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http://www.modelspor...-products/27437
As these are going to be used in my XS with 3S batteries, and thus plenty of potential to run at over 50mph I figured they would need taping. Something that I confirmed by a quick bench test of them (unglued) on just a 7.2v nimh, they ballooned quite a lot.
The problem is that they have a ribbed internal surface which would mean that taping them wouldn't be very effective as there is not enough surface to for the tape to bond to. A quick discussion in the forums lead to the idea of using Shoe Goo instead of tape.
I thought it over, and figured what the hell, I'll give it a go. I couldn't find any info on anyone else doing it, so I figured I'd share what I did with the forum to help others.
DISCLAIMER
If you end up ruining your nice expensive tyres it's your own fault. You don't have to do this, so if you do you accept all responsibility for the result.
Read all the way through and fully understand what you need to do before beginning.
What you will need is:
Tyres, and their foam inserts (obviously)
Shoe Goo. I got mine off eBay for about £6. I ended up using a bit more than half a tube.
Gaffa/Duct/duck/Gorilla tape. Enough to go round each tyre about 1.25 times. I know there is much debate about which type is best for taping tyres. In this case it's not really relevant and you can use whichever type you have at hand.
A cardboard tube from the inside of a roll of kitchen towel or similar.
A cardboard box that is a bit narrower than the tube.
To begin with cut a V groove in each end of the cardboard box, deep enough that the tube will sit comfortably in it. Put a tyre over the tube, and sit it in the box.
Doing this helps to hold everything in place when you start handling the gooey stuff, and also catches it if/when it drips. Next you need to prepare some strips of gaffa tape. I found that standard strips were too wide for these tyres so I trimmed them down to 3/4 width. They need to be long enough to go at least 1.25 times round each tyre.
You're now ready to goo up a tyre. I found that it's best to do one tyre at a time start to finish. You need to be reasonably quick because the goo is quite runny when you first apply it, and if you hang around it will just run to the bottom and drip off. Apply a bead all the way round the middle of the tyre. It needs to be generous enough to fill in the cells between the ribs, but not so much that it just goes everywhere.
Now, grab a length of gaffa tape and tape it round the tyre. Pay attention to keep it as central as possible, and as tight to the tyre as possible. Once it is all the way round take a moment to make sure it's lined up properly.
Now you can revert the tyre back to the normal way round, and put the tyre foam in place. You'll find that the gaffa tape wrinkles up quite a lot when you invert it, there isn't much you can do to stop that, just try and flatten it out as best you can before putting the foam in. This will help to keep the gaffa tape and goo in place until it sets up which should take an hour or so.
Final notes
Right now I haven't actually run these tyres. Obviously I will report back when I do.
From previous experience of shoe goo I expect the tyres to end up pretty firm with not much give across the centre of the tyre. As such they will probably only be of use on hard surfaces like tarmac, packed dirt, or clay. The shoulders should still give nicely so it shouldn't affect the tyres too much when cornering. For me that is fine and exactly what I bought these tyres for. Additionally, unless you manage to apply the goo and gaffa tape very very carefully you will probably also need to balance the wheels before attempting any high speed runs. I do that anyway, so not much of an issue for me.
