Crawler Innovations Khaos-Rover Comp Tire

[OTHGbronco82]

do you think the ring idea will work with chisels and the stock memory foams?

[Szczerba]

Originally Posted by OTHGbronco82

do you think the ring idea will work with chisels and the stock memory foams?

Works with any wheel/tire/foam. I have used it on several whee/tire/foam setups.
You just have to be willing to cut your foam and drill through your wheels. This ring may be a touch tall for some tires. You can always cut some 3" PVC pipe with a hacksaw to like 1/4-1/2" wide and use that too.

[TC09mini]

Posted this in my build thread, but thought I should put it here also.

A few thoughts just about these tires:

They are Crawler Innovations Red dot Khaos outer treads with white dot Sedona side walls.

The fronts are a pretty basic set up:

Medium inner, medium outer, no tuning foams or discs. Inner Khaos ribs have been removed to soften the tire as well as every other row (both front to back and side to side) has been removed. One lug left in between rows towards the outside of the tire. This set up really softens the tired and allows it to grab without binding all up. Great for hooking a ledge and dragging the rest of the truck with you.

Rears is a bit more complicated:

Medium innner, medium spacer, memory outer, medium outer spacer. All inner tire ribs are intact and the outer lugs are trimmed every other row straight across, sparing the center lug. This supports the tires and lets the lugs really bite.

The Good: The tires seem to bite everything. I'm very impressed and have yet to see a terrain that they don't work on. They work okay in cold weather, great in hot weather, and the best in hot and wet weather. This past weekends comp was on some sun baking rock (102* in direct sun) and the tires hooked up well dry, but as soon as they got wet, they were like glue.

The not so Good: I've run them now at 2 comps and a good amount of practice time and my only concern is that they seem to be wearing much quicker than any other comp tire I have run.

I think for my next set which, won't be that far away, (after Colorado this summer most likely) I'm going to try a few different things. First of all, I'm going to try the medium white dot rubber compound. I love the rovers and sedonas in white, why not try the khaos that way. Second, I'm I'm going to run them much longer with the full tread pattern as I'm sure cutting every other row was another factor in their premature wearing.

Over all, they are a great tire and if you haven't tried pins yet, your crawler isn't performing as well as it could be. They are night and day over many of the other tires on nearly all types of rock. The best part is Eddie at Crawler Innovations has made them just as cheap as the other pins on the market.

Give them a try and you won't be disappointed.

[Szczerba]

Good little Review TC.

What compound did you get? My red compound is just now starting to show some decent wear on the pins. I got them back in August 2010. I run at least 2 comps a month but I don't practice too much. Maybe a 850mah pack or two a week.

Edit: just read what compound. Ooopps.

....

[Szczerba]

Couple pictures from this weekend's comp at Gulpha Gorge in Hot Springs, AR.

Tires worked great. Even with some water on them they still hooked. This rock has a little traction but not much. It would be like a 5000 grit sand paper on the smoother areas. With loose pebbles and dust.

I pulled the Khaos-Rovers off after the comp. I took 2nd but only to another set of Khaos-Rovers! I ran my Sedona setup on all the courses. They would hook a little quicker on chopped up/jagged rock than the K-R's. But they didn't do as good on the slicker stuff, the K-H's were better. It was pretty close on which tire worked better out here. I still like the K-R's on this rock though.

The new inner support rings worked awesome! I am running the front pretty darn soft but the support rings gives me back support needed for sidehills, uphill ledge digs, etc.

Pictures by Helhedded.

[helhedded]

This tire kicks ass. I have found the answer to slick rock.

well, there's my review.

[Szczerba]

Tires working on some semi-slick with jagged outcrops. Just slow 'er down and they'll hook. Check out the fancy foot work at 1:58

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1g-mL5Nm6Y

from rubiredunlmtd's video thread. Thanks Josh. There are 3 other trucks running Khaos-Rovers in this thread too.

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/showt...69#post3130669

[JeremyH]

Nice videos Shane!

[Highlucks]

Thanks for your tech on these tyres, I have just mounted a set that I made a couple of weeks ago and look forward to trying them out.


How on earth did you stuff this much foam into a tyre with out it wadding up.

Do you do one foam at a time or roll up the whole package and jam it in there?

[Szczerba]

Originally Posted by JeremyH

Nice videos Shane!

Thanks Jeremy. Khaos's are still a great tire even though they are almost a year old now. That's the Red Compound.
I have been putting alot of testing into the HB Block tire, as of late.

Originally Posted by highlucks

Thanks for your tech on these tyres, I have just mounted a set that I made a couple of weeks ago and look forward to trying them out.


How on earth did you stuff this much foam into a tyre with out it wadding up.

Do you do one foam at a time or roll up the whole package and jam it in there?

Grab the foam in the middle, squeeze with thumb and forefinger. Makes an 8, kinda. Stuff one end pull the bead of the tire around and put the other end in. Then make sure the foam is seated correctly in the tire by using your fingers.
Pictured is brand new soft outers with outer tuning rings. They are tall like that when brand new. It's not tough to get 'em in there.

[Highlucks]

OK I tried again last night. Not as you described but probably every other conceivable way and no joy. I always ended up with around 2 inches of the outer folded over its self. Ah well I guess I just have to persist.

