Project Shorty part 4 – wheels and tires

Project Shorty's wheels and tires have finally arrived!

Observations

I really like the look of these. The wheels are a Chinese copy of the original Axial Honcho and Dingo beadlock wheels with separate beadlock rings on a single inner wheel which are not available on their trucks anymore. I'm not sure if the tires are copies of anything or a unique tread but they are nice looking and I think they will do well on many different terrains. At 96mm tall the tires won't be scaling the biggest obstacles but this is Project Shorty, it was never going to be super tall anyway. It was always meant as a trail vehicle so the height is ok. The tire diameter on the Alaska Mountain Rescue Tundra you have seen in several posts and videos is 95mm and it does just fine in most terrains. I think the slightly chubby profile of the tires on the wheels will fit the overall theme quite well.

Problems

There are a couple of minor issues however. First up, the screws that are provided are just a simple phillips (+) head instead of a hex head. As these screws are on the outer edge of the beadlock ring they can see a lot of rock action and a phillips head just won't last long enough so I will be replacing them with hex heads. Second the foam inserts are huge in comparison to the tire. With a standard foam inserted and the wheel/tire assembled there is virtually no compression possible on the tire. It's very very stiff. While this would be good for a road vehicle it wouldn't be so great for a trail vehicle that does some crawling. The rubber compound however is too soft to just go without any foams. So I will have to trim the foams down. I'm am currently researching the best way to do this but my current thought is to trim them into a star pattern and then trim off the tips of the star until they fit nicely in the tire and give a good amount of compression.

Conclusion

Overall these are definitely worth the money. I don't want to give any prices as they constantly change but currently these wheels, tires, foams and beadlock rings cost less than half of any other similar setup available at the moment. If you can do a bit of work yourself, don't mind ordering from a Chinese company on eBay and like the look of these then I'd highly recommend getting a set.

If you've read the previous post on Powder Coating RC Parts you probably recognize these wheels as they are my second set. I will be ordering the same tires for the other set of wheels soon. The beadlock rings on these will also be getting powdercoated to match the overall theme of Project Shorty.