I know it's been a while since anyone has posted on this, but I wanted to share my experiences with the acetone tire removal method.
I've separated at least a dozen or so individual tires/wheels using acetone in a 3 gallon pail with a screw on lid. I had the pail leftover from some swimming pool chlorine tablets. I rinsed the bucket out thoroughly first so as to hopefully avoid any reactions, I'm still here, so I guess it worked out. LOL.
My first attempt was to save some Xmaxx wheel/tires that the foams had gone bad in, common theme it seems. The Xmaxx tires are quite large so I was only able to soak 2 at a time. I initially tried to let the fumes do the work, but after 3 days they weren't releasing, so I dumped in the rest of the first gallon I bought, then went and bought another gallon of acetone to add. I submerged two at a time, which took at least 2-3 days to completely release from the wheels. They can be pried off, but at the risk of tearing the beads. They will literally fall right off the wheel given enough time to soak. These tires/wheels didn't seem to suffer any visible consequences, worked out great. I made my own replacement foams from some HD polyurethane upholstery foam I got off amazon, which didn't work out as well as I would have liked. They broke down and got soft rather quickly, but I don't think I made them large enough to begin with.. another story in itself.
To date, I have successfully removed Arrma, Duratrax, TRX and even some AliEx wheels and tires with no adverse side effects. I have reused them all, including the foam inserts that were still in tact before separating the wheels/tires. I must admit though, some tires react differently than others, I had a set of TRX Talons from a Stampede 2wd that swelled to nearly 3 times their original size after soaking in acetone for 3 days. I thought, well, they're crappy tires/wheels any way, no loss.. well, after drying out for a couple days, they shrunk right back down to original size and they really don't feel any different. Still have no grip though, nor did they before, LOL.
So, in summary, I'd say the acetone method works great, I will surely continue to use this method. TBH, I never had such great success at gluing tires before a good acetone bath! They hold very well, even with cheap super glue from Dollar General, 4 tubes for a buck!! I've used BSI, Gorilla, Loctite ect. TBH, I don't find they're much, if any better, the key is using the right viscosity for the application I find. While messy, the thinner the better, gets into the crevices more effectively I find.
