hey pete i use to help my dad groove his own race tyres on his dirt speedway car . its a 240v machine with a pistol grip , has adjustiable fitting to determine tread groove width and depth ,that piece heats up enabling to cut through the rubber with a steady push along with the grip . either straight cuts , zig zag , or cross cuts etc . bandag recaps where his favourite or he would groove his own slicks or add extra tread for more traction .rallysport companies maybe able to help you out as to where you can buy the tool .
regards jeff
not as in degrees mate but hot enough as to not make the rubber burn sort of make it soft enough as to let the tool pass through and along the trye with applied pressure
68AutoBugBeetle Restorer - Experience over 138\% - YIKES --
I was working at a car sales place and a fellow used to come around every so often...
I can't remember what the tool looked like but He used to hook it up to a car battery....
I presume every tyre shop would have had one of these back in the "olden" days.... of tyre grooving....
Maybe You could use a 60-80 watt soldering iron and shape the bit to cut/melt thru the rubber....
the smell mightn't be too good...:P:P:P
You could probably make Your own rubber cutting bit...
Soldering irons aren't too expensive these days...
I buy mine from dick smiths usually....
Lee
- Helping keep Air Cooled VWs on the road - location: SCONE in the Upper Hunter Valley - Northern NSW 320 kms NNW of SYDNEY---
I spent years doing this for motor sport tyres with the right tools, and I think it would be a hard job to make a homemade tool. The right tool is about $500 so don’t spend more then that…….lol. A grooving gun heats a blade that’s about 1mm x 4mm thick so red hot that if it not moving though the tyre it will blow like a fuse. I do still have a gun that I use on race tyres, so I can send a blade or two to you for this new toy your going to try to build.
Craig Torrens6 times Australian, 7 times State Hillclimb Class Champion
as suggested above... avoid burning the rubber - you only need to soften it. I used to work where the base rubber for car tyres was made (before the carbon black is added to make them black) and the chemicals that go in are quite nasty. Most are either listed as proven or probable carcinogens. (cancer causing agents)
see.... air and water do mix 😉
1974 1300
1997 MK3 Golf GL
2003 NB Cabrio
2012 Golf VI GTI
2014 Audi A4 Quattro
you would still get some burning because of the high speed cutting blade. what you need is something like a lathe cutting tool that will cut the rubber while it is cold or warm. Is the tyre you wanna cut bald or still has tread on it?
see.... air and water do mix 😉
1974 1300
1997 MK3 Golf GL
2003 NB Cabrio
2012 Golf VI GTI
2014 Audi A4 Quattro
a circular saw 'digs' too much and rips up the belts.
so 'a mate told me'
(blush)
kicks like a right wench when it does too!
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blutopless2 wrote:I used to work where the base rubber for car tyres was made (before the carbon black is added to make them black) and the chemicals that go in are quite nasty. Most are either listed as proven or probable carcinogens. (cancer causing agents)
If you chain smoke (like myself) while getting in the groove, that would probably cancel out the side-effects associated with burning rubber.:thumb
Remember kiddies...Tobbcco BAD🙅....Burnin' rubber....FUN!!!👍
-Adam.
If you can't fix it with a hammer,
you have an electrical problem....
i havent had a go at regrooving my tyres but last time (2 years + ago!) i was at the tyre shop getting tyres put on rims (i take the wheels down without the car so the tyre guys dont have to get nervous about 205s on 4.5" front rims not 31x10.5R15's on 10" rear rims which is a match some of them get touchy about).
anyway i was mentioning that these rear rims were off my "off road" buggy and the tyre guy said, well, if thats the case, we could groove these rear tyres up a bit, dissapears into the back of the shed and comes out with a dusty regroover that they dont use anymore and offered me to use it in his shop if i wanted. so, they are out there. have an ask around the more friendy tyre guys.
