fdegrove wrote:
Hi,
Quote:
So, what's the best stuff to use that won't kill me with fumes or harm my precious Enve rims ?
Different rim cements responds differently to various chemicals but here's what I use:
Use an acid brush and plain household petrol/diesel oil to wet all the tubular tyre cement and let it soak in overnight.
Repeat the next day on the rim section you want to remove the cement from. I find it easier and faster to work one small area at the time. One section could then be a strip of rim inbetween spoke holes.
Rub with an old piece of cotton cloth to remove the cement. Do not waste time on small recalcitrant dots of cement, move on to the next section.
Once all sections are covered we'll now remove the remaining small amounts of cement by reapeting the step as described above using another cotton cloth soaked locally (finger tip area) with White spirit (aka Stoddard solvent) until the rim section is totally devoid of cement.
Repeat until the rim is clean. Wipe the entire rim clean as you'll have solvent on spokes, rim and so forth. Make sure to clean the spoke hole and nipples.
You don't want to waste time here should the wheel need truing some day.
Watch out not to damage wheelstickers. If you're in doubt cover the inner side with some old cloth, it will soak up the spilled solvents.
Wipe the rim bed and brake track with acetone, you want these aeras the be particularly grease free. The remainder of the rim and spokes can be cleaned with a dry cloth.
1/ Vittoria Mastik One: Diesel oil, White Spirit.
2/ Continental (both alloy and carbon specific): Same as above but responds best to White spirit.
3/ Tubasti: does not respond well to diesel oil but solves quickly in White spirit.
4/ Tufo tape: all of the above plus tons of elbow grease. Do not use it in the first place.
I only mention it since sooner or later you'll buy a set of secondhand wheels from someone and it will have this nice surprise on them....
Ideally modern formulated cements should dissolve quickest by using n-hexane but this is not available in useful quantities.
What turns out to work well but isn't cheap to use is Schwalbe's rim cement remover which you just brush on and it will have dissolve 95 % of the cement when left to work for a couple of hours.
Not sure what it contains but it seems (and I say this with some caution) less aggressive to the skin than the other chemicals.
Either way always use these chemicals either outdoors or in a well ventilated room. Use nitrile gloves to protect yourself.
Ciao,
P.S. Incidentally, I'll be stripping a Hyperon rear wheel this afternoon. I hate that .......
An update m'kay ...
Finally got round to stripping the glue from my Enve 6.7 (actually the 7 part of the duo i.e. rear rim)
In total it took me two and a half hours this evening to go from three layers with only 5% pulled away when I removed the punctured tub at the roadside to a squeaky clean brand new looking rim ready for the first base layer of glue.
A few observations:-
1. Applying the diesel spirit 24 hrs before helps the glue to soak it up making easier removal, next time I will do this twice if I'm in not hurry (which I'm not as my Nemesis rims are now attached to my bike, super plush too
2. Second application of diesel spirit then started to rub the glue away. I found this a PITA and ended up using an old tea spoon to get most of the glue off, I found that it saved me using a ton of cloths.
3. I then went round the wheel with a diesel damp cotton cloth to remove most of the glue. Mixed success but most of it came away without too much fuss. I think this is why I would do two applications of diesel and allow a day between each to really soften the glue but it was not too much trouble really.
4. Once I had gotten most of the glue of the rim and the edges were fairly clean I had to tackle the central channel, anyone with Enve 3.4 or 6.7 will know what I mean, its a channel about 5mm wide with a rounded base 2-3mm deep below the base of the rim. I think it helps to centre the tyre when fixing to the rim. I maybe put too much glue here when I first glued the rims up and it really showed as the glue had kind of levelled across the channel and did not want to shift from it too easily
So I used an old tooth brush with white spirit (Stoddards spirit ?) and just kept at it, for ages !!!
Eventually, after a good while the glue was free of the rim so,I gave the whole lot a wipe over,to rid eat sides of the rim from any stray unwanted glue and then re-sanded the rim to help key the base layer better to the rim. I think maybe I did not do this enough first time round, since the rims were new they could have had some mould release agent still on them and may have contributed to the glue peeling off th rim ins some places when I removed the tubular. It could also,have been down to me putting layers of glue down to thick, either way I didn't think a light sanding would do any harm.
So,that's it. Dhort of fixing the punctured tubular (which I may save for another day) I have pretty much covered most aspects of tubular ownership and can honestly say I won't be heading back to clinchers anytime soon. It's really not too much trouble and the feeling,of security bombing hills more than makes up for the extra effort required when you get a flat.
If it helps Imgot my puncture at 40mph and it was without incident, a rapid deflation followed by smoothly slowing to a stop. I dunno,if that would have happened with my clinchers but then I guess that is for another topic
All the advice on the this forum has been great in helping me make the switch, to,anyone to riding tubular tyres I would save given it a go, there is a definite difference in the quality of the ride for me, not a "magic carpet" thing but just better, especially when cornering.
Cheers,
Si
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