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Making Foam tires....Help

11K views 23 replies 10 participants last post by  squeeker138 
#1 ·
I need to make my own foams for my SC10, where can I get a foam donut, or blank. Do you think It would work trying to make my own. Any advise or links would be great. What do they call just the foam tire so I know what im looking for?

I figured the oval guys, have made just about everything work....and building what you needed. Any Help?

KC
 
#3 ·
What dimentions do you need, Inner, outer, heigth, and width?

My only issue and concern is unlike an oval wheel, which is smooth. The SC wheel has an inner and outer bead. Im not overly concerned to how it will look but how it will stay on the wheel. I would think I could glue them on an just deal with a small gap between the wheel and tire.
 
#5 ·
Cutting the edges off are no problem really. I have done thousands of them. What you need to do is buy a carbide cutter that We sell here at Windtunnel so this can be done and leave a good finish. Then scuff the wheel and go from there. Mounting is a little tricky but I can walk you through it with no problem

Rob
 
#6 ·
So, im guessing that a pre-mounted foam tire has already been trued? Ive been wondering about that. I feel good about my mechanical ability to get the tire on....with a little instruction. How much are we talking about...for the donut? With some elbow grease and a dremel or utility knife I would think getting that rib off wouldnt be too big of a deal. I know can get that rib off without destroying the wheel.

The LHS carries the Epic foams in stock for the slash, but if I have to buy those at $35 a pop front/back....for me and my son. Plus the rear spacers.....$5? have no idea. Plus the Inline axel from AE $7 plus shipping....me and my son. $164 bucks plus or minus

If I can do the donut and make it work, im down.

I have no idea how much a tire truer is but a used one has to be less than the 164 bucks I would have to spend.

Im also looking into the adapter/rear and inline axel/front, to make this work.

But, I do have a new Oval car with some worn out tires that are gonna need replacement......ooo.....If I buy donut's do I need a tire truer? I like the hands on aspect but dont want to spend a ton of money on a machine that saves me a couple bucks, per tire replacement. My local track is small,and not Ultra competetive as far as Oval goes.

Keep feeding me this info, I love it. Thanks for any input, Its appreciated
 
#12 ·
A problem that may occur mounting your own donuts on a SC trucks is......and I haven't looked up close and personal. But doesn't a SC truck have a odd sized wheel? As in one diameter on the outside of the wheel and a different one on the inside? This could be a problem. Honestly to do it right you will need more cost in equipment than buying the Trinity tires would cost probably.
 
#13 ·
Yes and no, There is sort of a "bead" area. The inside of a SC tire is a little bit smaller, maybe 1/4". The outer bead sits in sort of a rim, its goofy. I just would rather run a foam that looks silly then spend the money on a bunch of parts that I dont need if someone made a foam tire....Its starting to irritate me actually. NO BODY has been able to tell me for sure what will work.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Yes and no, There is sort of a "bead" area. The inside of a SC tire is a little bit smaller, maybe 1/4". The outer bead sits in sort of a rim, its goofy. I just would rather run a foam that looks silly then spend the money on a bunch of parts that I dont need if someone made a foam tire....Its starting to irritate me actually. NO BODY has been able to tell me for sure what will work.
I'm guessing NO BODY has been able to tell you what will work since what you're trying to do probably hasn't been done successfully. Could you make something work? Probably. Is it gonna be as easy as buying a couple foam donuts, gluing on a rim, and running them.....probably not.

Cutting the ribs off the inside of the rim shouldn't be much of an issue. You will have a big problem on the frontside though since there is a step down on the rim. If you glue a foam donut over the rim, you will have a gap between the foam and the rim on the front side (where the step down in the rim is), which will make the foam grab, roll under, and most likely flip the vehicle over at even lower speeds. You would probably have more success mounting the foam even with the tall part of the rim, and just leaving the "step" to stick out from the rim. It will look goofy, and make the foam tire narrower, but will eliminate the pre-mentioned problem.

