Thanks everyone for your responses! I did some experimenting this weekend and came up with the following results:
- The Boiling Water Trick -
This method did not work very well for me at all. I tried a full boil for 15 minutes and maybe 15% of the bead un-sealed, and then only partially. I put it back in for another hour and still had to use a knife for more than half of the bead. I see suggestions for boiling overnight, but I feel that if I have to use that much electricity (it'd probably be a buck or two) I may as well take a faster approach.
- The Microwave Oven Trick -
This worked marginally well. One minute is enough to get the tire hot as hell, gets the foam insert hotter, and does a good bit to soften up the CA bond. BUT, it also seems to damage the rubber of the tire if you put it in too much longer. What seems to work is putting one wheel in for one minute facing up, take it out and WEARING HEAVY GLOVES pull the tire away from the rim both front and back until it stops coming off. Then let it cool for a few minutes and then put it back in for 30 seconds facing down. Take it back out and pull the tire away from the rim again until it doesn't come off any more. Repeat. The foam gets lumpy and weird from the microwave so I'd toss it.
- The Acetone Trick -
This worked well but took by far the longest. Get a sealable container (like Tupperware or something that the acetone won't eat through) because the acetone will evaporate if left in the open, and the fumes are horrible. Fill the container up 1/2" deep with acetone then put the wheel in, weighing it down so that it does not float, and close it up air tight. Set a timer for THREE HOURS. After the time is up, remove the wheel and (using rubber gloves) (watch out for the chemical vapors!) pull the tire away from the rim. The acetone does an excellent job of dissolving the CA, leaving it with a consistency of snot, but not sticky, just gooey. Squeeze the acetone out of the foam tire insert back into the container, turn the wheel over so that the opposite side is facing down, add more acetone if necessary, close container and set timer for three hours again. When the time is up, remove tire from container and pull it away from the rim. It should, for the most part come off. You can forget about the foam insert, it expands to about three times its original size. Contrary to what you might think, the acetone does no damage to either the tire or the rim!
- The Conventional Oven Trick -
This worked the best, and most consistently. Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the oven is up to temperature, place the wheel in the oven, on a piece of foil, directly on the rack, with the rack in the middle of the oven. Bake the wheel for 15 minutes, and no more. Remove the wheel from the oven, and wearing HEAVY GLOVES pull the tire away from the rim. The oven actually "bakes" the CA glue so it becomes very brittle, and the tire should separate from the wheel easily. Work both sides of the rim (front and back). Don't force it. If it does not come off entirely, immediately put the wheel back in for 3 to 5 minutes, NO MORE. Remove from the oven and pull the rest of the tire away from the rim. The heat from the oven will not damage the tire, the rim, or the foam, so all three are re-usable if you need to do so.
For these experiments I used two sets (4 individual) of wheels. The tires are Team Losi A-7635s or Panther Switch 2.0s on ProLine 2.2 rims. I'll be using "The Conventional Oven Trick" for the other 20 sets of wheels. It just worked out to be the fastest and most consistent for me. Not to say that the other methods don't work, they do, the oven trick just worked the best for my situation. I think if I'm feeling really picky and want to get all of the dried CA glue that is left on the rims and tires after baking them, I may soak everything in acetone for an hour or two to get them perfect.
Thanks everyone for all the suggestions! I hope that this thread will help others in the future!
Mr.Maim