Boss Claw Foam Tuning

[Del Monte]

Awesome pics Jay!

Good to see the Performance Memory foam doing work in the finals


Sounds like you've found a great setup for the DH Procomps. I'm running my Losi memory foams in my SLW's with a few wraps of weight for support. I'll have to try them with a slice of standard foam in my DH's.

[Harvo]

I'm having troubles. I thought the front was too hard, but i have softened them with Nova Foam and now I think they don't have enough friction (?) on smooth rock. They spin alot with little forward progress on steep stuff.

I normally run rear tires softer than fronts so they will ease up onto obstacles easier when the front is pointed skyward, but these tires grab and want to flip me back.

So the rears are getting enough (maybe too much) traction and the fronts aren't getting enough. My front wheels are 15 oz. each and I will not be going any heavier.

So it's back to the foam drawing board.

[RealDeel]

Stock Rover foam with the outer memory foam from the oversized Proline 2 stage.

I am using this front and rear. My fronts have a wrap of lead on the wheels and makes them just a bit firmer.

[Del Monte]

Originally Posted by Harvo

I'm having troubles. I thought the front was too hard, but i have softened them with Nova Foam and now I think they don't have enough friction (?) on smooth rock. They spin alot with little forward progress on steep stuff.

I normally run rear tires softer than fronts so they will ease up onto obstacles easier when the front is pointed skyward, but these tires grab and want to flip me back.

So the rears are getting enough (maybe too much) traction and the fronts aren't getting enough. My front wheels are 15 oz. each and I will not be going any heavier.

So it's back to the foam drawing board.

Interesting, I wonder if there's a balance in between our stock foams and the Nova's? I have seen the exact same thing happen on smooth rock, and that is the reason that I run the oversized memory foams in the front.

[fa1rch1ld]

Got the new Losi Oversized foams today....I was expecting them to be a little
fuller...I can tell they will be great for a .7 wheel with some weight added to the
inside....

I love my setup on my 1.0 rims...Nova inner with a pro-line outer...Try it out.

[sledge57]

Originally Posted by Del Monte

Awesome pics Jay!

Good to see the Performance Memory foam doing work in the finals


Sounds like you've found a great setup for the DH Procomps...............

Yes thank you, I will be trying this as soon as my foams arrive

[blue10]

Originally Posted by Del Monte

Awesome pics Jim.

Corrected....

Thanks, Jake!

I've been having a fair bit of trouble with rear suspension geometry, on my Bully axled V3 BettleJuice. It's ironic that the improved performance of the tires is actually making the setup problems with the rig more noticeable and therefore easier to isolate and troubleshoot. Because the tires don't do anything odd, but run smooth and predictably, with or without traction, I can see better what the suspension is doing.

Jay, thanks for the tips on the foams. I've still got some tuning to do there also and am planning on trying your sidewall tip. I'm also looking to play around a bit with wheel sizes. I'm running DH Pros now for the width, but do want to try them on the .7 SLW's, for the weight savings. Running a bully means a heavy truck. I'm close to 7lbs with the DH wheels and the truck feels better overall at 6.5 lbs with the SLW's.

[Quinn]

Seems like everyone running these tires is running slab. A friend of mine bought a set to crawl on our backyard course and they didn't seem to work well. Mostly climbs with lots of sharp boulders that got there by lifting. Rockers aren't huge, but far from pebbles. Is this the general consensus?

[Nabil]

i ran them multiple times on broken up rocks and they just work everywhere. i see your local to me, maybe we can meet up and i can see what they are doing

[vodka child]

Originally Posted by blue10

Corrected....

I've been having a fair bit of trouble with rear suspension geometry, on my Bully axled V3 BettleJuice. .

Hey Jim i'm also running a Bully BJV3 and played around with the rear links and suspension points, what have you found working for you? know this is about thread is about tyres but would be good to hear what you've found for your set up - will PM you as well.
Cheers
Darren

[squish72]

Tonight I'm going to tear down my tires and add weight. Can't decide where I should start with foams I have a little selection novas, stock boss's, stock rovers, and x lock foams I'm running a lcc and need a starting sugjestion tried novas at all corners with a 5lb rig and it worked good on smaller smooth river rock but would not hook anywhere else. Any sugestions would be very helpfull

[blue10]

Originally Posted by vodka child

Hey Jim i'm also running a Bully BJV3 and played around with the rear links and suspension points, what have you found working for you? know this is about thread is about tyres but would be good to hear what you've found for your set up - will PM you as well.
Cheers
Darren

Answered in PM so we can keep our Bully setup Top Secret!!

