warlord385

First off my brother and I Are like the only guys with nitro touring sedans, so all the info i get about cars are from these forums (THANKS FOR ALL THE INFO). Anyway we've been runnin HPI 26mm X-pattern radials. Well I was wondering if foams are better. I have a mugen MTX-2(love it) my bro has a Serpent impulse pro. Both came with foams when my rubber ran out i slapped the foams on and i like the way they stick, but are they really better than rubber. I run on all kinds of surfaces and still haven't found any solid info concerning foams so the questions are:

1. Benifits and disadvantages of no ring and multiring foams
2. Why use wider rear tires(I'm thinkin about gettin the 32mm yokomo tires rear, I don't race but i alway get roar legal engines and pipes(may want to race some day) so width of tires doesn't matter.
3. Also what is inch up on foam tires
4. Is a tire truer neccessary, nice to have, whats a great one for a reasonable price below $250

Thanks

warlord385

Also whats the best brand of foams and shore for all around usage and where to buy online. (we buy everything online no shops around here)

jason102276

foam tires are best used on prepared race tracks only

most likely they wouldnt last more than a couple runs anywhere else

30mm rear for more rear grip and they dont work without modifying mtx-2

all truers are less than 250 but hudy

the ofna can be found for 240 at nitrohouse and speedtechrc has one for 150

foams are the only way for me to get the necessary traction on the racetrack but they dont last long

good foam tires are trc, mugen fast tires, ellegi, jaco nitro shoes, and a ton more i forgot

ammdrew

iTrader: (25)

Foam will wear longer( last longer) and grip the same through the entire wear time.......


okay foam workks like this, front and rear rubber is differnet..... do not mix, and shore is the hardness, higher the number harder the tire, lower softer.. for messing around you should be well equipped with 35 front and rears, this is a bit soft for most tracks, but great for the street and unprepped parkinglots.....

the rear tires being wider not only increases rear traction, but also evens out front to rear wear.. as your rears tend to wear faster......

foam is cheap expect to pay around 12 a pair for good rubber


i recommend the grp stuff( elligi, fast, etc etc) most foam is coming of age, but stick with the stuff rated by shore and labled front and rear ...

you do not need a truer.. not until you are hardcore racing, but you will definatly enjoy the new tire life and traction...:0

speedoo

Foams are the only way to go if you are racing on an asphalt track. For best tire wear and traction try putting 42 on the front and 40 on the rear. Your rear tires can throw chuck off the outer edges so to prevent this put some camber on the rear wheels (tilt the upper part of the wheels towards the center of the car. This will stop the tires from running on the outer edges during high speed turns. Since rear wheels are a little wider than front tires this will not hurt grip. If you don't put on camber your rear wheels will not last long at all. Do NOT mix up the front and rear tires cause if you do when you hit the gas or break you'll be doing doughnuts.

Boomer

Benefits of Foams, in general - grip, grip and more grip. Also consistency.
Disadvantages
- they DO wear faster than rubber. I can go a LONG time on rubber, I wear out foam after about 10 runs or so if I'm conservative.
-they chunk. If you hit something with the edge of the tire, you're gonna lose a chunk of rubber. This can sometimes be repaired (find the chunk you lost and contact cement it back on) but many times it can't. Chunks suck.

The multi-ring foams are usually an attempt to lessen chunking - they stick a harder compound (less likely to chunk) on the very outside edge of the tire. I haven't tried them and don't know how well the idea works.

Experiment with them to find a brand that you like. I've tried about five brands and really like ZAK and TRC. I know guys who swear by Jaco and others who LOVE GRP and others. . .expect to pay anywhere between 14 and 19 bucks a pair (sounds expensive, but consider that you pay that much just for the rubber tires, not to mention the rims and inserts. . .and foams come mounted already!)

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2. Why use wider rear tires(I'm thinkin about gettin the 32mm yokomo tires rear, I don't race but i alway get roar legal engines and pipes(may want to race some day) so width of tires doesn't matter.

