StepPins

Just wanted to know the pros and cons of truing foam tires.
Also, what kinds of effects you experience when truing tires to have different diameters in front as compared to the rear, what did it do to effect steering, and if it's the same if running a front one-way or front diff, overdriven in front or not, etc., etc., etc..

Couple of buddies and I plan to invest in a tire truer....just want to know if this would be a worth while investment

Taylor-Racing

Gee that's a lot of questions . . . . .

The pros and cons of truing foam tires:
Foams are undoubtedly the largest expense with this hobby . . . . next to Rody conrods, that is.
We run a V-One RR Evo with overdrive, so we have to true the fronts to 4mm smaller than the rears. I hate buzzing off perfectly good rubber, so we will generally use one set of fronts with maybe three pairs of rears, rotating the rears as necessary to share the wear. We adopt this for each shore rating used, so end up with a fair number of tyres. But overall, it's more costly to run with a small bunch of tyres and we do a lot less truing. We don't own a proper truer, but arrive at the track with enough tyres for practically everyone.
Another benefit is that we can "salt away" a smaller optimum sized set for the main. We really should invest in a truer, though.

TurnNBurn

Differences in tire size will definitely affect entry and exit steering depending on whether you have over/underdive, although I forget off the top of my head exactly how... I think under give you more entry, less exit, over gives less entry, more on-power exit... Does someone care to chime in to correct me if I'm wrong?

There are two benefits to truing tires:

1) truig down the tire a little will reduce the sidewall, hence reducing the tire roll a bit in the turns.

2) When truing a tire, you can use a trim stick to round the edges a bit more than what the factory provides in order to keep the edge from grabbing too much, thus, reducing the chance of traction roll.

fraz

Lemme add a couple more points in addition to the good comments already.

*The larger the diameter tire, the better it rolls through bumps.
*Larger diameter is good for top speed on huge tracks where you don't have enough gear.
*Large tire are also more prone to chunking/cuts so beware. The softer the compound, the risk gets even greater.
*You need to at least cut tires to get the correct over/under drive
*If track abrasion is high, sometimes truing is not necessary and can be avoided because many manufacturer's tires have a 6-7mm split right out of the box.

hth

HELLION

Smaller fronts will cause oversteer going in to the turn. Some use this method to compensate for a car that is understeering.

fastharry™

iTrader: (4)

let me add the most important tip..


one word..


hudy

FREAKAH

Actually, we were looking at the 12V trackside unit from Integy. Speedtech R/C has it for around $125. I read some good reviews about this truer.

Im2lazy

Kent has one. Have you talked to him? He seems to like it as well.

FREAKAH

He does?

Cool, i'll ask him how he likes it.

Roger

iTrader: (10)

Let me add another important tip:

If you race with foam tires, get a Hudy tire truer. If you don't get a tire truer, it'll be like purchasing rubber tires without the inserts.

fastharry™

iTrader: (4)

Ahhhh..another H.H.C....(that would be HUDY Happy Camper)...



hey Freakah...if you're on a budget,then I'm sure the Integy would be fine.....the only thing to consider is,if your ever goiong to run 1/8th scale,that truer wont do it......

also,when I bought my HUDY truer(the fully automatic one),I was warnde not to get the OFNA one because the motor was bad,as well as the arbors......

SAomething to consider with the integy also...

It also looks like Integy has a bigger version avail(copy of the hudy).....for 229.....Check that also..

StepPins

Do you usually true the tires to be straight if coning occurs, or just adjust for camber?

picco007

iTrader: (99)

stepPins and FREAKAH,

I have the Hudy fully automatic version, while it is a bit expensive, there is one that you can crank like a comm lathe (by hand) that one is less expensive with the hudy great name behind it. Check it out. I friend of mine has it and he loves it and I think he told me he can upgrade to the fully automatic version with a kit or something.....I may be wrong....but worth checking in to it.

hope this helps too!

fastharry™

iTrader: (4)

you should check out teh lathe's also......I have the tech...another great hudy product..

alvinm

I have the cobra ac version with hand crank.Its very strong but with a better cutting tool should be able to true with one pass.I need to get a ac converter for the track however.I just true at home what ever I need for the track.