TOPIC:

I'll be the first to admit this is kind of brutal, but it's been thought out thoroughly: I had a spare set of wheels (from the HCT '15 release) but no tyres. If anyone can think of anything else so I don't have to do this again, I'd love to hear them.


There was no way the tyres were coming off with boiling or CA debonder. Lots of Acetone could have worked but it would have destroyed the wheels anyway. I've cut tyre off under similar circumstances, even being really careful it leaves the tyres beads damaged & almost unuseable, and you still have to turn the remaining rubber off the rims, making the wheels smaller diameter.

Leaving these wheels as brown as they are was not an option, and neither was cleaning & repainting with the tyres still attached.

Treating the wheels with peroxide with the tyres on was not an option either, the tyres would get damaged.

 
Note just how brown the wheels are:




Unimat setup for the outer face of the wheel:




… and inner:




Wheels completely destroyed, tyres still needed some bits picking off, but I can use them again.

Baking the wheels in the oven has worked for me in the past.
Boiling has ruined several sets.

Totally agree with you Richard, I have lost a nice set of tires boiling them off....

Are the tyres not available as reissues too ?
If not then I agree it's a shame to destroy the wheels, but considering they are at least "sort of" replaceable from reissues that is the best available option.

I'm sure you've considered all the angles here Jon

BlacqueJacque wrote:

Are the tyres not available as reissues too ?
If not then I agree it's a shame to destroy the wheels, but considering they are at least "sort of" replaceable from reissues that is the best available option.

I'm sure you've considered all the angles here Jon
 

I'm pretty sure they would have been, I just didn't look for them at the time.

I got my first Wheeler (this time around) in 2013, and my first HCT '15 in 2015. By the time I got a 2nd Wheeler in 2020, all the spare rear tyres had gone & I only managed to get one pair of 2015 fronts and a handful of sets of 2015 wheels.

(The Rear tyres are definitely the worst for aging, it must be the rearward weight bias for wheelying).

It's too early for any spares for the 2025 release, although I did buy the one set of tyres available from someone parting out a 2025 kit - those are earmarked for my Wheeler with the most cracked/flat spotted tyres. 

Abarth wheels after primer & aluminium paint:




Take a look at this advert (www.pistonheads...g/13477301) for a 1:1 Turbo II ...




What my car really needed (apart from a clean backdrop, and some dusting) was these treaded tyres on _unmodified_ Abarth wheels ...
This amount of sidewall is only really appropriate for BMC Minis -  so it's back to looking for another set of wheels   

I prefeŕ your rims. The 1:1 ones looks lancia y10 ones

Jonny wrote:

Abarth wheels after primer & aluminium paint:

Take a look at this advert (www.pistonheads...g/13477301) for a 1:1 Turbo II ...

What my car really needed (apart from a clean backdrop, and some dusting) was these treaded tyres on _unmodified_ Abarth wheels ...
This amount of sidewall is only really appropriate for BMC Minis -  so it's back to looking for another set of wheels 

 

That has a very nice scale look to it. Nicely done..

It's a trade off, scale realism vs the original aesthetic ie; comical Willy for a driver, wheelies etc.

I don't know what the wheel / tyre dimensions are of the originals ?

Heads up if you need Wild Willy stuff...This on eBay ending soon.!

www.ebay.co.uk/...6756748102

Link might not work i'm sorry..!

Just search on ebay..