[Harvo]

I have been loving these tires. The memory foam has been working great, but now its cooling off here. What's the preferred non memory setup with these things? I have med. Inner that I would like to stick with... but should I order soft outers or med?

[ittybitty]

Mediums should work well for you Harvo. From what Eddie has told me in the past...and actually trying it after he explained it the softs will allow the lugs to fold over to easy...the mediums will provide just enough support to help the lugs do work! When I first put the mediums in my tires I thought they were WAY too stiff...but after a few times out they've gotten just right.

[Szczerba]

Originally Posted by Harvo

I have been loving these tires. The memory foam has been working great, but now its cooling off here. What's the preferred non memory setup with these things? I have med. Inner that I would like to stick with... but should I order soft outers or med?

from post #102. Of course this is for my setup.
Reds.
Medium inner, medium outer and medium outer tuning ring in the rear.
Medium inner, soft outer and inner wheel support

Originally Posted by ittybitty

Mediums should work well for you Harvo. From what Eddie has told me in the past...and actually trying it after he explained it the softs will allow the lugs to fold over to easy...the mediums will provide just enough support to help the lugs do work! When I first put the mediums in my tires I thought they were WAY too stiff...but after a few times out they've gotten just right.

I have not tried the medium outers up front. I have had good results with soft outers up front and sometimes a tuning ring around that. I guess I differ a bit from Eddie but I like the fronts to be a little softer. My truck is 5.5lbs.
Also, if you run an inner support ring. Stock rover foams, channeled for the support ring, work good up front too.

[Szczerba]

Got out to Vegas last week for Nationals and did some tire tests. The rock had tons of grip, like Disney with teeth. But was also super dusty alot of areas with loose gravel.
Super worn out tires were working well. Most guys were running Sedona's, boss claws, khaos or rovers.

I tested the red Blocks with medium inners, memory outers and some outer tuning rings out back, no outer rings up front but inner wheel supports. The blocks did ok but lacked the forward bite for some reason. The blocks would just spin and not bite. You could hear them working but they wouldn't grab.

I switched to the Khaos (year old tires!) setup, with my normal non-memory setup, with front inner support wheel rings. The khaos's worked awesome. They had better forward bite but could still break loose of the rocks when needed (not too much grip).

I also tested sedona's and they had a touch more forward bite than the Khaos setup. But in some cases too much grip and would slide a little more on the dusty rocks. And I didn't like the unpredictability of the sedonas with some wheel speed. They were a close second for the comp tire choice.

So, I ended up running Khaos's for Saturday's comp and switching the foams to the medium inners/ memory outers.
I added a medium inner tuning ring and a firm outer tuning ring. So, 4 layers of foam in each rear tire, kinda firm. Tires worked awesome.

My driving skills on the other hand still need some tuning. I ended up 65th! But there were a ton of good drivers and I made mistakes.

First picture is of year old (red) Khaos fronts.
Second picture is of year (red) Khaos rears.

[Harvo]

I had some 5.5" CI foams (med inner)(med outer) but only 2. So I mounted those in front.

For the rear, I dug into my box of foam and came out with some of the old, narrow Panther F400 foam. They are just a tuning ring too small, so I put in a soft ring and mounted them up.

These harder foams really woke up the tires. They react a little quicker, but they don't bounce and best of all, they do well in the cooler weather..

The big surprise is that the F400s work really well in the front. I threw them on the Berg and switched front and rear because of the hub sizes. It was just to test out my new knuckle weights on the berg. I was really pleased with how they did. As the day went on, they broke in nicely and the extra stiffness of the F400 foam allowed the rig to pull some serious sidehills.

[Szczerba]

Good to know. I have some of those f400 foams. Have to test that setup out soon. I have always ran a soft foam up front with good success. I'll have to try a firmer setup up front, some guys are having some good results. Eddie likes a firmer foam up front too. I just don't listen to him!

Originally Posted by Harvo

I had some 5.5" CI foams (med inner)(med outer) but only 2. So I mounted those in front.

For the rear, I dug into my box of foam and came out with some of the old, narrow Panther F400 foam. They are just a tuning ring too small, so I put in a soft ring and mounted them up.

These harder foams really woke up the tires. They react a little quicker, but they don't bounce and best of all, they do well in the cooler weather..

The big surprise is that the F400s work really well in the front. I threw them on the Berg and switched front and rear because of the hub sizes. It was just to test out my new knuckle weights on the berg. I was really pleased with how they did. As the day went on, they broke in nicely and the extra stiffness of the F400 foam allowed the rig to pull some serious sidehills.

[Rootar]

i too run firmer foams, keeps the tires tall, side hills good, makes the pins do there job.

[helhedded]

I took 3rd place at Crawlapalooza with my Crawler Innovations Khaos tires. They didn't let me down at all and they did what I told them to. They listen

Other notable finishes with Khaos tires at Crawlapalooza were:

Rootar 6th
Szczerba 7th

[Szczerba]

Originally Posted by helhedded

Other notable finishes with Khaos tires at Crawlapalooza were:

Rootar 6th
Szczerba 7th

Good driving this weekend.

Billet Works- 11th place was sporting Khaos tires too!

The Khaos are a proven tire on the disney, ok rocks.

I have run them all over the country in the past year and there are hardly any places were I wouldn't run them as my comp tire. I keep putting them back on. They are a great all around tire for me. My Reds are 13 months old and still working great with no signs of giving up!