What creative uses do you have for old innertubes and tires? I’m a DIY kind of guy, and both of these things seem like nifty raw material for various projects and hacks. And I’ve got at least one of each that aren’t really suitable for service any longer. The rest of this post is more or less a list of things I know about or have been thinking about.
I know that an old innertube can be cut up into many patches for patching other tubes.
Years ago, I used the valve stem section and a blank section of innertube, with hose clamps, to pressurize a car radiator (removed from car) to find a leak to repair it. Is the valve stem part of the tube useful for anything else, other than removing the valve core to have as a spare?
I’ve seen where folks have wrapped a tube around a grab bar to improve grip or make it softer or something. I don’t have such a handle, but it’s the sort of use I’m asking about.
I was reading where you can use a piece of tire sidewall to patch a hole in a tire to keep it from opening up and spreading more or less as you would patch a tube, but from the inside. It’s not a long term thing, but maybe enough to eek some more life out of a tire that is not worn out yet or until you order and receive a new tire.
I’m thinking about wrapping some innertube around my lift handle to keep my uni from skittering so far if I UPD off the front. I don’t know how well that would hold up or how effective it would be. Maybe a piece of tire would be better. I don’t know how I’d do the same for the rear bumper, other than contact cement. I’d kind of like this to be reversible.
I juggle bottles, not for the danger aspect, but because I like the weight and form factor. They’re like a cross between clubs and (heavy) balls. I cover them in duct tape, but they still break. I was thinking maybe one or more layers of innertube and maybe even some tire in certain spots could reduce breakage. It might make them too heavy, though. And I’d have to figure out how to keep the rubber on. Rubber cement is an option, I guess. Or just another layer of duct tape. Heck, maybe the rubber could make plastic bottles jugglable by adding mass. No amount of rubber is likely to protect glass bottles from drops on pavement while still letting them be shaped like bottles, but maybe it will help with collisions, which is where most of my breakage has occurred.
Juggling club handle wrap for grippiness and a little bit of cushion. Cheaper than tennis/golf grip tape, and much wider.
I have the stock plastic pedals on my road uni. Not pinned, just those molded cleat things. The reason for that is more than I should go into here. Maybe some tire tread attached to the pedals would help grip a little? It’s still not going to be great in the wet, but maybe rubber on rubber will be better than rubber on plastic. Or maybe not, I haven’t tried it. The pedals are mostly fine for road, but I find my feet twist on them if it’s wet.
Tire tread cut out in the shape of shoe soles and glued on. I’ve seen this done, but I don’t recall whether car tire or cycle tire was used. The cycle tires I have are narrow enough that two strips would probably have to be glued on side by side. The thinner cycle tires, besides being something I have, would yield a less clunky (heavy and thick) result. This is for shoes that I use for riding and for yard work, so fashion isn’t exactly an imperative. These shoes already sport a few duct tape bodges for prophylaxis and repair.
