I am ditching my Tufos for Deda Tre Olimpicos. A friend and I did a coasting test and his Zipp 303 / Deda Tre Olimpico rolled much faster than my American Classics with the same rim but Tufos. No matter what speed his was faster, and noticeably so. Even at slow speed when I am heavier and aerodynamics is not a big factor. I thought 10-15 watt loss for tire differences was unrealistic but now I am not so sure!
Any recommendations on removing the tufo tape residue from carbon tubular rims? I am using acetone but it is barely making a difference - it will be a lot of elbow grease to get it off.
Is Isopropyl alcohol a better choice? I am worried about going to another solvent (Toluene or Xylene) as that may damage my rims.
I want to use Vittoria Mastic 1 and I don’t want any contamination or glue compatibility issues with the tufo residue. Thanks in advance.
Man, I apologize, I have no good recommendations except to say it is very difficult to get it all off. Based on my experience it simply takes patience and determination.
I recently had to remove some old glue from my hed wheels and tried acetone. The stuff just wasn’t working so I took it up a notch and used laquer thinner. Worked much better. I was just real careful to only get it on the aluminum rim. So far everything seems okay, but it has only been two weeks and one race Good luck
I took mine off last week (aluminum rim). At first, I tried various solvents (alcohol, goo gone), but none seemed to work. I decided to suck it up and “roll” the residue off with my fingers. When my fingers were nice and raw, I tried the same “technique” with a thin t-shirt, which didn’t work well because the residue would eventually smear instead of roll into a ball. Once it’s smeared on the rim, it’s much harder to get off (small grain sandpaper helped).
I hope you have strong hands and lots of patience, 'cause that’s what it took for me to get it all off.
I’m in the same boat. Carbon rims - canNOT get the glue off. Getting it off the tires is even harder, because you can’t use any kind of solvent - the tire will absorb it. My question is, how much do you have to get off? Can you reglue on top of some old glue? or will it not adhere?
I’m only in this boat because of the crappy Problem Solvers valve extenders. I don’t recommend 'em, FWIW.
I asked someone and they said Isopropyl alcohol worked well - so I will try that. The acetone is working but slowly and I need to really scrub it off.
I don’t see how you can remove it from the tire. You’ll just have to go for it and take solace that the tape residue is not all over the tire base tape so you will at least have some uncontaminated glue joint.
With work, I managed to remove the residue from the tires except for two very narrow strips that cover the entire circumference of each tire. I gave up and slapped two coats of glue on the tires. I’ll put them on the wheels (three coats of glue) this weekend and see what happens.
Good luck