Sizing tires

Bandmn

Member
If someone doesnt have a hot box or a spare oven, i got to thinking could i use either near boiling or boiling water to submerse the tire in to heat it up for sizing?
 
Say with a hub on a bad or old axle or something similar. When you race on such a tight budget as to not being able to buy the finer things in life you have to compensate at times and get creative lol.
 
I used a kerosene heater in a pinch, just set the tire on top for a bit, worked well

Hmmmmm that just gave me an idea.... Live kinda close to a small airport i wonder if they will let me hold a tire behind a small lear jet as it takes off? Lol jk but what actually made me think of that is maybe as im working in the shop, i could place a tire in front of the propane torpedo heater at a good distance away of course and rotate it every few mins till up to temp
 
Submerged tire and boiling water Sounds like a trip to the ER.
I fried a Burris on the propane grill; don't try it.
How about an electric fry pan with a tin house to hold the tire and heat in. Actually looking at my Weber charcol grill it should fit both.
Or a metal garbage can and heat gun / electric fry pan.
 
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Boiling water sounds like a lot of work. All of the suggestions above will work. I use a garbage can quite often but found that my heat gun was too hot. Cheapo hair dryer works good. I have also put them in the cab of my truck on hot sunny days. Free and easy.
 
Submerged tire and boiling water Sounds like a trip to the ER.
I fried a Burris on the propane grill; don't try it.
How about an electric fry pan with a tin house to hold the tire and heat in. Actually looking at my Weber charcol grill it should fit both.
Or a metal garbage can and heat gun / electric fry pan.

The metal trash can and heat gun sounds like an easy alternative!
 
Boiling water sounds like a lot of work. All of the suggestions above will work. I use a garbage can quite often but found that my heat gun was too hot. Cheapo hair dryer works good. I have also put them in the cab of my truck on hot sunny days. Free and easy.

I dont think the cab of my truck is gonna work in ohio this time of the year. Right now its 36 out and snow on grass. It didnt stick to roads, driveways or sidewalks but did cover the grass.
 

X2...take the valve stem out and heat up the tire with torch, get the tire hot and submerge the tire in bucket of cold water, just make sure you have your finger over the vale stem so the water won't go into the tire, hold it down until the tire cools off or if you lucky and have a small chest freezer in your shop you can just set the tire in the freezer and let it cool down

To increase the size of tire, you can just add about 20 psi and leave out in the sun to grow
 
All of this has helped. I just started in go karts this past july and only had 1 set of tires last season and was an absolute junk set of tires to start with. I have purchased some used but great tires and wanted to step up my tire game this season. I started out on an unknown kart that was fully adjustable but outdated then traded that one off and bought a phenom for the last half of the season and struggled with the handling of it. It would push like a dump truck.
 
Also I just want to add one more thing...leave the air out on the left side and leave about 10 psi on the right side...this will help to keep the stagger through out the week
 
I'll agree with Jamie. That Phenom will be great here in the midwest.
I can help you with set-up & scale numbers for just about any track - as well as tires & prep.

If you look on craigslist, you can find cheap/free ovens -- search "curb alert."
An older electric oven works very well for sizing tires and costs you nothing.

I was at a swap meet over the weekend and saw several hot boxes (home made and commercial) selling for very cheap prices. Keep your eyes open -- there are deals out there.


-----
Thanks and God bless,
Brian Carlson
Carlson Racing Engines
Vector Cutz
www.CarlsonMotorsports.com
Carlson Motorsports on Facebook
29 years of service to the karting industry
Linden, IN
765-339-4407
bcarlson@CarlsonMotorsports.com
 
^^^^ this ! 2 of those free oven started off many of powder coating operations years back. Old electric stoves have lots of shop uses.
 
I've seen guys at Daytona use the foiled line foam insulation. They made a box and used a heat gun.
I've used a cardboard barrel. I put a piece of pvc pipe on one side with holes drilled it. Id stack the tires up put the lid on them put the heat gun in the pipe. I used that for about 5 years.
 
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