Lets talk tires

[aMawds]

So I've been racing at J & S Hobbies in Western Washington lately. Pretty new to the game, starting with a Turnigy brand 8th scale buggy that did surprisingly well but the motor didn't hold up and adjustments were fairly limited. I decided to buy a truggy from one of the posters here, an Ofna X1. This thing is great, and I'm getting a lot of practice in on the rare occasion that I have a day off that lines up with a day that it's sunny.

The track is medium-hard packed with some soft spots. It is typically a bit "wet" in the morning, then loosens and dries out around noon. For this reason I want to pick at least two good starting sets so I can start dialing this thing in. It's currently wearing a set of Proline Crime Fighters that I need to replace the ruined foams in. They seem to do just fine all around but appear to be better suited for the mornings when the ground is a bit more held together. I plan to simply replace the foams in these with some closed cells from sweep racing, where I plan to pick up a second set of premounts for the dryer days. Currently looking at the exagons strictly for when the ground is perfectly dry. Thoughts?

 

[Nitro Nerd]

Sweep Square Armors. ;-)
Also, is it cool if the Mods move this to the racing forum? I asked one of them but was notified you have to okay it. That makes sense so wanted to see if you are good with it.

We're trying to get that forum started, and this is a perfect post for it! ;-)

 

[jose.28]

Man your track conditions are the same as mine.
Crime fighters are my best friend in the morning!
I've tryed a set of aka ibeams when it dryed out and they did very well.

 

[aMawds]

Thought I posted this in the Truggy section and it somehow ended up in the buggy section when I'm referring to my X1 truggy. But yeah, definitely move it to the racing section. Didn't even notice the new section

 

[WoodiE]

Thought I posted this in the Truggy section and it somehow ended up in the buggy section when I'm referring to my X1 truggy. But yeah, definitely move it to the racing section. Didn't even notice the new section

Moved to Racing forum.

 

[Snook Man]

Good bite in the mornings I like PL Hole Shots, after the sun dry’s it out a bit I switch to PL Bow Ties.

Observing/asking what the fast guys at the track are running is usually the best way to pick your shoes for each particular track.

 

[aMawds]

Most of the guys at the track run buggies, and only once in a while do I make it to a day nice enough that the truggy guys come out. Once the sun is out more often up here asking what they run will be an option. I think I'll probably snatch up Exagons since the square armors look a lot like the tires I already have and I want to try a more complex tread pattern. Then it'll be tuning time. Haven't touched any of the fluids yet

 

[jose.28]

Good bite in the mornings I like PL Hole Shots, after the sun dry’s it out a bit I switch to PL Bow Ties.

Observing/asking what the fast guys at the track are running is usually the best way to pick your shoes for each particular track.

I gave those hole shots a try a week ago.......well lets just say I ordered a set right away lol. Loved them

 

[Nitro Nerd]

What are guys at your track running? As Snook Man said, just find the pattern that the fast guys are using and stay within those parameters. Or....just do what I do and buy a crap-load of used tires from eBay and test out everything you can. I'm typically the guy who runs a completely different tire setup than the rest of the field...but if I everyone is running Impacts/Tazers/Enduros (as an example) and for whatever reason I run better with CityBlocks...that's what I use. Of course I suck at driving, but I know what works with my setup. ;-)

Aside from Square Armor, the other truggy tire I like are those JConcepts Sevens Half-ups

 

[jose.28]

Glued up the hole shots

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[Nitro Nerd]

Man, that's straight-up perfect (from what i can see). Could never glue that well (just don't have the patience).

 

[jose.28]

Lol I used black tire glue.......sand paper is needed afterwards to sand off the extra glue. This pic is actually right before gluing lol but dont look much different afterwards.

 

[aMawds]

Decided to stick with my current tires, replacing the foam since they seemed to be bunching up. They're damn open cells and looking decent, but they were starting to break apart. I then bought some... stuff. Decided I want the buggy back on the track so I can have my two rigs, the whole point of buying that truggy in the first place. For that, I needed a motor. Hyper .21 3 port "turbo" which is not a turbo button head motor, but a motor with a little turbine fan in the crank to keep the mixture whipped up I assume. Either way, heard they scream. Picked up some cheap tower pro servo's as well since I'm really on a budget and that buggy is probably not even worth such an expensive motor, even if it did seem to handle the track competitively.

Back on topic though, screw tire dismounting. I tried the boil method. No go. Gonna try the bake method now since nobody else is going to be home for a few hours and it's nice enough outside that I can open all the windows to keep it from stinking up the whole house. I got the first foam out only after spending an hour slowly cutting the bead from the rim and working the foam out from there. New closed cell foams from sweep racing will replace them. These tires still have 80% tread left. They were run once when I got them, but I did get the foams wet at some point. This is why I hate open cell. I run in a very wet climate and sometimes can't wait till it's sunny and dry out just to do a quick shake down test after a rebuild.

 

[aMawds]

Baking worked. There was some tape inside the tire, the packing tape with stringy threads bedded in the tape for balloon control. That tape had bunched up on one side of the tire messing up the foam on that part, causing massive balance issues and in the case of the worst tire, took a bite out of the foam and moved it to another part of the tire. New closed cells on the way. Next pay check I'll likely order a new set of truggy tires and likely a set for the soon to be revived buggy as well.