Originally Posted by Rideswings

Ive been into RC cars for around 10 years, but I still consider myself a rookie and a novice because there are volumes of setup techniques I still dont know and probably never will.

I have only raced a few times at my clay high-traction local track and I have my SC5M dialed into it and it handles well. I use slicks and they give me plenty of traction. A friend asked me to go to a different track to race for a day, and he said the track would be softer with alot more loose dirt than I am used to, so the night before, I changed all 4 tires to some new dirt webs that I had laying around. During the race the next day I had little traction, and came in dead last. It seems like everyone else was using different types of pin tires.

I asked the track owner after the race what he recommends, and he was helpful in suggesting 2 or 3 different pinned tires that I could use for more traction. Since Im not sure how often I will be going to this track, Im not sure I want to go and spend close to $80 for one set or $160 or $240 for 2 or 3 sets of tires not knowing if they are going to help me get faster.

I realized that it must be really hard on people who go to race at various tracks, they must have to bring 2, 3 or 4 sets of tires depending on the conditions. I saw that one guy at the track probably had 4 or 6 sets of tires in his pit bag. Thats close to $500 in tires alone.

I guess this brings me back to my original question. How many sets of tires do you have for you vehicle if you are a novice and go to different tracks? Do you have tires that you bought for a track and they didnt work out and are just sitting on a shelf in your garage or do you just go and sell them after trying them?

Originally Posted by Rideswings

Thanks for the advice. I will take a look at the impacts.

I did the same thing you did with treaded tires, used them until they became slicks, and then ran them on my clay track like that. I did that until I bought my first new set of slicks and the new slicks ran so much better than the old worn out treaded tire. I keep the old worn out ones as backup if something happens to the new slicks.

Originally Posted by Rideswings

Thanks for the advice. I will take a look at the impacts.

I did the same thing you did with treaded tires, used them until they became slicks, and then ran them on my clay track like that. I did that until I bought my first new set of slicks and the new slicks ran so much better than the old worn out treaded tire. I keep the old worn out ones as backup if something happens to the new slicks.

Originally Posted by littleZEN

Tires are probably 80-90% of the setup equation. No amount of set-up changes will help if you don't have the right tires for the track. To make matters worst track conditions are always changing even from one hour to the next. That's why you see drivers with hundreds of dollars in tires because having the right tires are the single most important setup change.

With that said, just borrow your buddies set of tires to try them out. Or even ask around. If you think you'll only use the tires a handful of times then you can just buy a used set on here or from the locals.

Originally Posted by Rideswings

This is great advice thank you. If they are 80-90% of the setup equation, then maybe I'll bite the bullet and invest in some more tires.

Originally Posted by racer1812

There's is no "if", they ARE 90% of any setup. But they're also the most expensive. Most guys that have a pit bag full of tires have acquired them over a period of time. They didn't just go out and buy them all at once. And for many, they have tires in that bag that they will never use.

Originally Posted by Rideswings

Thanks for the info. Is it normal for a driver to start with a set of tires for the day, and then change them if he doesnt like the way the car is driving? And then change them again to a different set if the track condition changes?

Originally Posted by racer1812

People change tires all the time, for multiple reasons. The guy with a bag full of tires is likely looking for something a LITTLE better than what he's currently running. He's already running a tire that's really close to perfect and is looking to find something better. The fast guys don't stop tuning/looking for speed..ever.

Originally Posted by 1/4milecrazy

2wd buggy: unknown, probably over 20
4wd buggy: 5 or 6
Stadium Truck: about 10
2 and 4wd SCT probably 15 between the 2 AE
4wd Durango SCT 3 sets
1/8 buggy: 12 or so
1/8 truggy: around 6
Touring car: 7 I think
1/12 pan car: 30 or more (got a great deal on a bunch of tires)

Those are guesstimates on the numbers of complete sets (4) of tires I have for each one.

Originally Posted by Rideswings

Ive been into RC cars for around 10 years, but I still consider myself a rookie and a novice because there are volumes of setup techniques I still dont know and probably never will.

I have only raced a few times at my clay high-traction local track and I have my SC5M dialed into it and it handles well. I use slicks and they give me plenty of traction. A friend asked me to go to a different track to race for a day, and he said the track would be softer with alot more loose dirt than I am used to, so the night before, I changed all 4 tires to some new dirt webs that I had laying around. During the race the next day I had little traction, and came in dead last. It seems like everyone else was using different types of pin tires.

I asked the track owner after the race what he recommends, and he was helpful in suggesting 2 or 3 different pinned tires that I could use for more traction. Since Im not sure how often I will be going to this track, Im not sure I want to go and spend close to $80 for one set or $160 or $240 for 2 or 3 sets of tires not knowing if they are going to help me get faster.

I realized that it must be really hard on people who go to race at various tracks, they must have to bring 2, 3 or 4 sets of tires depending on the conditions. I saw that one guy at the track probably had 4 or 6 sets of tires in his pit bag. Thats close to $500 in tires alone.

I guess this brings me back to my original question. How many sets of tires do you have for you vehicle if you are a novice and go to different tracks? Do you have tires that you bought for a track and they didnt work out and are just sitting on a shelf in your garage or do you just go and sell them after trying them?