Pipe Insulation as Tire Insert

[Jens]

Hi,

I just bought 4 of those rather cheap wheels.

But they were the only ones I could find in my desired size and tread.

 

Went for spin yesterday with my Rustler and all 4 tires decided to roll along next to the car.

Maybe I should have checked the wheels before whether they were glued...

 

 

But I am happy for them not being glued.

Now I can choose proper inserts.

 

The delivered ones are really lousy.

Glued together to form a circle.

I don't think the glue will hold after some water runs.

 

 

 

I have been looking the last few days anywhere to find inserts for 3" wheels.

Nothing...

On top, I want closed cell foams to repel any water.

 

Now I got the idea of using pipe insulation. 😯

I found these for 76mm pipes:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Climaflex-Foam-Pipe-Insulation-Lagging-Wrap-Roll-Huge-Range-inc-9mm-13mm-25mm/253790072629?hash=item3b17112f35:g:S7IAAOSwNQReIzit

Then I want to glue an additional layer of softer foam around until I reach 20mm thickness.

 

I also closed the vent hole in the rim with duct tape.

 

Has anybody tried to use pipe insulation as inserts?

 

My hope to achieve is:

No more water in the wheels

No more ballooning at high speeds

 

 

 

 

[.AJ.]

I can’t see why it won’t work, it pretty strong stuff and is almost impossible to rip width way 

[Jens]

Couldn't resist to immediately fixing the pipe insulation on 1 wheel.

The dry run looks very promising about the ballooning effect.

 

This is the ballooning with the old foam at max speed of my Rustler:

 

It is still ballooning with the pipe insulation as tire insert, but a lot less.

 

I also made a comparison with the original Rustler wheel, my son's original Bugsta wheels and my son's newer carnage wheels on the Bugsta.

They balloon even more than the new ones.

 

Material abuse accomplished! 

 

 

 

 

[Jens]

In case anyone wants to do the same.

Here we go:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Armaflex-Pipe-Insulation-Lagging-Black-Nitrile-Foam-Class-O-2m-76mm-19mm-Wall/202623606704?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

There are many more sizes available in other auctions.

 

Most important detail:

"un-split tube"

 

Split tubes are open so that they can be wrapped around already installed pipes.

Useless as tire inserts.

 

[Stormbringer]

nice 1 mate 

[Jens]

Went for a bash all day to test and adjust the Rustler.

Compared to the standard tires: It's mental.

The handling is now so much better.

But the suspension must be fine tuned quite a bit.

Since the new wheels are now much harder, I had to make the shock absorbers a lot softer.

Otherwise the car flips over a lot.

(Or maybe just my driving style)

And after I increased the camber, hard turns at high speed are so much easier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[.AJ.]

Result 👌 

[Bajadre]

nice one Jens great results that ! gonna order some up i think, have a few sets of truggy wheels with blown foams that can be saved 👍