Text Brad Dumont (Bender) Photos by Brad Dumont & Jason Hensel
With R/C crawling gaining in popularity more and more every year, bigger well known names in R/C have taken note. When a company like Losi throws their hat into the ring, you know the quality will be top notch. With the introduction of the new "Rock Claw" tires, Team Losi doesn't dissappoint!!
My first impression of the tires was pretty much neutral. I did notice the nice thick bead, which should help keep them seated on beadlock wheels. I don't see anyone pulling these beads out. The width seemed perfect to me and I really like the realistic look of the tread pattern, which should appeal to the hardcore scale guys. But, the rubber compound felt a little off to me, and the full foams provided felt a little firm. The only way to really know is through testing.............time to bolt them up to a set of beadlocks and hit the rocks.
Our first destination for testing was the local hobby shop here in Colorado, Finish Line R/C. The onsite rock pile is perfect for running new products through the ringer, big holes, diff hangers and steep climbs are everywhere. For this initial round I used the full foams provided with the tires. The tires sidewall and tread are really soft, key traits for a competition rock crawling tire. The soft compound lets the tires wrap around the rocks, which equals more traction. Even with full foams, to my surprise, the tires wrap around obstacles nicely. I was able to negotiate some very steep climbs with no wheel speed needed, they just crawled right up. These tires surprised me the most in off camber situations though. The tires small lugs just stick to the rocks, and the full foam prevents the tires from folding over, which 90% of the time equals your rig rolling over. This short test session pointed out that my first impressions were wrong in a hurry. They worked very well in every situation I put them in. There was some noticable wear on the treads after this first round, but that just means they are working. I'm personally not worried about tread wear, I would rather have soft sticky tires over a long lasting tread compound anyday.
The next destination for testing brings us to one of the best crawling spots in the Denver area, Red Rocks. The terrain here is very abrasive and extremely unforgiving. There's a little of everything...........big steep climbs, mandatory off camber situations, ledges, holes, decents, diff hangers, etc. I decided to try a set of Kreepy's Sqwishy foams in the Rock Claws for this round of testing. They are the softest foam available, and I figured the combination would work very well together. I immediatly headed over to an area known for tough steep vertical faces. I turned the radio on, plugged my battery in and pointed the front wheels towards the first climb. My rig walked right up the steep off camber face with zero drama. I was blown away. Time to try a few more tricky spots. Next was a big undercut that front tires struggle to get traction on. I approached the obstacle at a slight angle, the front passenger side tire grabbed instantly and pulled the front end up to an almost vertical position. I gradually eased on the throttle and the front tires dug in as my rig crested the climb with relative ease. By this time a few more local guys showed up and were pointing out obstacles everywhere to try. Almost every obstacle was done with relative ease, leaving us all pretty much shocked and grinning from ear to ear. I inspected the tires again for tread wear after this test session too, because of the extremely abrasive surface. They really didn't look much different then the day before. Which means they should last longer then I initially expected, a nice little bonus.
Here are a couple of videos of the Rock Claws in action.
My overall impressions of the new Losi tires is very good. In the short amount of time I've had to test the Rock Claws they have definitely surpassed all my expectations. These tires worked awesome in every situation I put them in...........period. I honestly can't find anything bad to say about them. They seem to rule in the terrain we have here in Colorado. I have a few more foam set-ups I want to try too, which I'm guessing will make them even more capable, as hard as that is to believe. I see these tires staying on my comp rig for a long time. Will I defend my USRCCA national title with a set of Losi tires? You'll have to attend and find out.
