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Color0's Micro RC Blog -- A technical brain dump from the mind of yours truly...
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My New Job: Picking Tires for Your Mini-Z Pt. 1

Posted 01-10-2009 at 03:19 AM by color0
Updated 03-08-2011 at 09:38 AM by color0
Ok, that title's only slightly misleading, but really only slightly. From now on I'll be a sort of "staff writer" here so I'll have a lot to write about. I plan to focus mainly on technical aspects of 1/28 cars, as that's what I play with.

Onto the main topic of this article, which is picking tires for your Mini-Z. Part 1, which is this article, will cover only the rear tires for on-road. I assume you are picking tires for going to the track. Yes, I'm only covering that much, because there are a heckuva lot of tire options out there and even more purposes you could use them for. Especially Overland and Monster tires, I don't even know where to get started -- I'm an on-road guy.

Back to rear tires. The most important point to remember when choosing tires is to make sure the rear wheels have grip. Doing donuts on the track is not fun and not safe. Of course, as grip goes up, wear life usually goes down, so you always have to compromise a bit, getting just the right amount of grip you need, and salvaging as much wear life as you can.

I tend to sort my tires into tiers (no, not a misspelling), and my tier list assumes that the racing surface is RCP foam. At the top of my tier list, used on RWD cars for racing or pre-race practice, are the Kyosho 20 radials (treads), Reflex Racing SSG's, and the latest batch of PN 6 radials. They provide lots of grip with the high-powered motors used currently in the race scene. Unfortunately though, they don't last very long. I get some 4-5 hours of hard driving out of these, and then they fade away. The Atomic 8 radials get special mention for having comparable grip, but they fade within 1-2 hours. Note that the PN 6 radials are the stickiest tires of the three, but they tend to "dry out" over time -- the new batch is the best so far, remaining gummy for about a week, but I would seriously use these 6's only as a race tire, and mount a new set before every race day. Kyosho 20 radials and Reflex SSG's remain consistent for weeks bordering on months.

Next on the tier list are Kyosho 20 slicks, PN 6 slicks, PN 8 radials, PN 10 radials, and Atomic tires (10-20 degrees and both straight grooved and AW groove patterns). These aren't quite grippy enough for RWD cars to race with, but are often good for AWD cars. (I'm pretty sure this year's AWD Mod World Champion used Kyosho 20 slicks in the rear. ) For RWD cars, these are good practice tires. I'm partial to Kyosho 20 slicks, as they last a LONG time and have very decent grip (just be more careful with the trigger). I have some pairs from months ago that still work fine, just in the wrong offsets for my current setup.

Atomic tires deserve special mention for having a high silicone content. While they aren't the best on RCP, the silicone makes them stick much better on carpet/Ozite, and if you race on carpet/Ozite then Atomic tires should be on your top tier.

Kyosho 30 radials also deserve special mention for not having enough grip for a RWD car, but having enough to be reasonable AWD practice tires. They last even longer than Kyosho 20 slicks so you could mount a pair and it might last you half a year.

At the bottom of the tier list are the tires that just don't seem to be good for anything except maybe drifting. Kyosho 40-50 degree tires, for example, just have no grip. I haven't been keeping track of the availble tires in this tier so I'll stop the listing here.

One last note, foam tires. Though not popular on RCP (not allowed with most tracks because of traction compound concerns), if your local track is of the carpet/Ozite or rubber/Regupol variety, foam tires are a consideration. They're a pain to mount, a pain to true, but their wear life seems to be better than the top-tier rubber tires I've been using on RCP, and their grip on carpet and rubber tracks is phenomenal. I'm not an expert on foam tires and I won't be covering it this time around.

There are many more rear tires out in the market that I haven't tried yet or even seen running, so this article is just a get-started guide to the most popular tires in the Mini-Z racing scene today. Next week, I'll be going over the front tires, and then you can go pick your tires and go racing!
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