MTFCA Forum

I have a set of almost new Firestones clinchers that have been mounted for
10 to 15 years. They came on a chassis I purchased a couple years back.
I demounted two so far and the rubber is hard.
I am familiar with heating to soften them enough to mount and demount.
Wintergreen and alcohol seems to work on smaller pieces as well.
Has anyone tried soaking them in warm water then freezing them?
There is some literature that suggests this may work?
With our 15 below F temperatures tomorrow freezing should not present an
issue for step two.
Thoughts?
Harry Lillo Calgary

I'd be very cautious about using any kind of solvent to soften a tire. Using heat up to 145 F should cause no problems so long as it is evenly applied. It takes a long time for heat to fully penetrate a tire. It's been my experience that any oil or solvent that softens rubber also degrades it. Solvents are particularly destructive. A rubber item that has been softened with solvent usually dries out and stiffens as the solvent evaporates. "Rubber" is used to describle a wide variety of materials with a wide variety of properties. I'd stick with mild heat and use a tire mounting lubricant designed for the purpose. Most tire makers recommend that a new tire be used within 6 years of manufacture. If you need to soften a dried out old tire and do not intend to re-use the tire, applying lots of waterless hand cleaner containing lanolin over a period of days may soften it up. I would not use a tire that had been softened using hand cleaner or anything else except mild heat as described above.

I cannot imagine how freezing would be the least bit helpful. Summertime temperatures and direct sunlight work best in my experience. I would think those tubes will still be good, and better than some you can buy today new.

In Florida we just leave them out in the blacktop driveway. On a good day they get almost too hot to handle!

If the are only 10-15 years old and real stiff they may not be all that good. I don’t know for sure but age makes a difference. Maybe they were older when they were mounted.

Storage conditions can make a lot of difference in how a tire ages.

You don't mention whether or not the rims are de-mountable, but either way, I would suggest that you get a large tub of water, larger than the wheel and heat it up to almost boiling and then submerge the whole tire and rim and even the wheel if not de-mountable. keep the water hot. Maybe need a barbecue grill or other outdoor source of heat to keep it hot. Leave for an hour or two. Then try to remove. If you are going to discard the tire, you might even need to saw it up. Just be careful not to damage the rim if you saw. Let the rim dry out before you mount a new tire. I would suggest that you don't drive on them but replace them.
Norm

I suggest removing the valve core before applying any heat to a mounted tire. A couple of squirts of dish detergent added to water will help it pentrate rust.

I would suggest that if you want to continue to drive on those tires, that you leave them on and keep the pressure to about 60 psi. I had an old one which I kept for the spare and bought new ones made in Viet Nam. The rubber valve stem on my old spare blew up like a balloon, so I replaced the inner tube. It was a very hard job, but with several tire irons and my son to help, we got it done. This was done in the summer, so it was probably around 80 degrees here.
Norm