Several weeks ago I glued new Vittoria Corsa EVO CX tires to new Zipp 404 tubular rims using Mastik One glue. After flatting my rear tire in a race over the weekend I pulled the tire off the rim last night. The tire did not pull off cleanly – the residue left on the rim is a combination of Mastik One glue and that funky Vittoria base tape latex coating, as the latex coating had generally pulled clean off of the base tape (i.e. the cloth base tape on the Vittoria tire is now completely exposed). I assume this indicates there was a solid bond between the tire and the rim and that the glue job was done properly. In any event, now that there is this combination of Mastik One glue and base tape latex coating residue left on the rim, do I have to completely clean the rim with Goof-Off before gluing a new tire or can I simply reglue over the residue following the appropriate procedure for mounting tubular tires to used tubular rims? Since completely stripping the residue off the rim is such a time consuming and messy job I cannot imagine it is done every time someone flats a Vittoria tubular tire. Or is it?
I’d just clean off the areas where there is Vittoria tire left. I’d not clean off the glue only areas.
BTW, How much glue did you use?
I would only scrape off the areas with the tire still adhering with an old butter knife. I would not bother with a solvent as this would entail removing all the glue regluing that part of the rim.
Also see this from Leonard Zinn, Velonews:
http://www.velonews.com/tech/report/articles/7975.0.html
For future reference, it seems we should be scraping the latex layer on high-end Vittoria tubs before gluing. I wasn’t aware of this until recently and had been using CXs for years. Never had an adhesion problem, in fact, they were murder to get off.
I applied two thin coats on the rim each allowed to dry overnight and then one final thin coat on the rim just prior to mounting. I also applied one thin coat on the base tape and allowed it to dry overnight. Additionally, I followed Zinn’s suggestion of scraping the Vittoria base tape latex coating prior to applying any glue.
The problem is that probably 80% or more of the rim surface has leftover Vittoria latex bonded to the Mastik’One glue. Just cleaning the latex portion would essentially entail cleaning the entire rim. But since I use these wheels for crits and road races I would like to make sure the regluing job is done properly to minimize any chances of rolling a tire. Thanks.
I have always just glued right over the old Vittoria latex… it has never been a problem. Try glueing the tire back on and then after a day test the joint.
Ron
The problem is that probably 80% or more of the rim surface has leftover Vittoria latex bonded to the Mastik’One glue.
Probably why Mastik One is considered by many to be the top rated tubular glue! I used Tufo’s extreme tubular glue tape when I rode Tufo’s but when I switched to Veloflex tires recently, I also started using Mastik One per Leonard Zinn’s advice. I did not want to risk having tufo glue tape residue mixing with the Mastik One so I used Goof Off to remove all the glue residue and then applied the ‘3-layer’ process and I have been curious about what happens when the time comes to again change out tires. I seem to recall reading somewhere that heating the glue residue with a heat gun set on low heat or even a blow dryer can soften the glue residue, making it a little easier to remove the residue from a previous tire but have no first hand experience with it. Something to consider, when first applied, Mastik One seems to have similar qualities similar to a solvent in that it also seems to soften the previous layer somewhat. For that reason I think there might be some merit to the previous posters idea of applying another layer of glue over the old Vittoria’s latex base tape residue. The Mastik should soften up the latex/glue residue allowing the new layer of glue to adhere to the previous layer and the end result being that the next time you repeat the process, you will have two tires worth of residue to contend with instead of one (grin)!
I posted on this topic a handful of days back, but just in case you didn’t see it:
Vittoria is coming out with a latex tubular sealant kit specific for flat repair of their tubulars that have latex tubes like your Corsa CX. It is supposed to be out sometime around September, so you might not want to throw your several week old tire out just yet. If the puncture is relatively small, this might work for you and save your almost new tire.
Just thought I’d pass this on.
That is probably what I will end up doing after removing some of the bigger chunks of glue/residue to smooth out the surface as much as possible. It also looks like there are a couple of air pockets that formed between the left over latex coating stuck to the rim and the original glue. Seems prudent to scrape those things out a bit to promote a stronger bond between the new glue and tire. Thanks for all the advice!