Once you have the foam mounted, you will now need a way to "true" the foam tire. A donut glued on the rim will be very out-of-round and very out-of-balance, as foam doesn't stay proportionally perfect when stretched over a rim. You can most likely buy a used tire truer, it will need to be capable of doing the large diameter SC10 tires (most foam tires are not nearly that large), and must have the proper arbor to allow the SC10 rims to fit tight on it. I would guess a cheap deal on a setup like that would be minimum $125-$150, but you'd have to check around. Most tire truers won't true tires that large, so your options of what will work are limited.

Because you have so many tires/vehicles you're trying to work with, you could probably save money long-term doing your own, but the initial investment won't be dirt cheap. The smaller scale donut's are $10/pair, but expect these to be more expensive ($12-$15/pair maybe) since they use way more foam.

Mounting foam tires realistically takes more time than it does anything else. The material costs (donuts, glue, rims) isn't the worst, but be prepared to spend a good amount of time to get them race-worthy, and you'll need the tire truer.

Hope that helps you get a better idea!
 
#15 ·
1st off what sc are u running?
if your running the sc10, brs, jaco and others make tires that for trucks (ie. t4, xxxt,) that will bolt right on. You may have to adjust your gear ratio dependiing on the overall diameter.
I think that the ones for the Jato will bolt onto a slash. they are bigger then the a "normal" truck

here are a couple arbors for trucks and dirt oval vehicles
http://www.rc4less.com/Tire_Truers_&_Arbors/c13/index.html
 
#16 ·
Kevin K, thanks for the input. I appreciate it. You brought up some points I didnt know, or even think of. I knew I was biting off more than I wanted, but didnt know just how deep I was stepping.

This has been a big search locally and it sounds like the HPI Blitz front end parts will adapt to the SC10. I havent done it yet, or seen it done. Ive got a couple other buddies that are running the SC10 so its a mission. I cant recall the parts off the top of my head, but its sound like its the best direction Ive had so far.

Sorry Squeaker, but the news is not good for a pre made tire/wheel for the AE....The only one that we could find was the Epic. But the website, had em on backorder.....since then has removed them. Unless you can prove me wrong with a link.....Im afraid we are out of luck.

Keep the ideas coming
 
#19 ·
Have you tried using the T4 rims from associated - take of the rims and it should work.They the T4 rims do bolt on .I'm using them with some old Road Hogs on the front. For the rear get T4 rims and the pin adptor from Traxxas. They fit as well (also mounted with Road Hogs). My SC10 only races on pavement with no jumps. Next month I get to try this out on the Kissimmee Gas Track. I know my set-up works on pavement.
 
#20 ·
The Outside Diameter of the T4 is much smaller than the SC truck. I would have to tweak the gearing a little bit, but it would work. It woulnt be a legal tire/wheel combo by the local SC rules. It gonna take 4 trucks off the track this saturday, but its out of my hands. Thanks for the help....keep those wheels spinning
 
#21 ·
So to sum up, the problem you have is legal SC foam tires are very expensive, mounting your own is way more complicated than you thought (and possibly equally as expensive), and [relatively] economical regular truck foam tires aren't legal.

So unless everyone is is running the expensive foams, or the illegal foams, maybe you can just make do with rubber tires. The Proline M4 (really really soft) compound might work.
 
#22 ·
The carpet that were are running on is personally owned. Its being loaned to the track. We wouldnt have a indoor season if it wasnt for him. We have to protect his investment.

That being said, I looked into and priced the blitz parts for the front. Its gonna be about 50 bucks for everything.....not bad. Both me and my son are racing, so im up to 100 bucks....Online I can get them for 29 bucks for the pair....there's 60.

160 bucks to share foam tires with my son so we can both race just sucks.

On the bright side, making this conversion opens up a ton of options as far as wheels go. Im kinda partial to looking fast....haha

Thanks for all the input, I know where I stand. Just a matter of me ponying up the money.

KC
 
#23 ·
The carpet that were are running on is personally owned. Its being loaned to the track. We wouldnt have a indoor season if it wasnt for him. We have to protect his investment.
KC
Is that to say you are concerned that rubber tires will damage the carpet? It is really the other way around, especially with proline M4 compound rubber.

Example: I've got more wear on my original Traxxas hard compound slash tires from running on ozite carpet than from running on dirt for the same number of races. In fact the carpet tires are worn so much they are no good for dirt any more.
 
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