chino63
Oppan Gangnam Style
Thanks to Axial, I was able to get ahold of a set of the new Axial Maxxis Trepador 1.9 tires a few weeks ago for testing and was very excited to get them mounted up and onto the trail. I run the Maxxis Trepador Radials on my 1:1 Toyota in the 35" flavor so I was quite giddy when I found out these were going to be availavble for R/C.
My first impression was quite positive, the tires feel really sticky and soft so they should conform to rocks and other obstacles very well. Appearance wise, they are spot on. The tread looks great with the correct lug/void spacing as well as the sipes in the tread just like the real deal. One thing I really like is the tread height, very scale, not over exaggerated like some of the other tires currently available. Since my tires didn't come with any foams,I used a set of RC4WD foams out of my Boggers wrapped with an outer strip of soft packing foam. The packing foam is softer than the RC4WD foam and wraps around the edges of the RC4WD foams which add some much needed support. This setup is not ideal but definately good enough to get a good feel of how these tires perform. I mounted the Trepadors on a set of RC4WD Pro10's with 3oz of weight in each for a total weight of 8oz per tire/wheel.
I mounted them on my C2 Unimog (8.3lbs.) and immediately went to Linda Vista Park in Cupertino for some testing. There are numerous rock areas to test on as well as more than a few loose dirt climbsfor some varied terrain. The rocks offer moderate to great traction so I figured the tires would have no problems on them but wasn;t sure how they would do in the loose stuff. I have run virtually every line here with the Mog on a few different tires so I had a good idea of what to expect.
First off, I hit the rocks and was quite impressed within the first few minutes. The tires simply hooked up and pulled the heavy Mog up everything I pointed it at. Side hilling on the rocks was great as well and showed very little signs of slippage in off camber situations while turning up hill. The tread conformed to rocks very well as did the shoulder area of the tire. This is what I was most concerned about since several tires I have run required some dremel work to help the tire conform. Out of the box, no mods, very nice! Even on loose sandy rocks, the Trepadors performed on par with other tires run here.
Next it was off to one of the loose steep climbs that offers many challenges and typically requires some wheel speed due to the loose dirt and slick dusty rocks. The Trepadors performed better than I expected, I was able to make the climbs with a few easy blips of the throttle. Some of the tougher loose spots required a bit more wheel speed than I'd normally use or a few more attempts at a particular obstacle but the tires just seem to eventually find traction and get it done.
A couple days later a buddy and I went to Red Hills for some creek crawling. With storm clouds overhead, I knew it would be a wet one. The terrain consists of loose dirt and rocks that offer great traction until they get wet. Can you say slick and muddy? Awesome! We travelled up the creek and hit some water holes, slick climbs and muddy sections which made a mess of my poor little Mog. The tires really didn't seem to care much about the wet muddy rocks and with a bit of wheel speed they cleaned out enough to find traction. I didn't notice much tire hop during full throttle wheel spin climbs which made for very predictable handling while trying some difficult lines. Again, the tires impressed me and worked very well in the wet muddy conditions.
After several hours of crawling, I came to the conclusion that the Trepadors will be my go to tire. Definately one of the most consistent tires I have run to date. Great traction, predictable handling and exceptional scale looks make for a winning combination. If they become available in a 2.2 version, I will be buying them as well for sure. Great job Axial, these tires are a winner in my book!
More iformation about these tires can be found on Axials website or here:
http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/tires-wheels/413061-axial-1-9-maxxis-trepador-tires-ax12019.html
My first impression was quite positive, the tires feel really sticky and soft so they should conform to rocks and other obstacles very well. Appearance wise, they are spot on. The tread looks great with the correct lug/void spacing as well as the sipes in the tread just like the real deal. One thing I really like is the tread height, very scale, not over exaggerated like some of the other tires currently available. Since my tires didn't come with any foams,I used a set of RC4WD foams out of my Boggers wrapped with an outer strip of soft packing foam. The packing foam is softer than the RC4WD foam and wraps around the edges of the RC4WD foams which add some much needed support. This setup is not ideal but definately good enough to get a good feel of how these tires perform. I mounted the Trepadors on a set of RC4WD Pro10's with 3oz of weight in each for a total weight of 8oz per tire/wheel.
I mounted them on my C2 Unimog (8.3lbs.) and immediately went to Linda Vista Park in Cupertino for some testing. There are numerous rock areas to test on as well as more than a few loose dirt climbsfor some varied terrain. The rocks offer moderate to great traction so I figured the tires would have no problems on them but wasn;t sure how they would do in the loose stuff. I have run virtually every line here with the Mog on a few different tires so I had a good idea of what to expect.
First off, I hit the rocks and was quite impressed within the first few minutes. The tires simply hooked up and pulled the heavy Mog up everything I pointed it at. Side hilling on the rocks was great as well and showed very little signs of slippage in off camber situations while turning up hill. The tread conformed to rocks very well as did the shoulder area of the tire. This is what I was most concerned about since several tires I have run required some dremel work to help the tire conform. Out of the box, no mods, very nice! Even on loose sandy rocks, the Trepadors performed on par with other tires run here.
Next it was off to one of the loose steep climbs that offers many challenges and typically requires some wheel speed due to the loose dirt and slick dusty rocks. The Trepadors performed better than I expected, I was able to make the climbs with a few easy blips of the throttle. Some of the tougher loose spots required a bit more wheel speed than I'd normally use or a few more attempts at a particular obstacle but the tires just seem to eventually find traction and get it done.
A couple days later a buddy and I went to Red Hills for some creek crawling. With storm clouds overhead, I knew it would be a wet one. The terrain consists of loose dirt and rocks that offer great traction until they get wet. Can you say slick and muddy? Awesome! We travelled up the creek and hit some water holes, slick climbs and muddy sections which made a mess of my poor little Mog. The tires really didn't seem to care much about the wet muddy rocks and with a bit of wheel speed they cleaned out enough to find traction. I didn't notice much tire hop during full throttle wheel spin climbs which made for very predictable handling while trying some difficult lines. Again, the tires impressed me and worked very well in the wet muddy conditions.
After several hours of crawling, I came to the conclusion that the Trepadors will be my go to tire. Definately one of the most consistent tires I have run to date. Great traction, predictable handling and exceptional scale looks make for a winning combination. If they become available in a 2.2 version, I will be buying them as well for sure. Great job Axial, these tires are a winner in my book!
More iformation about these tires can be found on Axials website or here:
http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/tires-wheels/413061-axial-1-9-maxxis-trepador-tires-ax12019.html
