Author Topic: burning old tires!  (Read 4430 times)

FirePaddle

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burning old tires!
« on: December 05, 2017, 07:27:50 PM »
well, not really...

I live where it snows, and we have a large driveway to plow, so I own a 1995 ATV, which I maintain myself. The front tires were very dry rotted, so I purchased new used tires for the front, and took the tires into the tire shop to have the new tires mounted, but after 45 minutes of trying to break the bead on the old tires off the rim, even using the semi tire machine, they failed. I took them home, cut the tires off, but the tire bead was fused to the rim. Soaking in gasoline did nothing to make them budge. I was faced with having to find new rims, but then I thought, why not just burn them off! I tried a torch first, but they would not stay lit, so I made a nice pallet bonfire and threw the rims on there! 10 minutes later, all that remained was the metal strands from the bead! I cooled them off and cleaned them off, and plan to give them a coating of rustoleum tonight. Good as new!

I figured this saved me about $100 and about a month of looking for used rims of the correct size.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: burning old tires!
« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2017, 08:00:20 PM »
I don't know much about metallurgy, but isn't there a chance that affected the strength of the rims?? Seems dangerous to me =\

ducky19

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Re: burning old tires!
« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2017, 06:39:24 AM »
It's possible that it could have affected the strength and potentially even the shape of the rim, but if he's just using the ATV for plowing his drive I think he should be fine. Now if he's playing around out in the fields with it hitting higher speeds, I might be a little worried.

soccerluvof4

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Re: burning old tires!
« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2017, 07:35:18 AM »
Depending on what you put on the fire your typical fire if my memory serves me right for wood/paper runs 450-500 F  Aluminum melts again I believe 1200 F and Steel 1500+ so should be ok BUT not something I probably would recommend doing and dont hold me to those numbers.  The color of the flame tells you alot to the temperature as well. Based on the picture I dont see much blue so probably not that hot of a fire. Interesting op has fire in his name!

FirePaddle

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Re: burning old tires!
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2017, 12:59:32 PM »
I live dangerously, except not with my investments or insurance coverage! They are steel rims, no noticeable damage, they were only in there for about 10 minutes, and yes, I only use it to plow our driveway. It was a last resort, and I was willing to have them be destroyed if it didn't work as planned, as they were basically useless with the fused bead on there anyway. It was a surprise that it worked out so well!

Syonyk

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Re: burning old tires!
« Reply #5 on: December 07, 2017, 04:45:42 PM »
I live dangerously, except not with my investments or insurance coverage! They are steel rims, no noticeable damage, they were only in there for about 10 minutes, and yes, I only use it to plow our driveway. It was a last resort, and I was willing to have them be destroyed if it didn't work as planned, as they were basically useless with the fused bead on there anyway. It was a surprise that it worked out so well!

I'm sure they're fine.

And an awesome example of, "If it's already broken, you can't possibly make it worse." :)  They were scrap, so nothing you do will make them more scrap than they started as, but you might solve the problem!

JLee

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Re: burning old tires!
« Reply #6 on: December 07, 2017, 06:31:56 PM »
Depending on what you put on the fire your typical fire if my memory serves me right for wood/paper runs 450-500 F  Aluminum melts again I believe 1200 F and Steel 1500+ so should be ok BUT not something I probably would recommend doing and dont hold me to those numbers.  The color of the flame tells you alot to the temperature as well. Based on the picture I dont see much blue so probably not that hot of a fire. Interesting op has fire in his name!

Steel can change under heat wayyyyy before it melts.   According to wikipedia, tires won't burn until they've been at 750°f for several minutes.  Assuming the rubber surrounding the steel did in fact burn off, it was pretty hot!

Fortunately we aren't talking about knife blades here, or wheels that are used at highway speed...

jacksonvasey

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Re: burning old tires!
« Reply #7 on: December 21, 2017, 02:35:53 PM »
I have to wonder how you cooled the wheels.  If you let them air-cool, that's probably okay, but if you doused them with water they could be more brittle now, and more likely to crack catastrophically on a hard bump.

FirePaddle

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Re: burning old tires!
« Reply #8 on: December 21, 2017, 02:48:26 PM »
very scientifically. I took them out, placed them vertically on the snow, and let them mostly air cool, aside from the part melting in the snow...

They are freshly painted with rustoleum with new/used tires installed and have plowed twice with them, and I'm still up $100 and haven't died yet!

soccerluvof4

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Re: burning old tires!
« Reply #9 on: December 21, 2017, 03:04:12 PM »
very scientifically. I took them out, placed them vertically on the snow, and let them mostly air cool, aside from the part melting in the snow...

They are freshly painted with rustoleum with new/used tires installed and have plowed twice with them, and I'm still up $100 and haven't died yet!


Good to know!

Leisured

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Re: burning old tires!
« Reply #10 on: December 27, 2017, 04:36:01 AM »
I am frugal with cars, except when it comes to tires and brakes, Safety matters. Keep brakes well maintained, and buy new tires. 

nick663

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Re: burning old tires!
« Reply #11 on: December 30, 2017, 10:52:06 AM »
Depending on what you put on the fire your typical fire if my memory serves me right for wood/paper runs 450-500 F  Aluminum melts again I believe 1200 F and Steel 1500+ so should be ok BUT not something I probably would recommend doing and dont hold me to those numbers.  The color of the flame tells you alot to the temperature as well. Based on the picture I dont see much blue so probably not that hot of a fire. Interesting op has fire in his name!

Steel can change under heat wayyyyy before it melts.   According to wikipedia, tires won't burn until they've been at 750°f for several minutes.  Assuming the rubber surrounding the steel did in fact burn off, it was pretty hot!

Fortunately we aren't talking about knife blades here, or wheels that are used at highway speed...
Yep.  Powercoating can change the temper of aluminum wheels and it's done at 200C.

Slow&Steady

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Re: burning old tires!
« Reply #12 on: January 04, 2018, 07:57:56 AM »
Just wanted to say that burning old tires is really not good environmental practice and is generally not recommended unless you are a facility that has the appropriate emission control devices installed. 

Burning tires creates a lot of air quality issues.  Your title made me think you were burning whole tires but I guess there was probably not much of the tire left on the rim when you put it into the fire.
« Last Edit: January 04, 2018, 08:22:42 AM by Slow&Steady »

soupcxan

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Re: burning old tires!
« Reply #13 on: January 04, 2018, 07:58:42 AM »
Thanks for not giving a shit about the air the rest of us breathe!

Syonyk

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Re: burning old tires!
« Reply #14 on: January 04, 2018, 09:44:28 AM »
Thanks for not giving a shit about the air the rest of us breathe!

Yeah, that tiny bit of rubber left on the bead burning off is totally a problem compared to having to get entirely new rims stamped.

(a large rolleyes goes here)

acroy

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Re: burning old tires!
« Reply #15 on: January 04, 2018, 10:10:10 AM »
LOL, awesome. Glad it worked.

MMM: where redneckery meets frugality.

FirePaddle

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Re: burning old tires!
« Reply #16 on: January 04, 2018, 03:49:08 PM »
LOL, awesome. Glad it worked.

MMM: where redneckery meets frugality.

Now that's the response I was looking for!

BTW, not whole tires at all, just a bit of rubber, the title was clickbait!