Tire and Foam Question

[YDBD]

Trying to figure out tire and foam questions in my head.

I get tread patterns but what about tire compound?

Right now I have the stock Caster tires and foams and then a variety from Keith....

Soft for what track conditions?

Hard for what track conditions?

Same with foam...

Soft for what track conditions?

Hard for what track conditions?

What are recommended combos?

Any comments on shape? Flat vs. round...

I know it affects grip what about suspension? Like extra bounce...

Thanks,

[YDBD]

On second thought-maybe that was too much to handle....and everyone but me was busy racing...

What did everyone run in the last race and on what track conditions and give them a 1-5 rating...

[peasey]

I personally always run medium compound tires. This is why. A soft tire will roll over in the corner. yes it will give you better traction on grooved track but will be inconstant. A firmer tire will give close to the same amount of traction not wear as fast and be more consistent. I run panther tires with the grey foam most of the time Hope this helps

[badassrevo]

I run Ofna yellow foam in all my tires.
I run M3 Proline and soft or clay Panther, pink and red Losi.

[Deznuts05]

Here's my scoop on things:

"I get tread patterns but what about tire compound?"

Hard, great for pretty much nothing but bashing go straight to Med of Soft.

Med, like Mr. Peasey said more consistent, last longer, and can feel the track better. Best for Long Mains and Qualifiers all for the reasons above.

Soft, more grip over all but will wear quickly depending on surface and trigger finger. Best for Short Mains and rocket rounds. Not good for learning the track or your pockets ($$$).

"Right now I have the stock Caster tires and foams and then a variety from Keith...."

Not 110% sure what tires you have but with my 1.5r Kit I got soft and soft. Which are great for loamy surface and blown' out tracks.

Now, if you change the foams to something more firm I would still apply them for the same track however you will get different feel. I want to say more of a stable push then bite feel. I'm just speculating since my local tracks are all hard packed clay and thet stock foams and tires did not hook up or would last.

"Same with foam..."

Think of foams like air in a bicycle tire. The less air (soft) you have in the tire the more grip you'll have in a straight line, however once you begin to turn it will roll over onto the rim.

Same principle with alot of air in your tire (hard), less traction moving forward however more side bite due to the tire not rolling over.

"What are recommended combos?"

Right now I have a few different sets of tires ranging from Losi, AKA, and Proline.

I would say 1st. figure out what surface you'll be racing on, Red clay, clay (baseball diamond stuff) or soil. Next, find out the preparation; hard packed, loamy, dusty, watered before heats then turns dusty.

Honestly, there's so many combination you'll need to come back for a true recommendation from us. But the best bet would be to ask who ever TQ's; more than likely he/she is a nice person and will tell you what to run and when to run them.

If I were to recomend anything it would be the following:

Proline M3 Holeshots premounts (not sure the foam, want to say they are med)
Proline M2 Crimefighters premounts (not sure the foam, want to say they are med)
Losi Red Eclipse with Losi wheels
Losi Red XBT with Losi wheels.

"Any comments on shape? Flat vs. round"

A flat sidewall will give you a sharp turn-in where as a round sidewall will roll over easy.

"I know it affects grip what about suspension? Like extra bounce"

Not, sure if it will give you a bounce (sidewall) but too light of a shock oil will give that bounce you are talking about.

I hope that's answers your question. If you have any more please feel free to PM me.

Rudy Diaz

[bc24fl]

Very informative.. thanks!

My Crimefighters med compound have lasted like 4 ever!

[moparsrule]

One thing you have to remember is that tire choice is about 80% of your setup and it souly depends on what the track conditions are. It also depends on your driving skill and what you can handle and how you want the car to feel, it's not always a good idea to run what the "fast guys" are running. You have to take into account track conditions right now and also later in the day, moister in the track, temperature, compound, pin size etc.etc.etc. Give a description on what you plan to run on and it will help alot.

[malik]

I agree with med compound. Except for 1 combo I love and it is AKA soft crossbraces up front and med Ibeams rear, awesome and wear the same but my local tracks are hard with loam and get blown out rocks ect. Then I like alot the VP-pro tires which are the option tires from Caster the madrunner and cutoff. I also have had success when it gets alittle slippery with the cutoff front and madrunner rear. I dont know the Caster part numbers for those 2 but if you havent tried them they are awesome and price is unbeatable. I actually havent used PL anymore for a while cause I am sick of the foams suck. The VP-caster tires have urethane inserts which last and AKA foams are the best in the buisness but you have to heavily vent your tires with them. I in most other tires put 2 holes with a leather punch, next to the biggest 1. AKA I use 4 holes because the foams are very dense but you can use them on 3-4 sets of tires as long as you keep them dry. I hope I helped you.

[YourDogg]

well this wasnt my thread but i have the same question so i would be driving on hard packed soil/dirt and i am using the K8T RTR.

[badassrevo]

My favorite truggy tires are the Panther Gators.

The AKA city blocks would work well for you too.