Using silicone glue to repair hardened idler tires?

[Captainclock]

Hello everyone, this is kind of a followup to my thread concerning the use of rubber renue on hardened idler tires.
The other day a buddy of mine who I do repairs for him suggested the idea of trying to use silicone glue spread lightly around the edge of the hardened idler tire to give it grip again, and he said he thought it might be something worth trying because it was something they used to do with the wheels on the old slot cars back in the day to give them more traction on the track when the tires would start wearing out. I'm just curious if any of you guys on here have heard of doing such a thing and think that maybe there might be something to trying this technique on old hardened idler tires to get them up and running again as an alternative to having to pay $40 to ge a rebuilt one (especially for me because I don't have that kind of money to spend right now and I would like to try and get my old Zenith Microtouch up and running again.)