Off brand tire warmer repair help

[nobasin]

My spare tire warmers are from a shop that had custom branded tire warmers built for them that they no longer sell or support. my rear spare has crapped out and only warms to about 100 degrees and wondering if there is anybody near by who is willing to take a stab at diagnosing and potentially fixing the issue or if they know somebody who would. they are pretty standard warmers with a digital thermostat. exact model as shown in pic. my electrical troubleshooting skills are pretty weak so i need some help. calling rod mattison or equally skilled electrical engineer....

http://www.gravityplanet.com/images/fuel-moto-warmer.jpg

[nobasin]

i'm thinking this isn't even worth the hassle and why bother. moving this to wanted to buy a used one off somebody.

[rybo]

Mike -

Those look to be the "production" warmer that was sold under a large number of brand names over the past 5 or so years. Powerstands was probably the biggest marketer of them, but they came with a lot of different names on them. They aren't really repairable. It's typically a part in the T-Stat that dies and it's not really possible to fix without destroying some other part of the warmer (or T-stat)

Sorry for the bad news

[nobasin]

rybo, you are correct. they are manufactured by sumo moto in china and they brand them for tons of shops and businesses. definitely not worth the hassle i decided and if i can't find a used one i'll just order up a single chickenhawk 3 temp. i have an ancient set of chicken hawks that don't work but they said they would give me some credit for them, so i'll be good to go. woodcraft is repairing my primary rear right now and i'll have it back by next week.

mike

[NossLou]

rybo, you are correct. they are manufactured by sumo moto in china and they brand them for tons of shops and businesses. definitely not worth the hassle i decided and if i can't find a used one i'll just order up a single chickenhawk 3 temp. i have an ancient set of chicken hawks that don't work but they said they would give me some credit for them, so i'll be good to go. woodcraft is repairing my primary rear right now and i'll have it back by next week.

mike

Oh I remember those warmers….I bout a set and they never even made it to the racetrack…not kidding! I used them 4 times at home back when I thought I was king of the canyons on my takeoff slicks and they took a shit before I ever even did a track day. Sold them to some dude in florida who had the same pair from our group buy, and had the front crap out. He had a good rear and I had a good front, don’t ever buy them again, they are garbage!

[bcmoore]

Oh I remember those warmers….I bout a set and they never even made it to the racetrack…not kidding! I used them 4 times at home back when I thought I was king of the canyons on my takeoff slicks and they took a shit before I ever even did a track day. Sold them to some dude in florida who had the same pair from our group buy, and had the front crap out. He had a good rear and I had a good front, don’t ever buy them again, they are garbage!

Nik... you are such a squid!!

[rockerphotographer]

I beg to differ :)

I bought a pair of Powerstands warmers on craigslist that were advertised as "not working" for a little over the cost of shipping.

The warmers themselves are very basic, as are all other warmers.... It's just a heating element that's wound throughout the material, I checked for continuity, good to go for that. It's either one piece or it's not. The thermostat these cheapy warmers come with are throw-aways. I bought an "STC-1000" thermostat (look it up) for around $20 a piece. Replaced the Thermistor inside the warmer with the new one for the stc-1000, wired everything up, works flawlessly.

You can add this thermostat to any warmer out there if you need to.... even the world famous Chicken Hawks.

[NossLou]

Nik... you are such a squid!!

Novice for life! I learn Every day! Squid or not...


I beg to differ :)

I bought a pair of Powerstands warmers on craigslist that were advertised as "not working" for a little over the cost of shipping.

The warmers themselves are very basic, as are all other warmers.... It's just a heating element that's wound throughout the material, I checked for continuity, good to go for that. It's either one piece or it's not. The thermostat these cheapy warmers come with are throw-aways. I bought an "STC-1000" thermostat (look it up) for around $20 a piece. Replaced the Thermistor inside the warmer with the new one for the stc-1000, wired everything up, works flawlessly.

You can add this thermostat to any warmer out there if you need to.... even the world famous Chicken Hawks.

Well there you go, fix the thermostat with a good one... I agree, all they are are a coiled resistance heater with a fancy or no name badge... There however is a reason for good quality in my book. I just don't like fiddling with crummy ones and go flying into a corner thinking the rubber is hot, and find out the expensive and hard way that is was not!

[nobasin]

well, i did get 5 full seasons out of these before the rear crapped out last year. and if it is indeed as simple as wiring in a new high qual thermosat for $20, even i may be capable of trying a fix. new chickenhawk rear with a $50 credit is still $210. i agree though, you don't want to have any doubts about your warmer working or not. last year my woodcraft rear died about an hour before my race right when i turned them from low to high temp, then i was using my spare fuel moto and it didn't come fully up to temp but i didn't discover the error until about 20 minutes before my next race. i got lucky because it was sort of warm, so i as able to slap one on there there i borrowed and get at least some heat into the tires before heading out.

but thinking it over, i'd rather pay $200 for total piece of mind (maiden) then hope that my fix keeps working or is the correct temp. if i need to use a spare, i don't want to be wondering if it is going to work or keep working, especially when the implications of not having your tires at the correct temp (when you think they are) are pretty serious. some of the best advice i got when i started racing is not to skimp on shit and especially safety gear. and tire warmers really are part of your safety in a huge way. at the time when i started racing, fuel moto was (still is) a respected tuning company in wisconsin where i grew up, so i had no reason to doubt the quality of their warmers, as they used them themselves for their super moto team.

[rockerphotographer]

I have a temp gun I use right after I rip off the warmer to make sure.

I'm not a racer, more of a hobbyist, so I don't really need the peace of mind you guys would want. If I WAS a racer, my homemade warmers would be a good back up to my nice chicken hawks no doubt.

I just want people to know that 9 times out of 10, tire warmers are easily repairable.