cleaning glue off rims

[etu]

had my first flat on tubulars today. able to change it out and make it home!
but cleaning the rim of the glue has me at my wits end.:help: after over an hour of going at it with a cheese knife, acetone, hair dryer, all i have to show for it are sore thumbs and ratty looking rim.
need some advice here because i can't imagine i am doing this right.

[Joachim]

Why didn't you leave the glue on? There is no need to clean it.

[tooslow4u]

I've used googone to soften the glue and rub them off...

[eBAUMANN]

effetto mariposa mastik remover - look no further

but also, this:

Why didn't you leave the glue on? There is no need to clean it.

[shovelhd]

Contractors Solvent

[cmg]

the goo gone does work with a light scouring pad. next time i'm using tubular tape.

[rwsaunders]

I prefer glue over tape for a number of reasons but ymmv. Try GoofOff in lieu of GooGone. It's much stronger and if you let it soak, you don't need a scouring pad, just an old sock and a rubber glove. It takes me about 30 minutes to clean a rim down to metal and I'm no speed record holder.

[ldamelio]

As others have said, no need to remove glue. After 2 - 3 tires, if what's left on the rim is irregular, peel off the loose excess with a blunt object (cheese spreader, metal tire lever). I am curious to try the Effecto Mariposa stuff at some point. Lennard Zinn recently wrote some good stuff about it.

[lhuerta]

...also, no need to remove tire out on the road (in most cases). Simply, remove valve core, drop in about one ounce of sealant (Bontrager TLR is best stuff I have ever used), spin your tire and let sealant coat tube, then inflate (a quick inflation with C02 seems to work best). Since discovering sealant, I have yet to encounter a tubular flat that I couldn't mend with sealant.

[etu]

thanks for the great advice.
not going to remove anymore glue unless it accumulated to a big crusty mess!
now if you go this route, how many coats of glue do you apply on top?

[aingeru]

one for the rim and one for the new tubular base tape.

[Jaq]

thanks for the great advice.
not going to remove anymore glue unless it accumulated to a big crusty mess!
now if you go this route, how many coats of glue do you apply on top?

Jasco paint stripper. "0" steel wool. Rubber gloves. Paint it on. Wait fifteen. Hose it off. Steel wool the sticky bits.

They say three coats of glue for tire and rim, 24 hours between each. I do two coats, twelve hours between. One more coat, put on the tire. 40 psi, roll it by hand around the yard, let it cure for six hours, full psi and let it sit overnight. Ride in the morning.

30 years on sew-ups and I've never rolled a tire. That said, others may have diff ideas, and they're all worth a gander.

[rwsaunders]

Here's a before photo...

[rwsaunders]

During...

[rwsaunders]

And nearly done...let the rim air out after you're done too as the cleaners are solvent based and you want to make sure that all of the good stuff has left the building. Needless to say, try and work outdoors unless you're up for a good "huff" session.

[oldpotatoe]

the goo gone does work with a light scouring pad. next time i'm using tubular tape.

Much harder to get that junk off, BTW..And if ya get a flat, and want to mount a spare pre glued spare..it's really gunky.

[oldpotatoe]

...also, no need to remove tire out on the road (in most cases). Simply, remove valve core, drop in about one ounce of sealant (Bontrager TLR is best stuff I have ever used), spin your tire and let sealant coat tube, then inflate (a quick inflation with C02 seems to work best). Since discovering sealant, I have yet to encounter a tubular flat that I couldn't mend with sealant.

Or pre treat with sealant. What I do with all my tubulars..I use Orange Seal

[oldpotatoe]

Jasco paint stripper. "0" steel wool. Rubber gloves. Paint it on. Wait fifteen. Hose it off. Steel wool the sticky bits.

They say three coats of glue for tire and rim, 24 hours between each. I do two coats, twelve hours between. One more coat, put on the tire. 40 psi, roll it by hand around the yard, let it cure for six hours, full psi and let it sit overnight. Ride in the morning.

30 years on sew-ups and I've never rolled a tire. That said, others may have diff ideas, and they're all worth a gander.

My aunt matilda's mustache. NO need to wait 24 hours between glue, or 12 hours.
-glue the tire
-glue the rim
-glue the tire
-glue the rim
-glue the tire...wait until glue isn't sticking to your fingers(about 15 minutes)
-glue the rim-immediately mount, center, roll..wait 24 hours-go ride.

I use Pana, solvent brush..I too have been doing tubies since 1985 plus worked in 5 shops, glued many, and have never had one roll either.

NOT saying how ya do it won't work, it will but taking 3-4 days to glue a tire is...well, not necessary, IMHO.

Also, use a butter knife to take old clue off..also 3M glue remover, green scratchy pad.

[Lionel]

Exactly, 24 hours between coats of glue is complete non sense.

[cv1966]

And nearly done...let the rim air out after you're done too as the cleaners are solvent based and you want to make sure that all of the good stuff has left the building. Needless to say, try and work outdoors unless you're up for a good "huff" session.

