Oil on tyre :-(

You certainly do not need to replace the tyre

Clean off as much oil as possible with white spirit and scrub all the tyre with some hot soapy water using washing up fluid.

Its worked for me and ridden ok afterwards.

Ian

Only solvent you could lay your hands on? Is there not a tankful conveniently attached to your bike? I've used that one at the roadside before now and no sign of hot soapy water there!

Ian McD

Wouldn't worry too much Mike.

I pulled into a garage on my Fireblade to find rear tyre covered in oil on nearside (had been in a hurry and put too much EP90 on chain!) wiped it off with the blue hand towels supplied at the diesel pump.

Built-up lean angle over the next few miles, after 10miles of twisty road, all ok, oil gone, no dramas.

Best regards,

Chas

Hot water and lots of Fairy Liquid works for me.

Don't all Nortons end up being trailed through spilled oil on the garage floor sooner or later?

Overfilling the oil tank can result in oil all over the back tyre as I have discovered. Gentle cornering is required until it has dispersed. No need to change the tyre. Funnily enough, it's the oils in the rubber that give the tyre grip. You just don't want it to excess.

I was answering GJ to make sure he didn't hog the forum.....some years ago I went to the NOC AGM on my T5 Moto-Guzzi...as we know MG do not leak oil.....so when I arrived I was a bit distressed to find oil over one rear side of the bike and on the rear disc brake....I had just changed the oil. Cleaned it down with the usual paper towels and proceeded home somewhat sedater, no more oil. Odd I thought it must have been the presence of the all those Nortons i the bike park.....turned out that the MG frame has a large central frame tube which is used as an oil/breather separator, it was blocked so any breathing had nowhere to go. The clearing of the breather/separator was fun, disconnect the pipes and feed the air line in one end......fills the garage with emulsive snot!

Long time ago, the oil pipe up to the head broke on my 99. Noticed that it started to skid. Fixed it at a petrol station with a piece of rubber pipe and two jubilee clips. Added some oil in the tank and continued for some 600 miles without problems. Never cleaned the tyre. Didn't push it hard the first 10 miles though.

My rear tyre has a constant drip of cooling oil from my timing chain case. No major dramas!

George

You did the right thing as your best drinking meths is the strongest solvent in common use and will strip oil or tar off of most things as it comes higher up the catalytic cracker than oils. NOT white spirit or paraffin though as they are lower down and leave an oily residue. You should wash it with soap and water afterwards as all of the solvents will react with rubber.

Another brilliant one, especially for cleaning uPVC, is liquid sugar soap.My wife discovered this many years ago when I was trying to clean my white guttering. (I had used white spirit and meths to no avail!) "Lateral thinking" - like using caustic soda to clean alloy castings. "WHAT?" you may ask. It dissolves organic matter and carbon, but don't leave it on too long and only do it outdoors when wearing gauntlet rubber gloves and preferably a face-mask! Dunk it in washing up liquid to stop the reaction.

Previously mike_sullivan wrote:

Bit of a cock up today, adding oil to the tank in my cramped garage & ended up with a spillage on the rear tyre, oil on about1/3 of tyre, mainly on the edges. I Wiped it down and cleaned tyre with meths (only solvent I could lay my hands on). I've just been for a 45 mile ride & things seem ok, but....

Am I just making a date with disaster the next time it rains?

Should I just bite the bullet & replace the tyre? I nee to decide quickly because I'm booked in to the Reivers next week & have to visit aged parent over this BH weekend (plus digging out the lift & getting the bike onto it is going to be a pita in myuntidy, tiny garage!).

Mike