Previously the biggest tires for a 2.2” wheel have been 5” tall, but Imex has stepped up to the plate with the All-T: a tire that should help usher in a new era of small-scale crawlers. First of all these tires are BIG, measuring 5.5” tall and 2.75” wide mounted on a RPM Clawz 2.2 wheel, and there is a lot of sidewall there. These monsters seem tailor made for my 2.2 Clod-axle crawler, while still maintaining a semi-scale look under the big HPI ‘73 Bronco body. The Bronc body is approximately 1/8 scale (by my measurements) so the All-T’s are 44” inches tall in scale and have a very realistic tread pattern, something Imex excels at.
My first thought is that these tires will need some kind of foam to maintain good lateral stability in the sidewalls. I decided to not use the supplied foam but rather use a foam from a 5” tall tire. This should let the tread and sidewall flex nicely while supporting the sidewall and keeping the tires from getting wedged into small cracks. With these foams, diff clearance measured in at 1 5/8" with my shaved axles. My next plan is to use narrowed IMEX foams, narrowed foam has worked well in some of my other tires. The rubber compound feels very good, much like the Imex JumboMaxx Swamp Dawgs. When you drag them on the table they make that cool howling noise. I have always felt that the JSD rubber was top notch and those tires really kept my competition crawler on par with the rigs running the discontinued ProLine Giant Tracs.
The All-T tread is a non-directional pattern with nice size voids between the lugs. The lugs feel quite flexible but not so soft that they wont be able to hook onto the rocks and hold. There are a lot of lugs so that leaves lots of room for fine tuning the tread with some creative cutting, but don’t break out the Dremel and scissors just yet.
The first spot I found to test the tires was a jumbled section of landscaping rock in a drainage area. I picked out a line heading uphill, fired up The Duke and did my best to follow the line I had picked out. This type of rock has a pretty smooth surface but lots of pointy, jagged edges to use for traction. While the All-T’s fought for traction I fought to find lines that kept the diffs from getting hung up on the rocks, an impossible task. The All-T’s surprised me at their ability to hang on to the smooth surfaces and hold a line. They did what I asked of them with very little slipping. Those big ole sidewall’s molded themselves around the edges and corners of the rocks like licorice on hot summer day. Not to say that the tires didn’t slip at all or that I one-shoted every obstacle, but they did their job and The Duke quickly made it to the top of the hill.
My biggest concern was the sidewalls and how well these tires could hold a side-hill. So after I finished work, I headed over to another rock area for some night testing. These rocks are natural mountain rocks with a rough textured surface and rounder edges than the landscape rocks. I lined up The Duke do try a side-hill line that should really be difficult. The uphill tires had the mountain rock to hold onto but the downhill tires were running on smooth river rock. One slip and I would lose my line and have to start over. I rode high on the line to keep the tires on the uphill side of the river rock as I maneuvered to the crack that would take me up the rock face. The All-T’s held their ground, I could hear all the little lugs gripping as I worked my way to the crack, sounding like Velcro being ripped apart. I reached the crack with no problems and started up the face. This was a tough uphill, off-camber climb with only the edge of the crack offering much help from sliding off. As the front tires crested, the left rear hit a hole and The Duke pitched over to the downhill side, threatening to tumble. I eased the front tires to the left and kept steady power as the sidewalls did most of the work and The Duke slowly made it over the top. The last obstacle was a steep rock that would flip you over backward if you chose the wrong line. After a few attempts I found a line that allowed my front tires to crest and pull The Duke up. This spot was the first time I really noticed the front tires slipping but they got me over in the end.
Now a test does not mean a lot without a base line to compare to. How good is good if you don’t have something to judge against so I ran both trails with the All-T’s and a set of Masher2000’s, trying my best to take the exact same lines but always following the same basic trail. I plan to do a full blown test of the All-T against the Masher 2000 tire so I do not want to give too much away but let me say this. The All-T followed every line the Mashers did with one exception, the last rock face on the second trail. I do not feel that traction was to blame but rather the increased center of gravity from the taller tires. Whenever I tried to follow the Masher line up that rock, the rig would flip over backwards before the front tires had a chance to grab.
