soften and break it down.

Secondly, Acteone fumes, ie Vapor honing is extremely flammable. Liquid nail polish remover on the glue, vinegar, oil etc are safer choices.

My personal experience is once it's on a porous or compliant surface, CA is there forever. You're just chipping away at the crystalline structure

 

[Littlemotor]

Acetone or nothing imo. And LEGIT acetone. Nail polish remover is between 20-60% acetone (and MOST are only 30% fwiw). Well worth it to just buy a gallon for $19 at your local Lowe’s, Home Depot, Menards, etc.. Seems to always be cheaper for quality chemicals from your local hardware than Amazon everytime I check..

 

[jimdavis577]

it also helps if your going the acetone route to cut the bulk majority of the tire off as well this allows fumes to attack both side of the bead of the tire to loosen it ...... and as been already expressed use caution .... and do it outdoors .... that is a must

 

[RustyUs]

All depends on what you are trying to save... tire or wheel. I think a heat gun would give you a greater risk of melting a wheel. Too much heat concentration at one spot too long.

I've baked tires and wheels before, but Acetone/fumes is my preferred method of undoing CA glue. Just have to make sure wheels are more nylon based to take on either method.

 

[CertifiedMike]

So this is noob but since I've never seen it, you expose the tire/wheel to fumes but not actually put the liquid on direcly? Is this correct?

 

[jimdavis577]

So this is noob but since I've never seen it, you expose the tire/wheel to fumes but not actually put the liquid on direcly? Is this correct?

yes that's correct ... put it in a sealed container with a bit of acetone in the bottom of the container with the tire/ wheel elevated as to not be in the acetone ... then seal it up and let it sit ... check it every couple hours ... eventually the ca glue will begin to break down and you can separate the tire from the wheel

 

[CertifiedMike]

yes that's correct ... put it in a sealed container with a bit of acetone in the bottom of the container with the tire/ wheel elevated as to not be in the acetone ... then seal it up and let it sit ... check it every couple hours ... eventually the ca glue will begin to break down and you can separate the tire from the wheel

Gotcha! I have a couple wheels that I might try this on.
Thanks!

 

[RustyUs]

Gotcha! I have a couple wheels that I might try this on.
Thanks!

It's not a quick process. It will most likely take 24 hours or more to fully work.

 

[CertifiedMike]

It's not a quick process. It will most likely take 24 hours or more to fully work.

Thanks! I might have thought I was doing something wrong after 12 or so hours unsucessful. I would be unlikely to leave this unattended unless I knew ahead of time.
I'll find a nice spot outside to give this a try with in the spring.

 

[RetroThutmose]

Dad got a cheap genesis heat gun off of Amazon to restore some plastic. Wonder if I can use it to melt glue off the wheel/tire head or is it better to use acetone fumes and a sealed container?

Do you just want to remove tires or are you trying to save the tires to mount again? If you just want to remove the tires you can cut them off the wheel and soak the wheels in acetone. Older wheels were made of a different plastic and would melt but modern wheels should be fine. I just did this with some sct wheels. I've also used the vapor method to remove tires and it works ok when you want to save the tire, but is very time consuming.

 

[Slick2500]

Like he said ^ are you just trying to get the tires off to save them?

Acetone makes some tires swell so I don't do that anymore.

This is the best way I have found to remove the tires from the wheels if you want to reuse the tires.

 

[RetroThutmose]

Like he said ^ are you just trying to get the tires off to save them?

Acetone makes some tires swell so I don't do that anymore.

This is the best way I have found to remove the tires from the wheels if you want to reuse the tires.

Nice video I've heard of the oven method but haven't tried it

 

[Slick2500]

Nice video I've heard of the oven method but haven't tried it

I just used it to get my Backflip tires off the wheels so I could empty out all the sand and dirt. It took 15 minutes per side.

 

[RetroThutmose]

I just used it to get my Backflip tires off the wheels so I could empty out all the sand and dirt. It took 15 minutes per side.

Did you leave the oven at 300 for 15 min a side? Or restart the heating process at the flip?

 

[AlanDewey]

1. That instructional tip could have been done in 15 seconds instead of 300.
2. When recording a video, wait until the person practicing piano is done. Makes it hell to understand the speaker.

 

[Slick2500]

1. That instructional tip could have been done in 15 seconds instead of 300.
2. When recording a video, wait until the person practicing piano is done. Makes it hell to understand the speaker.

That isn't me and I didn't make the video so pretty sure she isn't going to see this.

 

[CertifiedMike]

1. That instructional tip could have been done in 15 seconds instead of 300.
2. When recording a video, wait until the person practicing piano is done. Makes it hell to understand the speaker.

Watching her on 'mute' isn' t so bad.