Oil on tires - can they be used after being exposed

Had an oil spill inside my trailer on the way home from vegas last night. :down:

The little tub was hit by something and got knocked over. Oil surrounded the front tire but fortunately didn't run all the way to the back of the trailer to the back tire.


The amount of oil that touched the tire is probably only on 1/10 of the tire's surface.


My guess would be that any oil contact ruins the tire...


Can the tire be used again or is there anything I can do to save a brand new front?

 

Spray 'er with lots of brake clean and let it run off. Should be fine. I don't think the rubber will absord and hold the oil.

 

Xylene..works but lessens the life of the tire drastically.

So not really a total solution.

I am sure opinions would vary here as to the safety factor with this method.

As always, when in doubt --- change the tire.

good luck

 

I've had oil get on street tires and they never did really stick after that. I'm pretty sure the tire will absorb the oil and render it less than safe for racing purposes no matter how you try to clean it.

 

One sure way to find out.

 

Just wipe it off, then quickly go ride it around. Worked for me during a race weekend. I cleaned it quickly before it had time to some what abasorbed. First couple laps were somewhat slow but eventually that oil layer burned away

 

I've been told a few times from different people that Simple Green will do the trick. Never tried it myself...

 

Dawn dishsoap is your friend for any petroleum related spills.

 

the life of our vintage Dunlops are A LOT longer than that of modern tires and i don't know a great deal about the differences in compounds between the two, but i had a leak early last season and it soaked the entire rear wheel. as soon as i got back to the pit i loaded it on the truck (on the rear stand) and started scrubbing the hell out of it with simple green. the oil wasn't on the tire for more that 30 minutes total but i was still leery of how trashed the tire was since it was hot when it got soaked (and i didnt know how much if any had been absorbed into the tire).

i ran two races and two practices on the same tire each weekend at just about every southeast round last year. try the green stuff before you toss the tire. assuming of course it wasnt sitting in the oil for a six hour ride home.


either way......^^^ what Pepe said.

 

+1

We use this at work on the water for spills.

It will make an oil sheen on the lake disappear. Don't know how it does it, but it sure works.

 

Dawn dish soap and or Simple Green. Last year a friend had a spill like this in his trailer. We washed the tire with simple green and he road. No ill affects.(track day, not a race)

 

A friend of mine had her oil filter come loose and sprayed oil all over her rear tire. She noticed the smoke immediately and pulled over. I put the bike in my truck and took it home and promptly wiped it all off with kerosene on a rag.

She continued to put another 2k miles on it and did a track day with zero ill effects.

 

+1 on the kerosene. We had a bunch of oil get on a set of Dunlops on my kids KX65 SM bike. I mean totally covered in oil... so I wiped them down with Coleman fuel just to see if they could be saved. I took it out on the SM track just to see and if 12 inch tires can hold under my 220 pound ass dragging knee with the throttle pinned then I think it works. Used it since then on big bikes and never had a problem. Kinda softens them up a little.

 

Contact cleaner or brake cleaner, a rag and some elbow grease and the tires will be good to go.

 

I once asked our favorite tire vendor, Stickboy, the same question and I believe he said something like," hey eboz you fat ass, don't you know oil is great at finding pores in any material and while you may get it off the surface when a tire heats up it rises back to the surface. What's less expensive, a new set of tires or a trashed bike and a helicoptor ride." Mine got tossed.