So what’s the bottom line you ask? That’s what you read all this for right? Well I have to say that I was extremely happy with the Imex All-T’s performance. The extra diff clearance was a welcome addition from what I was used to with the Masher 2000’s, the sidewalls proved to be stable with the foam I ran in them, and the rubber seemed to grip well in the situations that were available for this test. I have run the Masher 2000’s for a long time, and they work well, but the All-T’s appear to be right there with traction, plus they give some extra diff clearance and width. Bottom line: Imex has made an excellent tire with the 2.2 All-T that should be able to hang with the best on the rocks and blow them away with their great looks.
My first thought is that these tires will need some kind of foam to maintain good lateral stability in the sidewalls. I decided to not use the supplied foam but rather use a foam from a 5” tall tire. This should let the tread and sidewall flex nicely while supporting the sidewall and keeping the tires from getting wedged into small cracks. With these foams, diff clearance measured in at 1 5/8" with my shaved axles. My next plan is to use narrowed IMEX foams, narrowed foam has worked well in some of my other tires. The rubber compound feels very good, much like the Imex JumboMaxx Swamp Dawgs. When you drag them on the table they make that cool howling noise. I have always felt that the JSD rubber was top notch and those tires really kept my competition crawler on par with the rigs running the discontinued ProLine Giant Tracs.
The All-T tread is a non-directional pattern with nice size voids between the lugs. The lugs feel quite flexible but not so soft that they wont be able to hook onto the rocks and hold. There are a lot of lugs so that leaves lots of room for fine tuning the tread with some creative cutting, but don’t break out the Dremel and scissors just yet.
The first spot I found to test the tires was a jumbled section of landscaping rock in a drainage area. I picked out a line heading uphill, fired up The Duke and did my best to follow the line I had picked out. This type of rock has a pretty smooth surface but lots of pointy, jagged edges to use for traction. While the All-T’s fought for traction I fought to find lines that kept the diffs from getting hung up on the rocks, an impossible task. The All-T’s surprised me at their ability to hang on to the smooth surfaces and hold a line. They did what I asked of them with very little slipping. Those big ole sidewall’s molded themselves around the edges and corners of the rocks like licorice on hot summer day. Not to say that the tires didn’t slip at all or that I one-shoted every obstacle, but they did their job and The Duke quickly made it to the top of the hill.
My biggest concern was the sidewalls and how well these tires could hold a side-hill. So after I finished work, I headed over to another rock area for some night testing. These rocks are natural mountain rocks with a rough textured surface and rounder edges than the landscape rocks. I lined up The Duke do try a side-hill line that should really be difficult. The uphill tires had the mountain rock to hold onto but the downhill tires were running on smooth river rock. One slip and I would lose my line and have to start over. I rode high on the line to keep the tires on the uphill side of the river rock as I maneuvered to the crack that would take me up the rock face. The All-T’s held their ground, I could hear all the little lugs gripping as I worked my way to the crack, sounding like Velcro being ripped apart. I reached the crack with no problems and started up the face. This was a tough uphill, off-camber climb with only the edge of the crack offering much help from sliding off. As the front tires crested, the left rear hit a hole and The Duke pitched over to the downhill side, threatening to tumble. I eased the front tires to the left and kept steady power as the sidewalls did most of the work and The Duke slowly made it over the top. The last obstacle was a steep rock that would flip you over backward if you chose the wrong line. After a few attempts I found a line that allowed my front tires to crest and pull The Duke up. This spot was the first time I really noticed the front tires slipping but they got me over in the end.
Now a test does not mean a lot without a base line to compare to. How good is good if you don’t have something to judge against so I ran both trails with the All-T’s and a set of Masher2000’s, trying my best to take the exact same lines but always following the same basic trail. I plan to do a full blown test of the All-T against the Masher 2000 tire so I do not want to give too much away but let me say this. The All-T followed every line the Mashers did with one exception, the last rock face on the second trail. I do not feel that traction was to blame but rather the increased center of gravity from the taller tires. Whenever I tried to follow the Masher line up that rock, the rig would flip over backwards before the front tires had a chance to grab.
So what’s the bottom line you ask? That’s what you read all this for right? Well I have to say that I was extremely happy with the Imex All-T’s performance. The extra diff clearance was a welcome addition from what I was used to with the Masher 2000’s, the sidewalls proved to be stable with the foam I ran in them, and the rubber seemed to grip well in the situations that were available for this test. I have run the Masher 2000’s for a long time, and they work well, but the All-T’s appear to be right there with traction, plus they give some extra diff clearance and width. Bottom line: Imex has made an excellent tire with the 2.2 All-T that should be able to hang with the best on the rocks and blow them away with their great looks.
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