Actually, I'm thinking as I get the problem narrowed, I'll post something up in Bully Zone.

[EeePee]

Originally Posted by e-hills4x4

and they just work everywhere.

... until they're covered in dust.

Ran mine last night indoors in the dustiest place I've ever ran. The first half of the course goes great until the dust overwhelms traction. Then without some larger tread lugs like the typical tire, I might of even had a disadvantage. Tough call.

Oversize Losi foams in front work saaaah-weet. You get great tire grip and great conformity action. Great wrappage on ledges too. I might try Rubba's slice of grey foam on the outside for kicks, but without them they still worked really good.

[blue10]

Originally Posted by EeePee

... until they're covered in dust.

Ran mine last night indoors in the dustiest place I've ever ran. The first half of the course goes great until the dust overwhelms traction. Then without some larger tread lugs like the typical tire, I might of even had a disadvantage. Tough call.

Oversize Losi foams in front work saaaah-weet. You get great tire grip and great conformity action. Great wrappage on ledges too. I might try Rubba's slice of grey foam on the outside for kicks, but without them they still worked really good.

Whew....I saw you posted after me and thought I was getting another infraction.....big relief to find instead that we're on the same page as far as setup of these tires. What axles are you running and what's the weight of your car?

As far as the dust. Yea, if you're on slippy smooth kind of rock, I can see the effect. Any tire would be affected, but I can see where the Claws might be more affected. On grippier rock, dust makes no difference, the tire can see through the dust and grab onto something.

[EeePee]

Too early for infractions.

I have a Losi and it weighs 5 pounds and 6 ounces ready to rock.

Yeah, I'm talking a lot of dust. Indoor place, dirt lot, dirt bikes everywhere, dusty rocks. It's fun.

[CreepyCrawl]

Originally Posted by EeePee

I have a Losi and it weighs 5 pounds and 6 ounces ready to rock.

Originally Posted by EeePee

Oversize Losi foams in front work saaaah-weet. You get great tire grip and great conformity action. Great wrappage on ledges too. I might try Rubba's slice of grey foam on the outside for kicks, but without them they still worked really good.

Nice, my Axial shafty is 5 pounds 8 ounces all up so I think I'll give that foam set up a try. Are you running the stock pinks in the rear?

Wheel weight?

[EeePee]

Originally Posted by CreepyCrawl

Are you running the stock pinks in the rear?

Wheel weight?

Nope, they're a custom two stage regular foam set up. Outer is soft, inner is firm and they just fill the tire. They allow some wrinkle, but don't completely fold under on diagonal loads, if you know what I mean. Like diagonal steep climbs.

Stock Losi wheels, six ounces of stick on weights in front, and only one ounce in the back.

13.1 front total each
6.9 rear total each

[CreepyCrawl]

Great, thanks for the tech EeePee

[squish72]

Well finally went out and tested the new foam weight setup yesterday
Weight is very close to what EeePee is also running. Rig just over 5lbs total (scale sucks)
For foams I put stock rover foams and rapped them with the outers of my novas
They fill the tire and are nice and soft and will wrinkle nice but won't fold under on a side hill
In the rears I went with the stock pinks but might get the same treatment as the fronts

The tires seemed to slip on some of the easier stuff where if I hit it with a little more speed it would pop right up and some of the stuff I thought No Way. . .cause it would find traction on stuff where there was none. So far I'm starting to like them a tad more then my rovers. The rovers seem to have more traction on a more diverse set of rocks but the claws can be driven way more precisely. I still might add a little more weight in the front because some spots I had problems doing a dig on a steep incline.

[Harvo]

Memory foam up front makes a pretty substancial difference. I took the tires to Ocoee (site of the 09 ECC) and on that type of rock, the tires worked much better.

Using a rock climbing term... they "smear" very well. I switched back and forth between these and Rovers for a few hours and I liked the way these pulled just a little better.

The downfall of all that traction is that when you are performing a dig turn on very jagged surface, sometimes the front tires won't slip sideways enough to make a nice sharp dig turn. They just keep pulling forward.

Still tuning. I like them, but I'm not crazy about them yet.