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How to soften tires?

MAC FAB

RCC Addict
Joined
Dec 18, 2014
Messages
1,034
Location
So Cal
I was talking to a guy last night at a LHS, and he mentioned a light soaking your tires in penetrating oil, in a tire bag, for about 8 hrs, wash with simple green and they are like a softer compound when done. Breaks down the composition somehow. I have RTR Bomber tires that I would love to be more compliant, sticky. Is this doable or do I need to rub the lamp and ask the genie for more wishes???
 
One of our local drivers mentioned to me that when he leaves his glued tires in Acetone to remove them from the rims, the tires are also softened by the process. I've tested this myself with several axial glued tires but it was hardly noticeable.
 
If you really want to make the stock Bomber tires softer and more compliant, start trimming out the massive support ribbing on the inside.

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Makes the tread flex way better and lightens the tire by about 10%.

All the "secret" tire softening tires by soaking them in some kind of solvent (PB blaster, WD40, diesel fuel, etc) ideas either don't work or destroy your tires. Giving your tires a good scrubbing when new with some Simple Green does make them stickier since it gets any mold release residue off the treads but the benefit goes away once the tires get dusty/dirty again. There is no method to make tires magically softer or stickier and people have been trying to find a way forever.
 
How to make R40 (rtr compound) tires softer? Easy, replace them with R35.

And that's not much of an upgrade.

You can use all kinds of chemical to soften tires (just ask racers), but it will shorten the life of the tires. If you want to go extreme just use diesel fuel...
 
Liquid Wrench penetrating oil. I use an old toothbrush to lightly apply it to my tires. Don't wipe or clean it afterwords. My three sets of kit 10.2 All Terrains are nice and sticky.
 
You cant polish a turd, but there is a noticeable difference between in feel a brand new tire and one that has been driven on and well past broken in.

Just buy good tires.
 
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