In order to help our customers we will answer your questions and post them here.
Q. How long will my tires last?
According to the manufacture, this silicone will last indefiantly if left untouched. However we use the tires that are made from the silicone. As long as the tires don't get cut or damaged they will last for many, many years. Some of our first prototype tires have thousands and thousands of laps and show no wear! Of course, many people use sandpaper to true and clean the tires and this will effect the life of the tire.
Q. How do I take care of my tires?
You must look for any sharp edges on your wheel or anywhere the tire may make contact with. These tires are made from a silicone that behaves very much like human skin and we all know how easy skin is damaged.A sharp object touching the tire will cut it very quick and the tire will continue to tear at that spot. So be very careful and inspect your wheels! And remove any sharp spots!
Cleaning of your tires is really personal preference. I use a piece of cloth soaked with rubbing alcohol and a old toothbrush to remove gunk. But you can use dish soap or even just water. The small tread picks up all kinds of debris off your track and fill in to make the tires traction ineffective. So clean them regularly but don't take them off the rim if you can help it as this increases the chance of tearing or cutting.
Q. My tires are "wet". What causes this?
This is normal. This happens during a climate change and the tires "sweat" out oils in the silicone. Just wipe off with a soft, lint free cloth and go racin'!
Q. I bought tires from another maker and my tires keep slipping off the rim. How can I stop this?
This can be a big problem with silicone tires. Tiny Motors tries to make the molds so that the tires will fit tightly and stay on the rims. But, there are a few manufactures that used flat rims with little or no flanges that wouldn't even keep the original tires on the cars. Strombecker was notorious for this.
Some rims are so smooth that the tire has nothing to grip on and slides off the rim. This must be roughed up with sandpaper.
You can glue the tires on with super glue or silicone windshield sealer. You must remove the chrome from your rims to get the glue to stick. I usually build up a small flange with the super glue on the backside of the rim to keep the tire from sliding off. This way I don't get any glue on the front side of the rim.
Q. What tires are best for plastic home tracks?
That depends on a couple of things. One is if your track isn't cleaned before use or is in a dusty area. This would be best served with a treaded tire. The tread will allow the pollutents to fill in the tread before the tires become slippery. They also are self cleaning to a small extent.Slick tires work best on routed tracks with a super smooth surface or a plastic track that is cleaned before use.
How can I keep my track clean?
I use Greased Lighting cleaner or Simple Green on a soft rag. These really clean the oily build up on the track from various sources and clean the plastic from dust too.
I also have a "rail runner" that I made from an old guide flag. I wrap soft cloth around each side of the flag and spray a little WD-40 on the cloth and run it around each groove and clean the rails from corrision (WD eats rust) and it removes any degreaser residue, plus helps with electrical contact! Nothing's worse than pick up brushes full of lint and goo.Q. I bought one of your body kits and I can't get the paint to stick on it. What can I do?
Resin is very difficult to paint, especially with a smooth shiney surface. Tiny Motors uses no release agents on our molds. You have several options. You can clean the plastic with Westleys whitewall cleaner. This removes all oils on the resin, finger oil ect. Or you can wash your plastic parts with plain Dawn dishsoap in warm water and pat dry but you need to wear cloth or rubber gloves to keep your finger oils off the resin. Next, you must use a primer paint. I recommend an enamel primer, even if your color finish is acrylic. Enamel "bites" into the plastic and helps your color coat adhere to the surface. The product Mr. Resin Primer is an excellent product. A typical spray can of enamel primer from your local hardware store will work fine too. Just make sure it's not the high build up primer. Then you can paint your car anyway you want.Q. What do the MR, SR, and Doubleback mean? My old parts list show no such tires for my car.
When I started making tires I made only a few Eldon replacements and the Doubleback means that the front is the same as the back, except for sprue marks. Most tire makers just mold tires with front detail. I wanted to make a true replacement tire, a clone, if you will.
The MR, SR, MF, SF are refering to the type of wheel used. Mostly for the Strombecker and Marx line of wheels. Strombecker's are: MR is for the "Mag Ribbed" wheel. SR for Spoked Ribbed, MF is Mag Flat, SF is Spoked Flat, Marx SR is "Split Rim" the two piece spoked rim on 1/32 cars. MW is the Marx Mag wheel. Our Marx Indy tire also fits the Marx mag wheel and was used on some of the Indy/Grand Prix Marx cars. This can be confusing so that's why we show pictures of the cars and rims the tires will fit rather than a bunch of dimentions.
That's all for now, keep checking back for more info!