Tires

What Are Tires?

Tires are probably the most important tuning tool (other than practice). You could have the PERFECT setup (if there is such a thing), but if you make a bad Tire choice, your race is over!

Todays Tires range from the inexpensive 'play' tire to the super soft racing slick to the ultra high grip exotic foam Tire. The 'play' Tires are usually of hard compound and come with a flexible bubble foam insert. They typically have long life and decent traction.

The racing slick comes as a pair of Tires ONLY. This allows you to pick a racing insert (of different densities) for the track you will race at. The racing Tire also comes in different densities, normally Hard, Medium, and Soft.

The ultra high grippy foam Tire is the ultimate in traction. It is usually only used in Nitro Racing, but is slowly becoming a popular choice for electric sedans, also. Off Roaders use only soft rubber tires.

Typically, hard compound tires have average grip and long life. Medium compounds a little better grip and average life, and soft compounds very good grip with a short life span. Treaded tires are good on dusty, dirty, or unkept surfaces. Slicks are perfect for a well groomed race track or a prepared parking lot surface.

What Are Inserts?

A Tire needs to have some sort of support in it for it to work correctly. If you don't have an Insert, the Tire won't be of much use. So, along came the Insert. An Insert is a foam ring that fits in the Tire to give it support under play or racing conditions. The density of the Insert will determine how the Tire will react. For instance, a soft Insert will give good traction, but will increase drag. A harder Insert has less rolling resistance, but can cause a car to feel loose.

The Insert is as important as Tire choice. You can also mix-and-match Tire and Insert. For instance, a Hard compound Tire with Soft Insert. You would get the benefits of less rolling resistance of the hard tire and the soft Insert, but you might loose a little traction in the corners. This is best left to trial and error (or asking a track local what the hot Tire and Insert setup is!).

Which Wheel Should I Use?

Wheels come in many different designs and colors. The basics on Wheels is this: Harder, stiffer Wheels provide less flex. This allows the Tire, Insert and Suspension to do all the work. If set up correctly, this is usually the fast setup. Soft, pliable Wheels have more flex. This usually means better traction in the corners, but more resistance. If your car is not setup quite right, a softer Wheel might do the trick. Or, you might try the soft Wheel on an unprepared, slippery outdoor track.

Wheel designs really don't make that much of a difference. I've noticed that the Velocity Wheel (or Dish Wheel) does make a big difference on large, open tracks where steering at high speeds is needed. The Dish Wheel, while turned, changes the flow of air around the front of the car, increasing steering. Need less high speed steering, try a Wheel with holes in it, like Pro-Line's Gumby Wheel.

Gluing Tires.

If you don't glue your Tires, you will lose traction, stablity, power and possibly, your Tires!!! There are, I'm sure, many different methods to glue tires, and all of them are the best way. I'm going to give you my way, and the way most Pro Drivers glue their tires, and very few have ever had any tire problems in the past.

First, stuff your Insert into the Tire. Take your Wheel and remove all the flash that might be left on the edge where you will mount your Tire. Next, take an Xacto and make two holes in the Wheel, on opposite sides of each other, about 1/16th of an inch. These are vent holes. If you glue your Tires up and you don't have vent holes, your Tires will balloon up under the pressures of racing and cause radical handling problems. Next, fit the Tire (with the Insert, well, inserted) over the Wheel. Make sure the Tire bead fits into the little channel on the Wheel. Open your bottle of Tire glue. BE CAREFUL!!!! THIS IS SUPER GLUE AND WILL GLUE EVERYTHING IT COMES IN CONTACT WITH TOGETHER IN A MATTER OF SECONDS!!!!!! DO NOT GET THIS ON YOU!!!! IF YOU DO, WIPE IT OFF IMMEDIATELY!!! (Just not on mom's couch, table, rug, floor, etc.) Now, carefully pull back the Tire bead and drop a small amount of glue into the bead. Work it around until the drop has coated as much as possible. Repeat until you have glued one side of the Tire. Stretch a small rubber band all the way around the Tire to help keep the Tire true. Set aside and go to the second Tire. When all four are complete, let them dry for 10 or so minutes (just to be sure). Now, turn the Tires over and repeat the above steps to the backside of the Tires.

That's it. Using this method you should have perfectly glued Tires everytime!