How to make RC tires smoke

How to make RC tires smoke

For a tire to ignite, it needs to be heated to at least 400 Celsius for some time. The physical act of burning the tire not only releases the petroleum products used in its manufacture. But it also releases a cocktail of toxic chemicals that includes benzene, lead, and even more esoteric toxins such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, all of which are extremely dangerous to breathe. It’s this concoction of burning oils and chemicals that create the thick, dark cloud of smoke when a tire combusts.

In a burnout, the tire spins rapidly on the tarmac, creating friction, and so heat, through the temperatures reached, is well short of what’s needed to ignite it. The heat produced from the abrasive spinning action oxidizes certain compounds within the rubber, which vaporize and are released as white smoke.

The secret to creating colored burnout smoke is to introduce particular compounds into the raw rubber that vaporize in a glowing plume at the temperatures produced during a burnout

The way to do perfect burnout with your car

Initially, the exhaustion was done before drag racing cars. Their tire works best at a higher temperature, and burnout is the quickest way to raise the tire’s temperature. Besides, this process helps to get off debris, which affects traction. Exhaustion is performed before every race in the water box. This is an area filled with water, which reduces friction, which makes it easier to achieve a burnout.

Burnout has become its discipline in the automotive scene. Particularly in Australia, but in North America, these contests are viral. When it comes to choosing the winner, the jury judges the performance, and also the crowd response is a significant influence.

Burnout sounds easy. When the tires are spinning and smoking till the tread is gone, the crowd goes crazy.

It sounds like a simple job, but it takes a lot of practice to master.

6 step for perfect burn out

The tools needed are a car, a right foot that is well trained to push the throttle to the ground, and friends that love a spectacle. For people outside, it’s fun, and the person inside requires a lot of concentration to perform these steps.

1. The traction controls off. Otherwise, the car will prevent the tires from spinning, and much-excited burnout will end in embarrassment.
2. Putting in first gear. Left foot on the clutch. This prevents the car from moving.
3. Roaring the engine and putting enough pressure on the throttle, so the tachometer hits around 3000 to 3500 RPM.
4. Releasing the clutch, which gets the tires spinning.
5. Pushing the brake immediately. Otherwise, the car is going to accelerate quickly and probably uncontrollably.
6. Getting the rubber smoking, for stopping the burnout, you need to release the throttle and to push the clutch.

The other option is to release the brake and use the burnout as a start. This requires to let the tire spin to drive away. This will be impressive to police officers at the traffic light.

A step further

It’s time to go one step further since you mastered the burnout. Burnout means the car is on a standstill while the tire spins. But the rubber can be burning while the car is spinning in circles. This maneuver is called a donut.

A donut is a sharp corner taken at full throttle. So instead of starting by revving the engine at a standstill, the donut begins slowly. Then turning the steering wheel to one side will perform a donut when hitting the throttle. The reason most donuts flop is because the throttle wasn’t pushed hard enough. The essential part of doing a donut is finding an open spot where no one can be hurt

How tires end up in smoke.

The aim of completing a burnout or a donut successfully is to overcome the grip of the road. Therefore two things are necessary: a narrow tire to lower the friction and high powered engine to produce enough force to exceed the remaining resistance. The power to weight ratio also affects your chances of getting the wheel spinning. If the torque force of the tire is more than the weight of the car, then the tire will not grip the road causing them to spin and create smoke instead of propelling the vehicle forward.

As soon as the wheels are turning, the tires start to heat up and smoke. The reason is that the chemicals in the tread vaporize, plus the steam resulting from nearby moisture. This wears away the tread very quickly until the tire inflates suddenly. Stopping the burnout after reaching this point prevents damaging the car severely. After exhaustion, you will need to buy new tires.

Inhaling tire smoke

Exposure to fine particles and most other chemicals in tire fire occurs by inhaling the smoke. Smoke from the tire is very irritating. Your eyes, nose, and throat are the immediate health effect following exposure. More exposure may cause persistent cough, wheezing, and breathing difficulties. People with heart and lung problems, children expectant women, and those over 65 years of age are more sensitive to the effects of breathing in smoke.

If you inhale smoke without having any symptoms, no adverse effects would be expected. Irritation to eyes, nose, and throat will go after the fire is controlled. In case you exposed to the high level of smoke from the fire, fire breathing difficulties could develop or recur later, which you are advised to seek medical help.

One time exposure to tire smoke is not likely to cause a long term effect. The risk of exposure to chemicals in smoke is estimated to be small in comparison to everyday exposure to these chemicals from other sources.

The chemical released in smoke from a tire

Tires fire produces large amounts of fine particles and, in some cases, sulfur dioxide. Other chemicals are carbon monoxide, metal polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organic carbon, polychlorinated biphenyls, phenols, dioxins, chlorine, and furans.