Foams for 4.35" tires?

[boldfin]

I have started to go smaller on the tire size for my 1.9" rigs - particularly my SCX10-II's. 4.75's just seem way too big, and even 4.50's are still kinda jumbo. A 4.30" - 4.35" tire looks much better to me on these trucks - but it seems that there aren't a lot of options in that size on the market.

What I have found I like (size-wise) are the ProLine TSL SX Super Swampers (The original size - not the XL's). They are 4.30". The stock memory foams are not too great. I replaced them with Crawler Innovations 'Lil Nova 4.25" Comp Cut Inner - Soft Outer. The TSL SX's look good, and perform OK with the CI 4.25" foams- but I'd like to get better performance out of these tires. The 4.25" foams seem to really fill out the tire. There's not a lot of conformity unless I have it in a pretty extreme situation - as in the photo below. I am getting conformity here, but under normal circumstances, the tires barely have any squish at all.







I should mention, the tires are vented, and I did remove the outer tuning ring from the CI foams. I realize part of this could be the tire compound. The PL TSL SX's are G8, which isn't the softest, but overall it just feels like the 4.25" foams are a tad too big for that tire. I think the next size down from that would be the 4.0". Would that be too sloppy for these 4.30" tires?

I also just got a set of Pit Bull 1.9 Braven Berserkers which are 4.35". The stocks foams for these tires also don't seem very good. The rubber compound may be better - I have other PB tires in Alien compound and I like them a lot. So I'm hoping they perform a little better than the PL TSL SX's. But I'm hoping to find a better foam solution for both of these sets of 4.30/4.35" tires. Any suggestions?

 

[gottorque]

Really depends on rig weight, but your honcho looks stock-ish. Lil Nova 4.0 Med front/firm rear might work for ya (CI recommends going firmer in back) but you dont want to go too soft. While you dont fill out the tire as much you get some back with firmer outer foam densities.

But remember, tires and foams have a break in period. So try putting a handful of hours on them first, they might end up more to your liking.

 

[lonleycreeper]

I am running stock memory foams in front, and Rock beast stock foams in rear of my Honcho with the same tire. I find the front is starting to get a bit soft now, but it doesn't hinder climbing performance. I have her set up so there is only about a 1/4" of up travel left in the suspension, and use 2200mah 3s batteries.

I am running Rc4wd's Steelies with the proline ring, and the memory foams are squished out a bit

 

[Natedog]

I have started to go smaller on the tire size for my 1.9" rigs - particularly my SCX10-II's. 4.75's just seem way too big, and even 4.50's are still kinda jumbo. A 4.30" - 4.35" tire looks much better to me on these trucks - but it seems that there aren't a lot of options in that size on the market.

What I have found I like (size-wise) are the ProLine TSL SX Super Swampers (The original size - not the XL's). They are 4.30". The stock memory foams are not too great. I replaced them with Crawler Innovations 'Lil Nova 4.25" Comp Cut Inner - Soft Outer. The TSL SX's look good, and perform OK with the CI 4.25" foams- but I'd like to get better performance out of these tires. The 4.25" foams seem to really fill out the tire. There's not a lot of conformity unless I have it in a pretty extreme situation - as in the photo below. I am getting conformity here, but under normal circumstances, the tires barely have any squish at all.

I should mention, the tires are vented, and I did remove the outer tuning ring from the CI foams. I realize part of this could be the tire compound. The PL TSL SX's are G8, which isn't the softest, but overall it just feels like the 4.25" foams are a tad too big for that tire. I think the next size down from that would be the 4.0". Would that be too sloppy for these 4.30" tires?

...But I'm hoping to find a better foam solution for both of these sets of 4.30/4.35" tires. Any suggestions?

Agreed on the tire sizes.

Really depends on rig weight, but your honcho looks stock-ish. Lil Nova 4.0 Med front/firm rear might work for ya (CI recommends going firmer in back) but you dont want to go too soft. While you dont fill out the tire as much you get some back with firmer outer foam densities.

But remember, tires and foams have a break in period. So try putting a handful of hours on them first, they might end up more to your liking.

Yes, depends on truck weight and agreed about the squish and CI recommendations, that is my finding from experience too.

That's good advice, especially the part about all tires being different. I'm running vented RC4WD super swampers with just CI closed-cell foams (no soft foam, no tuning ring, just an air gap). I started with the "correct" size and then dropped down one size and it's perfect. I can tell by the pictures that your tires could use more squish, so you might want to try this.

ps: I didn't dream this method up--it's a potential setup CI recommends on their website.

Found same setup through CI and it works great for my old 1.9 Ripsaws and my larger tires, a little air gap is good with the closed cell foams. "thumbsup"

@Boldfin and Lonelycreeper, trucks look great!

 

[HumboldtEF]

CI recommends that you size down the foam about 1/4" to account for the fact that the foam goes inside the tire (though they dont have a 4" foam ATM but I see a spot on their site for them.. maybe soon or already discontinued?). I just put together the same tire and foam combo as you, haven't run them yet but they feel right to me.

One thing I did on a set of MTR's is to cut down the width of the outer CI foam (as well as the inner). Doing that really softened them up because the outer foam is no longer packed tight its just sized right and can easily provide some squish.

 

[Natedog]

Agreed Casey, I've trimmed foams like that before too, just gotta test after every change. I'm currently deciding on foams for Pro-Line 4.3" TSL G8 compound
Height: 4.30" (109mm)
Width: 1.50" (38mm)
https://www.prolineracing.com/tires/interco-tsl-sx-super-swamper-1.9.asp


mounting on RC4WD white spoke steelies. OEM STAMPED STEEL 1.9" BEADLOCK WHEELS (WHITE) Part Number:Z-W0208
https://store.rc4wd.com/OEM-Stamped-Steel-19-Beadlock-Wheels-White_p_4770.html

 

[boldfin]

Really depends on rig weight, but your honcho looks stock-ish. Lil Nova 4.0 Med front/firm rear might work for ya (CI recommends going firmer in back) but you dont want to go too soft. While you dont fill out the tire as much you get some back with firmer outer foam densities.

But remember, tires and foams have a break in period. So try putting a handful of hours on them first, they might end up more to your liking.

Decided to break out the postal scale today and weighed all my rigs. My Honcho-bodied SCX10-II weighs 7.00 pounds (running weight, with a 2700 mAh 3S LiPo). It's got heavy SSD Diamond Pro axles and SSD Brass knuckle weights, among other mods.

Thanks for the suggestions. I may give the CI 'Lil Nova dual-stage 4.0's with Med/Firm outer foams a try.

I may also try running just the CI closed-cell inners in the "correct size" and no outer foams (and letting air gap provide the conformity I'm seeking). But that begs the question once more - what is the "correct size" CI inner for a 4.30" tire? Wouldn't that be the 4.25 size inners that I am currently using? If so, I'd just need to pull the outer foams out, and see how she runs.