I thought I had read somewhere on this Forum about using washing up liquid to aid slipping rubber over etc, glass - but I cannot find it.

In the August issue of Practical Classics, there is a letter saying washing up liquid is high in salt and if used will leach out to the metal and rust will appear. Use ordinary hand soap.

I use talculm powder for slipping things involving rubber (stand back, here come the off topic comments...).

Talculm powder is also very good for drying your feet and hands when you come out of the sea and want to get rid of the sand etc. - It is holiday time -.

Sandy

How do we stand on using fairy liquid for fitting tyres?

I found a little lubrication essential (no rude comments please) to let the beads "slip" over?


Steve.

Use it every time.

However, if you squirt some into an open jar and just leave it, in time it goes from a liquid to a paste which is even better for fitting tyres as it stays where you put it and doesn't run all over the place.

STEVE

I gave up using washing up liquid and soft soap when I was struggling to fit a governor plug to a cable at work. The grommet just wouldn't go on the cable then I thought why not use the clear silicon grease we use on 'O' rings-the grommet slid on beautifully. I don't know who makes it but it makes fitting and removing tyres, windscreen rubbers etc a piece of cake because it stays on the rubber and doesn't dry it out like washing up liquid. Use gloves because it takes ages to wash it off. Dave

When I worked in the electronics industry we used something called "Hellerman sleeving". I think from memory it may have been neoprene or something like that? It was used in conjunction with a lubricant that I beleive may have been supplied for the purpose by Hellerman, as well as a rather painfull set of tri-pronged pliers!
If this was available it would be amazing for fitting rubbery things, perhaps some of our engineering contributors know of its exsistence still?

Steve

p.s Hellerman factory is located in Plymouth, so perhaps some local enquiries will shed some light?

Ambersil Ltd, Bridgwater, Somerset, do a 400 ml aerosol - AM54 Multipurpose XG250 Silicone Grease, described as - 'preserves rubber against hardening or cracking'.

Most lubricant suppliers (Millers, Morris etc. etc.) do a silicone grease. If you just want a bit, however, try the local Builders merchant or DIY place. They sell it in small tubs for lubricating joints on plastic gutter fittings to make them easier to assemble.

STEVE

There are snags associated with all the products mentioned so far. The salt content of washing up liquid is indeed very high and continues to absorb water and promote corrosion even after you think its all dried up. Talc (french chalk) works to an extent and is very good to dust tubes with to prevent sticking to tyres. Silicone products are very slippery and remain so for a very long time so if you fit windscreens with it you find the glass sinks under gravity to the bottom of the channel over time. Better to use the waxy paste stuff professional tyre fitters use. I have seen this advertised on the web but the smallest size is 5Kg. It would take me about 5000 years to use as much as that!

I have been using Waxoyl to fit tyres and all things rubber for about 10 years now. It lubricates well and the residue actually prevents corrosion. It appears to to have no effect on the rubber and when dry it forms a grippy surface so the glass doesn't sink in the frame. It can also be removed easily unlike silicone grease. If you put silicon grease on tyres it gets all over the rims and then if you try to paint them, even years later you will find the paint dries in craters. Avoid silicone contamination like the plague!

Martin

CASTROL do a 'Red Rubber Grease' - 'special rubber compatible grease for use on hydraulic brake and clutch components where hardening or swelling must be avoided' available in 500gm tins at £5.25p + vat.

I agree with this. As far as I know, silicon grease etc has no known solvents. Once your paintwork is contaminated, you have it forever.

Why not just rocket up to your friendly tyre fitter with a wee jar, and ask nicely for a splash of the 5kg stuff?

Cheers,
DG

Hi, My hand is better now! I use a Silicon spray to help the fitting of window rubbers etc. When I fit tyres I use thinned WAXOYL as a lubicant and Its rust inhibiting properties protect the rim where the tyre grips the well base( how many of those have you seen rusted through?).Incidently when fitting hose a smear round the inside to ensure no aluminium corrosion and easy removal.

.

As usual Dennis has come up with the obvious answer! And it works!!

I have some spokes to change prior to MOT, and thus need to remove a tyre wall for access. I have just been to the local tyre mongers with an old ice cream tub, and for a contribution to the tea swindle he filled it up for me.

What a nice man.


Mike

I just picked this up in the middle, but Hellerman Pliers aka honeymoon pliers are still available, made by Facom, rather prosaically known as Facom sleeving pliers, Facom tools do not come cheap, about £100! but are readily available from good tool merchants.

Hope this is useful

kind regards

Jezus fellas isnt this taking life a little too far?,

My father has been using washing up liquid on my mums austin's wheels and tyres simce I was 3 months old. I am now 28, the wheels are not rusty yet!.

About 5 years ago, when I was a poor student I was given a pair of very old and second hand tyres to fit my Fordson N industrial tractor. The tyres were rock hard with no give, but were better than the rotten ones I had.

Washing up liquid was no good as it leached into the porus rubber. So what I did was to buy a big box of SIMPLE soap bars, probably about 6 or 8 bars. While my land lady was out (David knows the place in Hillmorton-Rugby) I cooked them up slowly in her biggest saucepan with a slug of water. After about 30 minuites of simmering it produced a fairly thick slippery slop. Once cooled it set to the consistency of the garage stuff you guys mention, and could be painted onto the tyre and rim with a stiff brush, and eased the job tremendously.

On a domestic note, my land lady asked me afterwards how I got her saucepan so clean. I never told her.