How the f%ck do I get the old glue off the rims? Or do I need to? (According to 1 guy at my lbs, it's not necessary.) I used acetone with not a lot of success. "Goo-gone" seems to work good and I have most of it off that one. The back, which I used acetone on, is still a mess.:confused::mad:

Just knock off the random biggger blobs with a razor knife, leave the rest for a base. No harm, no foul.

Good info here:

Speaking of getting old glue off rims, here's a trick I learned from Mike Walden.
1. Find a plastic jug that can be wedged into your trueing stand.
2. cut the top off and cut out sections so that the wheel can spin freely. The idea is to have the bottom of the rim close to the bottom of the plastic container so that it's submerged in your favorite solvent. stick a couple of playing cards in the spokes.
3. get a fan. set it up so that it blows on the cards and SLOWLY turns the wheel.
4. come back 10-15 minutes later and wipe whatever glue residue remains.
5. I've gotten 100 yr old Clement off rims in 15 minutes this way. (slight exaggeration).
6. I'll take some pics of this rube goldberg method when i get the chance.http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?p=1155987#poststop

I don't have a decent fan, so I just kept the wheel spinning slowly by hand. I found that Goo Gone works as least as well as Acetone or that noxious 3M stuff.

goo gone works pretty well, just keep the wheel spinning so i doesn't drip into the bearings. the best is 'brake clean', horrible stuff found at auto stores. that'll take it off with the least effort.

i find it's ok to leave it, as long as it's not chunky. you can get away with a little more in cross with the tires being so big. but i wouldn't leave huge chunks. as the poster above said, it's likely fine to leave it.

I only remove old glue when there's really too much on there. Usually I cut the big boogers off with a razor knife as mentioned and then fill in the low spots with glue.

The windmill trick sounds good for when it's finally time to get the rim back down to bare metal though.

Okey dokey. I'll leave the back as is (I got some off and it's all kinda uniform) and take the little goobers off the front. I REALLY hope this is worth it....

Well. The deed is done. Not too sloppy. Some glue on the sidewalls and some on the rim (which I got off w/ goo-gone). Not as hard as I imagined.....:thumbsup:

I picked up this trick I will try next time. Put electrical tape on the rims braking surface and the sidewalls of the tire for quick and easy clean up.

Thanks for the tip. A little late for me, tho:p

you can brush on furniture stripper and leave overnight, two applications will have it down to the bare rim, it takes a few days. Lacquer (sp??) thiner is good for getting the glue mistakes off the braking surface, but is very strong stuff so be careful

Good info here:

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?p=1155987#poststop

I don't have a decent fan, so I just kept the wheel spinning slowly by hand. I found that Goo Gone works as least as well as Acetone or that noxious 3M stuff.

I used mineral spirits and the fan. I stuck pieces of a tube box in the spokes. It took about 15 minutes to completely remove the glue. A wipe down with a towel/rag and a secondary cleaning with acetone to remove the mieral spirits residue had them primed for more glue.

I blogged about it here (http://hoyerfamily.com/cyclocross/?p=151)-- with pictures.

In the old days we used lacquer thinner and a rag. I hate to think of all the chemicals my body must have absorbed.