Generally, once your car is set up really well and really fast, you can have a problem with rear traction - this is an easy way to combat that - put more rubber on the rear and voila, you've got rear traction.

Also, it helps with balancing wear F/R.

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3. Also what is inch up on foam tires

Don't know.

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4. Is a tire truer neccessary, nice to have, whats a great one for a reasonable price below $250

A tire truer is NOT necessary, but is nice to have. If you're practicing or on a budget, having a LOT of foam on the tire is wonderful. . .more runtime!

If you're racing, however, it is nice to cut down the foams to a slightly smaller size. The larger the sidewall, the more flex it has and, therefore, the more speed the tire will "shed" as you go 'round a turn (also a larger sidewall will grip more). TO A POINT, the smaller the tire, the faster you will be around a turn. . .to a point and as long as your car is set up right.

Hudy is very expensive, but very very good.
Cobra is much less expensive, but still very good
There are others. Check Speedtechrc.com, stormerhobbies.com, etc.

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Thanks

Boomer

Wow, that was long. . .am I longwinded or what????

jason102276

i agree with boomer 100%

you mentioned the cobra lathe you wouldnt happen to know where i could get a motor from one do you?

modellor

They also even the wear rate across the tire. When a car goes into faster corners the tires tend to cone. Because the outer ring on multi-rings are generally harder this prevents the coning from being really bad.

Coning on tires is one of the reasons we use a tire truer. The other is for controlling the overdrive of the car. If you are only running around in carparks and the street then you dont need to worry about overdrive. It is really only something racers use to get the best performance out of the car on a particular track layout. Other factors also have to be considered including different sized side belt pulleys and the rpm of your engine.

Boomer

Aw, dang, I missed coning and overdrive!

Good points Mod!

ammdrew

iTrader: (25)

expext to pay around 8.00 to 12.. per pair.. shop around... especially if you buy in any sort of quantity, we usually order 20 pair at a hit, get a gew guys together on a order...



under and over drive is a wear tunner( longer races) not a handling tuner, some may do that, but not usually the big boys.....overdriving the frony makes the car easy to drive, underdriving the frony allows the car to step out, the fastest car is the one that pulls with all tires equally, this is only true of 200mm, were the tires are the same diameter front and rear, unlike the 235 and the 1/8, were over under is required to get the front and rear to pull equally..

modellor

I would like to see were you get your info on overdrive. Because whoever told you is talking B#[#/'it

AMGRacer

I agree!! I know plenty of "big boys" who would disagree with that statement.

Boomer

Same with your prices. Here in Southern California you don't get ANY foams for less than $13 a pair. Jacos are almost always $14.95 a pair and up, TRC's are comparable as are the Italian foams. . .

MOST guys that I have talked to run about a millimeter overdrive. It makes the car significantly easier to drive around corners since the front will pull the car around. I haven't found anyone who drives an underdrive - that leads normally to a bad oversteer situation with the rear trying to push the back end around the front.

And last time I looked, 235 ran the same diameter tires, just different WIDTHS. Same with 1/8th scale. {walks out to garage}



{walks back in from garage} Yep, pretty much the same size (within a mill or so)

Jonathan

iTrader: (2)

Last season, I got Nitro shoes for about $10.00 a pair. 20 pairs at a time of course. (Ace-hobbies)

To simplify things, I generally run a 7mm split on an 1/8th scale. This changes as the tires wear, but basically.... it is far from being the same diameter. BTW... some brands of 1/8th scale tires come standard with an 8 mil split (New!!)

To me, over-drive is one of those secondary tuning options... sort of like fine tuning... Usually, on race days, I spend most of my down time tuning suspensions and tire selections, among other things. Rarely do I have the time to mess with overdrive. With that said... I plan to play around w/ overdrive this up coming season. Can't wait....

BTW... does anyone here have an opinion of the new MTX 3 wheels??? They appear to be a lot beefier than the older style Ellegis... Please chime in if you've tried them.