The Old Wd40 Tyre Treatment Trick

[Ben_M 7]

A wise old man once told me that if I wanted to get grip down on my track quickly I should get some old tyres, put some WD40 on them and do a few hundred laps, reapplying now and then. Thinking that it was going to be very slippery and it would take me hours to do a few hundred laps, I picked up an old scaley F1 car, applied the WD and pulled the trigger. After half a lap my mouth was wide open shocked with the grip of the car, the thing was flying!! So I did about 100 laps and left it at that for the day. The next day I did the same thing except with one of my rally cars, a Fly Audi Quattro, box standard with a bit of weight. I took a bit of video which shows the difference in speed after the WD40 has been applied (about 2.5secs).

 

 

I have a few questions regarding this. Firstly, can anyone tell how this works? What does it do to the tyres? Secondly is there anything I should know that doing this might effect? I know that MJK's dont like it but is there anything else? How well do you need to clean the track to get rid of any residue on the track?

 

Thanks,

Ben

[rsclio 0]

Ben ,

don't know the full science but I'm thinking must be a reaction between the oil in wd 40 and the rubber of the tyre

That's why MJK's don't work because they are urethane

I did it with WD40 then I tried another thrick with 2 small puddles of oil on the straight of my track.

Very slippery for the 1st couple of laps but afetr 50-100 it was a lot quicker

The difference with the oil is I think it puts more rubber on the track than WD 40 is a bit more permanent

Now std ninco grooved tyre care not far off the MJK's

Once the oil has dried out a bit then the MJK's benefit also - or so it seems to me

I too was gobsmacked by this

Edited August 9, 2011 by rsclio

[smallnails 0]

SHHH its not a "tyre treatment" its a tyre cleaning product!!!!

 

 

Careful as you might wake up the MJK crowd who have conniptions at the thought of wd40, its been said that even just thinking of WD40 would wreck their grip!

 

 

 

Just kidding really

 

We use WD40 a bit down here, some guys use the sticky side of duct tape and just roll their cars tyres over it, that's full of some nasty chemicals too though but will clean them pretty quick!!! With my driving style though i do enjoy the WD40, i also love the 2 foot long burnout they do with wet tyres if i accidentally forget to wipe em off!

[kalbfellp 69]

The oil in the WD40 helps to clean and Soften the rubber tyres. Just try some oil and you will see much the same results.

Tyre goo used on the commercial tracks is basically a sticky oil base product.

NSR sell tyre oil and it is a very thin oil to help "treat" the tyres, it just helps to soften the tyre.

The big disadvantage witth all of this is that the tyres do not last as long and they also tend to deposit more rubber on the track surface.

Most of the oil based products do the same job to some extent,RP7 CRC etc. The guys in the UK use common 3 in 1 oil.

[Kenny 1]

I don't just use it on tyres.

We have Scaley track and I clean the whole thing with it. Just a bit on a rag and give it a quick wipe over. We live in a fairly dusty environment, you can hardly see it, but it's there. It is amazing the difference if you havn't used the track for a few days. Dust particles in 1:32 scale are probably like 20mm blue metal screenings in 1 :1

I'll agree the burn outs are good and the grip increases as you go

Cheers

John

[dazza 0]

A wise old man once told me that if I wanted to get grip down on my track quickly I should get some old tyres, put some WD40 on them and do a few hundred laps, reapplying now and then. Thinking that it was going to be very slippery and it would take me hours to do a few hundred laps, I picked up an old scaley F1 car, applied the WD and pulled the trigger. After half a lap my mouth was wide open shocked with the grip of the car, the thing was flying!! So I did about 100 laps and left it at that for the day. The next day I did the same thing except with one of my rally cars, a Fly Audi Quattro, box standard with a bit of weight. I took a bit of video which shows the difference in speed after the WD40 has been applied (about 2.5secs).

 

 

I have a few questions regarding this. Firstly, can anyone tell how this works? What does it do to the tyres? Secondly is there anything I should know that doing this might effect? I know that MJK's dont like it but is there anything else? How well do you need to clean the track to get rid of any residue on the track?

 

Thanks,

Ben

Well if i didn't see it with my own eyes i wouldn't have believed it.That's amazing to see the difference,i'm going to try that on my track and see what happens.

 

CHEERS for heads up.

 

Dazza

[rick1776 4]

WD40!! NOOOOOOOOOOO. Ha ha.

 

The solvent in wd40 partially dissolves the rubber compound. This allows easy access for the oil which acts like a plasticizer. Google Hansen solubility sphere to get an understanding of the chemisty of whats happening.

[Ember 71]

It only works for some tyre compounds. The experienced guys would be able to tell you which ones, but my guess is that it's largely the rubber and synthetic rubber compounds. I tried it on Ninco tyres when I started removing magnets. On GT cars it was almost like having the magnets back. On rally cars it took away all the fun. I didn't try long term 'treatment', only squirt and go application. So the effect on grip was only short term, 20-30 laps or so. What I didn't like was the reaction as the additive's effect started to wear off.

 

Decided I'd rather change the tyres to a different compound with a reliable reaction. So I run largely urethanes (P6s, MJKs, and other people's homebrews). And that's on plastic. I'm sure you lads running on routed tracks notice a much stronger effect than I witness.

 

Having said that, I have found Racer rubber tyres that have never received any treatment have improved in grip with age and use.

[paulthetexan 11]

Hi

 

Don't know the tech talk , but after observing our local group I have noticed a couple of things . Some of the guys use WD40, some others use oil . Both work well but in different ways . WD40 will give you grip straight away but go off quicker , where as oil will take a few laps to come on but last longer .

 

The clincher for me was the fact that ultimately WD40 is designed to penetrate water and dry surfaces . What I have observed is that after using WD40 your tires will become hard and crusty after a short time of non-use as apposed to oil that will keep most tyres soft for far longer .

 

Paul

[Bulsara 6]

What do track owners think of all these voodoo juices on their track.

[Count 1]

Yes, WD40 actually dissolves rubber tyres, so will quickly deposit a grippy surface on your track. As they dissolve they also get soft and stretch, so unless your tyres are well glued on, they can easily expand off your rims (especially troublesome for going around corners). And as Paulthetexan says, tyres go hard and crusty and don't last too long.

 

I went through a phase of loving this stuff, and would spray a puddle across all lanes at the start/finish line before each race (makes for some hilariously slippery starts!). As each car did a lap and drove through it, dust would be cleaned off and a new coating of WD applied, so grip stayed on through the whole race. BUT it is messy - gets sprayed up inside the car, and ultimately attracts dust on your track, creating a kind of muddy gloop. I try not to use it now - got tired of re-tyring my cars so often!

 

But it is fun!

 

Count

[Ben_M 7]

Thanks for the reply's guys, all making sense now. As with most things there are pros and cons and the same can be said for the WD40 Tyre Cleaning method (back in my early days of karting in the mid 90's we treated the tyres to make them perform better and it was called tyre treatment). Now I know what will happen to the tyres I use WD40 on, I can make sure I use non-important tyres to clean/get some rubber down after long periods of non use with the track.

 

Oh yeah, +1 for the burnouts

Edited August 9, 2011 by Ben_M

[gazza 77]

Back in 2008 no lesser person than Mr Slot-it himself, was giving the old WD a work out during a few laps at Armchairracers old site on the Carrera track

 

 

They were his cars of course, but he wasn't worried about wiping the tyres over with a WD rag

 

I do the same thing on the rally track, but mainly to clean the surface .... a couple of puddles to drive through and use an old hack to do a few laps, the track surface is polyurethane so it grips up pretty quick