Well done Slash. Hope we dont see your Rc8 in the For Sale section a year from now!

Ive never used them. I saw someone running with them this past weekend at Amain. They did the job. For me though. Every set of wheels I've put on my car has come off the track with at least one rim cracked on the inside. I ran 3 and a main this weekend. And I cracked the inside of a pair the first time out.

I have run many sets if the JC Rulux wheels and never broke one. I would guess the Proline ones are equally good

I have always heard dish wheels are the way to go. They are better balanced and hold up longer. Maybe I would use the others if she was a shelfer!

Question about discharging:

So I haven't soldered my new plugs on these batteries yet, so I can't discharge using my car. I hooked them into my AC6 charger balanced them (perfect 4.2,4.2,4.2 &4.2) I was surprised both were perfect. I then discharged them a little bit. Down to like 15.8V and that took hours. Will this be ok to discharge to this volt aproximately? You guys said to charge and discharge a few times.

Just solder new plugs onto the batteries and run them in the car for a bit. If it were me, I'd get them down to around 3.7V per cell or 14.8V for a 4S pack.

Since they discharged nicely, you might be ok, though. Won't know until you run them in the car, as the car will certainly discharge the battery at a much higher rate.

#1 - Congrats on fatherhood! I'm a dad of 2 kids (ages 7 & 17 months girl/boy). It's totally awesome being a dad. Enjoy the young years - every second of it - and never take it for granted. They are the best.

#2 - I wonder if they were talking about discharging through normal usage. From what I'm gathering it's simply easier and faster to discharge the battery by simply driving the car around for a bit.

Cycling it? You mean giving it a charge, and driving the car to discharge, then balance charging it again - thus it is fine now?

I've received some pretty solid advice to balance charge each and every time despite what the critics may say...

Ok, so... what you're saying is - It's safer to set the voltage cut off at 12.8v on your esc (with the hotwire) rather than letting it go to an even 12V to prevent battery damage (assuming this is a 4s battery).

I'm from the days of NIMH and NIcad man....
The plug, play, and forget until it's done. I'm pretty nervous throwing my battery on the charger the first time...

How about drilling holes in the rims for drainage - is that needed? Only for wet conditions. I even recall a vid from a racer that hole punched the tire to get rid of moisture...?

j

Don't drill holes in the wheels. Punch a couple of small holes in the tires. I use a leather punch, and IIRC the 1/8" hole setting. Works great.

I dont think anything your wrote here is accurate.

Just for the sake of checking my facts before I wrote it on here, I double checked about 6 sets of rulux 1/8th wheels and not a one has a crack on it.

one set are at least 2 years old, knuckles, they never wear out

It's really a preference thing. You either like dish wheels or spokes.

I guess if you wanted to get technical you could bring in weight and rotating mass into the equation..

+1

if your wheels have holes in them you should plug them up with CA or something as well....

Exactly.

Yes. Like you, I balance charge each and every time. Not sure what anyone saves by not balance charging a LiPo. Just hook up one extra connector. Helps the battery perform better, and likely last longer, so why not?

Exactly. You don't want any cells in the battery to go below 3V, as this can damage the cell. Similarly, you don't want any cells going above 4.2V fully charged.

Yeah, LiPos don't work that way. I was nervous too, but now I'm used to it. As long as you keep LiPos within their operating range, they're perfectly safe. Also, don't drop one, and if you do, keep it in a safe place where you can observe it. A short (internal or external), no matter how brief generally does a lot of damage to the battery (from what I've read and seen), and can easily cause a fire, so be very careful when wiring up connectors.

Also, don't store them in your car on a hot day.

I use Gorilla Tape on my Pro-Line wheels, and that has worked pretty good. If you use CA, be careful not to get any on the foams (or just seal up the hole before you mount the foams and tires). CA is probably going to be a lot more durable than tape, though. I might give that a try next time.

I originally thought the hole punching idea in the tires was crazy, but when I ran in some very sandy dirt once, I noticed that the dirt would collect on the inside of the wheel. Since they were dished wheels, the sand had nowhere to go. If I had holes on the inside of the wheels, the sand would have made its way into the tire with no way of getting it out. With the holes in the tire, I don't have to worry about this as. Also, the 1/8" hole that is recommended by others on the board is so small that it doesn't compromise the integrity of the tire.

If I hold the car in the air and go WOT (thus making the tires balloon), I can hear the air escaping the ballooned tires when I get off the gas.

OK, just to make sure I am following correctly.

Use tape or CA to plug up any existing holes in the wheel (not tire).

Punch 1/8" holes in the tires (not wheels) to facilitate exit of any debris that might get in to the tire.

How would stuff get in the tire if there is no holes in either rim or tire and the tire is well glued to the rim? Murphy's law?

Jason

You have it right. From what I've read, you want holes in the tire so that the tire can vent. If it's completely sealed, it acts like a pneumatic tire (like on your car), and the trapped air can make the tire "bouncy" and not allow the foam to work properly.

IIRC, this is the one I bought:
http://www.tractorsupply.com/equine/...se-bit-5016527

I recall that it was cheaper, though. It doesn't work as nicely as some of the higher dollar punches, but with a little adjustment, it works just fine for punching a couple of holes in each tire.

I make the holes in the tire's centerline, between lugs, and 180 degrees apart.