Maybe a silly question but is this safe for carbon rims?

[AngryScientist]

And nearly done...let the rim air out after you're done too as the cleaners are solvent based and you want to make sure that all of the good stuff has left the building. Needless to say, try and work outdoors unless you're up for a good "huff" session.

your choice of footwear leaves everything else you've said suspect. :D

[Dead Man]

I've been cleaning with contractor solvent, on recommendation from paceliners. It works pretty good... way better than VOC solvents. I spray the rim, let soak in for a few minutes, then scrub with a stiff bristle brush and wipe away with paper towels. If the rim hasn't been neglected, I can get both wheels clean in about an hour. Less if I'm only removing 1 gluings worth, but I'll generally do two gluings before cleaning. Seems most guys pile up more gluings before cleaning, but I don't like an uneven bed under the new tire.. whatevs.

As to gluing - Using Mastik One - I coat the rim, coat the tire, then re-wet the rim and mount. No waiting. I do wait an hour before riding, though. You get full cure at 8 hours, but Mastik One has tested stronger at 80% cure/1 hour than any other glue tests at full cure... so why miss that 8am paceline? I've pulled off several tires mounted with this method, and they were a sonuvabitch to get loose... so I know it's working.

Tubulars are waaaay easier than a lot of people want you to think. But it's definitely more of an art than a science, and everyone's got their own style.

[ultraman6970]

Ultra does similar to Mr B.

Usually I let the tubbies dry afternight but have done the 1 hour or two and no problems.

The other thing I've noticed is that glues dry a lot quicker now than 30 years ago.

[Satellite]

I bought some used Tubulars, I don't know what glue the previous owner used. I tried a bunch of different solvents (all of which were a joke), including Lacquer Thinner it ate the brillo padm but NOT the freak'in glue.

What worked best was a heat gun set to high and the back of a butter knife to scrap it once hot. Then I liberally applied Goo-Gone let sit over night and simply wiped down the rim, came out looking new. Then I cleaned the Goo-Gone with hot soap (standard Dawn) and water. I dried it with an air compressor then wiped it down with Acetone just to make sure the Goo-Gone was completely gone. I let the rims dry over night to make sure the Acetone evaporated. I then used Tufo Tape to mount new tires, no need to wait 24 hours for the tape, I love tape its simple.

I don't know how the heat gun would work on the Carbon Rims because it was super hot, I made sure it wasn't too hot on the aluminum rim I was able to touch the rims but they were hot.

Satellite

[Jaq]

My aunt matilda's mustache. NO need to wait 24 hours between glue, or 12 hours.
-glue the tire
-glue the rim
-glue the tire
-glue the rim
-glue the tire...wait until glue isn't sticking to your fingers(about 15 minutes)
-glue the rim-immediately mount, center, roll..wait 24 hours-go ride.

I use Pana, solvent brush..I too have been doing tubies since 1985 plus worked in 5 shops, glued many, and have never had one roll either.

NOT saying how ya do it won't work, it will but taking 3-4 days to glue a tire is...well, not necessary, IMHO.

Also, use a butter knife to take old clue off..also 3M glue remover, green scratchy pad.

What part of "That said, others may have diff ideas, and they're all worth a gander" was unclear?

Or did Aunt Matilda piddle in your cornflakes?

[oldpotatoe]

What part of "That said, others may have diff ideas, and they're all worth a gander" was unclear?

Or did Aunt Matilda piddle in your cornflakes?

Nothing personal but I have heard the wait 'x/lots of time' hours between glue applications for years and it has evolved into a 'pet peeve' OF MINE...so I mention something when I see it, my bad-sorry. BUT it's contact cement, not black arts or weird science but whatever works for you-groovy.

[rwsaunders]

Maybe a silly question but is this safe for carbon rims?

I'm not an expert on carbon, but Zipp identifies GoofOff as an approved cleaner for their carbon rims. By this, I'm assuming that other manufacturers approve it as well, but I can't validate that statement.

http://www.zipp.com/support/maintenance/wheel_care_88_188.php

PS... Angry Scientist has Croc envy btw. Ignore him.:cool:

[redir]

I've got tubular wheels on some of my vintage bikes that probably still have glue on them from the 1980's.

I even use less glue then Potatoe does but essentially the same method.

Coat of Goof Off on the rim to soften the old glue
Coat of glue on the tire
Coat of glue on the rim
Coat of glue on the tire
Wait about 15 minutes and mount
Center the tire, pump it up, mount wheel in frame and roll it out.
Done

No need to wait between coats and though I tend to let the wheels sit overnight before use you could hit the sharpest corners in a crit minutes after mounting tubulars like that. They really stick on good.

I need tools to get the tire off the rim with that method so it's never going to roll off. For cyclocroos I'd use a couple more coats on tire and rim so as to get a good squeeze out when pumped up and rolled out.

Anyway as mentioned, Goof Off is a pretty good solvent. I use it to clean up the rims if I get some glue on them and it comes right off.