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Wow, new tires for R/C interests are popping up all over the place. Treadz Tires is just one of many new tires on the market. Treadz Tires has a first-class line of tires for on and off-road vehicles. The on-road are presently limited to 1/10 scale touring cars. Their off-road tire choices are more diverse. They include T/Emaxx in three different tread patterns, 1/10 Truck in four different tread patterns and 1/8 scale off-road buggy have five tread patterns from which to choose from. In 1/8 scale and Tmaxx, you can get tires with foams, or (and this is awesome) PRE-GLUED tires and wheel combos, called RTS (Ready To Start). The 1/10 scale truck tires come as RTS only. The wheels are available separately, but the tires are not sold separately. The PRE-GLUED RTS sets are great! No muss or fuss with finger locking c/a to assemble, this is done by robots at the factory using special c/a's. They are 100% guaranteed not to come apart. The 1/8 scale RTS set I tested came on a very impressive solid face pie wheel that has a 17mm hex molded into it to fit all current 1/8 scale buggies. It is offered in a choice of either yellow or white. The 1/10 scale RTS sets come with a white wheel with a white insert that screws in. The inserts are also available in orange or yellow in sets of four for those who want to add some color. Currently the 1/10 truck wheels are offered for both Losi and Associated front or rear applications. The T/Emaxx tires I tested were just the tires and foams, so I can not offer an opinion on the wheels available in the RTS version for the T/Emaxx. Let me start with the tires and foams for the T/Emaxx. These are available in three different tread patterns and one tire compound (soft). The G1 Slick, for use on asphalt or concrete, front or rear. The G2Tractor, it's close to the factory tread and is for use on all terrain. The G3 Grass, which is what I received, (it states that it is good for use on grass) I would say short grass, it also grips superbly while R/C rock crawling!
The 1/10 scale truck tires are offered in four different tread patterns and two different compounds. The compounds offered are Soft, which is for racing, and Play, which is for practice and bashing around. The tread patterns offered are F1 Cutter, this is a front tire application only and is the more traditional ribbed design. It looks kinda like a front tractor tire. The F2 Magic tread pattern is a rear tire application only, which is a small studded design with small bars in the center of the tread. The F3 Digger tread pattern, front or rear applications, has large evenly spaced blocks of tread for off-road traction. The F4 Slick tread pattern, front or rear applications, is suited for asphalt or on-road running.
The 1/8 scale off-road buggy tires come in three different compounds ( I have only seen two of the three) and five different tread patterns. The compounds are "A" soft, "B" medium and "C" hard. I have only seen the A and B compound tires. Each pair of tires include a set of stickers which show the compound by its letter designation. This way you can label the inside of your wheels so you don't get your tires confused. The wheels themselves are a very tough plastic and take tons of abuse without deforming. The hole for the wheel nut is a tad small and some wrenches will not fit inside this hole. Treadz however, does offer its own 17mm nut wrench for these and it works great and looks cool as well. If you get one, you might want to keep it in your pocket at the track, as there were numerous people oggling my wrench at the track. The tread patterns available in 1/8 scale off-road include the M1 Rally, its a street tread patterned tire. The M5 Atomic, M6 Bulldog, M7 Cosmic and M8 Grip. These treads are all for off-road racing use. To determine which one is best suited for the track you are running you'll need to try them out. Below are some pictures of the tread patterns. The "C" compound is only available in the RTS tire wheel sets in the M5, M6, M7, and M8. The M1 Rally is available in RTS or just the tire/foam in A, B, or C compounds.
After running these tires for a couple of races and getting some input from a few other local racers after letting them run them, here are some conclusions. On the 1/10 truck tires, the foams seemed to become softer after some extended running. I have been told that the truck foam has been changed to a new, stiffer foam. That was basically the only complaint on the entire line, as far as performance. Of course I had a few comments from fellow racers regarding more tread pattern choices (which is always the case). The 1/8 scale off-road tires worked flawlessly and after many crashes and large jumps the wheels stayed true and there were NO glue failures in any of the RTS sets. Overall, I was very impressed by performance of the Treadz Tires I received. They are not shown on their web site, but there are several new tread patterns offered in 1/10 truck tires that are now available and one new tread pattern in 1/8 scale buggy. There are also quite a few new Treadz Toolz available as well. If your local hobby shop does not carry Treadz, get them to give Mr. Saxton a call at the below number and get them set up to sell Treadz! It's not difficult and it never hurts to have more variety to choose from!
Any questions or comments regarding this article, please feel free to email me: Glenn
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