R/C Tech Forums - View Single Post - Will rubber carpet overtake Foam carpet in the future???
Old 10-24-2006, 10:08 PM
  #90  
quantum
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Originally Posted by syndr0me
I get a lot more than 5-7 fast runs out of foam tires, even when they're taller than 56MM. At club races where the traction doesn't come up so much, the taller tires actually perform well. The CS27's we ran would slow down after a night or two, and then you'd be at a disadvantage to guys willing to throw money at a fresh set of tires. It was MORE expensive, even with standard tires, because it became of game of who could buy the most tires.

If you take care of your foam tires, and stay off the boards, they'll treat you well. Rubber tires are nice too, but there's something very compelling about being able to carry so much speed in the corners, and not just in a straight line. Aside from the hassle of rollout changing (and the required setup changes along with it) I prefer foam tires.
no argument about the speed of foam, its great, i like 'em, and not knockin 'em, however, consider this:
at the iic in vegas for example... in the rubber classes you were limited to 4 sets... everyone was running the same tire (premount spec handout) ...with four qualifiers and a main, you don't even get to run one set per run (and $28 per set! c'mon!)

the days of rubber costing more was years ago, now with the premounted spec handout tire, and restriction to how many sets you can buy... is it the money race it used to be?

don't get me wrong, foam will always have a place. but rubber compounds have improved, traction is better and longer wearing, and the days of messing with infinite rubber and insert combinations is no longer. if you haven't run rubber in a while, give it a try. it probably won't take over foam, but you might like the challenge of being able to setup the car properly.
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