Tires for wooden crawler parcours

[TK4ever]

All tire comparisons I have found so far focus on dry warm rocks. I live in a cold, damp near rockfree country. The places I crawl are man-built out of wood. See example here:

https://i.pinimg.com/550x/28/3c/9b/283c9ba5f0b65313481c68fda3c33a9b.jpg

I tried a bunch of tires on my Ecto (5.5 pounds) and TRX4 Sport (8.5 pounds) with mixed and unexpected results compared to the "common knowledge".

For those who drive in similar conditions, what's your go-to tires? I have different foams available and tests seem to indicate that some tires that perform great on a light rig are terrible on a heavier one (eg Boom Racing Hustlers)

 

[ferp420]

i have found that proline g8 compounds work great in the wet also jconcepts ruptures
there was a guy on here that swore by redcat Everest 10 tires for dirt and roots and his log pile like I sead 1 guy but
sometimes a stiffer tire will bite on tree bark and rock edges in the dirt that a softer tire won't
you might want a sharp edge on a stiff tire to get a little bite
there is a tire for every terrain unfortunately you have to find that tire for your conditions and particular rig
you might have to think outside the box cause most tires are made fo rock crawlers

 

[JatoTheRipper]

I live in Pennsylvania where we have lots of woods, rocks, moss and that stuff is often damp or wet. Proline G8 compound rocks. I sometimes think the Proline Predator compound is better than G8, but sometimes I feel it is too soft. I would suggest G8. I also like Pitbull in Alien Kompound. Good foams go a long way in making these tires work. CI or Proline dual stage foams are good. Vanquish now has Stance dual stage foams, but I have no experience with those. Venting the tires also allows them to conform better to the rocks, but venting is not ideal when you're running in wet or muddy conditions.

The newer Vanquish VXT2 tires are surprisingly soft and sticky. I am anxious to get those out on the rocks, but as of right now I can't recommend them because I have no real world usage myself.

 

[smog]

Wet wood...

Yeah, good question. Up here I am in a climate of extremes . We get hot/dry periods booked-ended by cold damp periods. Cold/damp periods humble even the best of RC tires in my experience. Proline Krawler XL in Predator and Traxxas Canyon Trails with cut treads have been my favorite tires in wet damp muddy conditions. I find the open tread on both helps their performance in place where the rubber compound cannot. I don't have a ton of lumber in my crawling spots, but do have some. I find it slick as snot when its wet. Especially if there is any algae is beginning to form on it. I am not convinced any rc tire stands a chance on wet lumber. Much like a 1:1 winter tire on smooth ice there is zero traction.


My favorite wet tire so far is the Proline Krawler in Predator. Here is a running video i made of them running along a wet and watery rock shoreline. It gives a decent view of their potential. The inserts are PL closed cell.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BeZEUFJtHOc?si=rjnGhyqRohNeja1M" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[ferp420]

i wounder if tire chains or tire "studs" would be useful if I had a private course I might not want studs tearing up the wood but maybe something like that be ok

 

[ferp420]

i herd a story of some knock off pin type comp tires they were to stiff if I remember the story right maybe something like that might work

 

[RecklessTrent91]

The pro-line g8 super swampers did amazing things on wood & logs from my experience. Will probably be the next set of tires that I buy for mine

 

[ero]

I second the g8 swampers. Here in the pacific nw they work great in the wet woods

 

[TK4ever]

So I tried all the tires I could get my hands on, on the Ecto, on a wet wooden ramp (left the wood a whole week outside, under near constant rain), to see which setup could climb the steepest slippery slope. From worst to best, this is the result

* Injora Kraken Claw medium single stage foams, weighted
* Boom Racing HUSTLER M.T Extreme ultrasoft with Injora red dual stage foams
* Traxxas Canyon Trails with proline dual stage foams
* Gmade MT 1904 super soft foams on 2.2 wheels
* Louise Champ (same as Duratrax Deep Woods) on deep dish wheels with medium dual stage foams, weighted
* Jetko Conqueror Ultra Soft with Injora blue dual stage foams
* Louise Rowdy (same as Duratrax Showdown) premounted
* Louise Rowdy (same as Duratrax Showdown) on deep dish wheels with soft single stage foams, weighted
* Proline Trencher Predator with proline dual stage foams, weighted

Some remarks:
* on other obstacles the results would be different, I know that in mud and when you need to grab on the edge of a rock or whatever, the Trenchers are rubbish compared to the Krakens, same with less soft foams helping in that case, or that the weighted wheels don't perform as well as unweighted ones in high grip conditions, but help a lot when side hilling
* The difference between the best and the worst tire is less than 5 degrees
* I'm not sold on overdrive for this kind of surface
* The Louise Rowdy on deep dish wheels look absolutely ridiculous, super wide and high.

 

[ferp420]

overdrive is seriously over rated

 

[Tchinghar]

i see you havent got any pitbulls on the list.. it consistantly impressed at what the PBX A/T HARDCORE can do.


i havent tried any of their other tread patterns but id recommend trying something from them