thinking of running no foams

[CrawlAZ]

I was thinking of running no foams on my moabs that are on there way. I know that cutting the foams in a diamond/lug pattern is a good way to do it, but It seems like no foams would get more grip. What are the disadvantages of running no foams? Also I am going to add some weight to all four wheels, how much weight should I add and how should I add it? I heard about a leadshot or something, and also just taping weights.

[DUDE]

It won't work, the side wall of the tire is too weak.

[666]

If they are 2.2 moabs or xl's you will need foams, otherwise the tire will wad up and, or fall over, they are just too soft imo.

[gregrocks90046]

i have seen guys run moab xl's with no foam, and they worked well. if you are using bead locks, what's the harm in trying it out?

[666]

Originally Posted by gregrocks90046

i have seen guys run moab xl's with no foam, and they worked well. if you are using bead locks, what's the harm in trying it out?

Were there any holes in the rims?

[gregrocks90046]

i don't know for sure, but i could find out. i want to say there were holes in the rims because the tires did tend to wrap themselves on the rocks. but they did work for his rig/terrain.

[666]

I'm interested... could you find out please? Also what kind of rig was it, weight and such? And what kind of terrain?

[DUDE]

Originally Posted by gregrocks90046

i have seen guys run moab xl's with no foam, and they worked well. if you are using bead locks, what's the harm in trying it out?

Nothing, it's what is fun about experimenting, hell, it seems I am the only one who can figure out a 2.2 Red Rock. They work killer, but not cheap in the eyes of many. I think $80 on some tires for a crawler is no biggie, I know guys who spend more than that on beer in a month easy.

[gregrocks90046]

Originally Posted by TXT-666

I'm interested... could you find out please? Also what kind of rig was it, weight and such? And what kind of terrain?

i can tell you it's a clod with a gecko chassis. he also ran them on his stick clod, and his TXT if i'm not mistaken. the terrian was the RCX 2006 crawling course and all types of natural terrain. i'll find out about the air holes.

[gregrocks90046]

Originally Posted by DUDE

Nothing, it's what is fun about experimenting, hell, it seems I am the only one who can figure out a 2.2 Red Rock. They work killer, but not cheap in the eyes of many. I think $80 on some tires for a crawler is no biggie, I know guys who spend more than that on beer in a month easy.

so what did you do with the 2.2 red rock to make it work?

[K_B]

Check out the Red Rock 2.2 Thread or Dude's post about "The Punisher". He removed the lugs from one set and glued them to another set.

I run no foams with my 2.2 Moabs. But my rig only weighs 3lbs too. I occassionally have a problem with the tires wrapping up, but other than that, they work good. I tried 'em with cut foams first and there was zero flex in the sidewall. I even tried running the outer ring part of the foams that I cut off and that was completely pointless...

[pigeonfarmboy]

I'm who gregrocks is speaking of... I run the XLs on narrowed narrow cheyenne locks with two small holes in the wheels. They do fold over but it really doesn't hurt the performance of the rig and most of the time it just seems to help with traction. I placed duct tape on the inside of the tires to give some sort of reinforcement and that seems to make a good difference. You have to store your rigs up off the tires like this though, the duct tape will create dead spots in the tires. I use 7oz. of bbs in each front tire. Having weight in the rear will not result in any performance gains and probably will cause a negative effect.

I also run my 2.2 moabs with no foams on my TLT with the RC4WD beadlocks and that seems to work great too. I found that filling the front tires up about 60% with Airsoft bbs really works nice. Airsoft bbs are 6mm plastic balls that come in varying weights. (.20grams and .25grams being the most common. You can usually find these at places like wal-mart now) Since they weigh less than lead shot bbs you can put more in the tire. It really is almost like an "Active Foam" inside the tire and I believe I'll be using this method to replace all my lead shot weights. I thought about shredding a foam insert into very small pieces but I think that it would tend to group up inside the tire and make the support uneven.

You also have to understand that adding weight to the tires like this puts more strain on drivetrain parts. You will inherit the tendency to break and bend more parts using tire weights. A small price to pay for better performance if you ask me.

[Rockpiledriver]

Good idea with the airsoft bb's I may have to give that a try.

I have been running a set of standard moabs on narrowed Outbacks for over a year with no foams and good size air holes in the rims. Works great. But the sidwalls are a lot stiffer than an XL.

[pigeonfarmboy]

Yes standard moabs have plenty of support especially when they age some. That compound gets quite a bit harder over time and use. I would even say my first set is as hard as my old k-rocks now.

[CrawlAZ]

I will be running the 2.2 moabs on hpi rims, non beadlock. I am not sure if I want to use weight's because of the parts breaking issue. I want my rig to be reliable and quite frankly I am sick of fixing all my RC's, I just want to have some constant fun with them. Don't get me wrong I love working on them, but constantly having to buy new parts and jimmy rig stuff is not much fun. I might just add some foam spikes, because I figure if I am stuck on a rock and the spike is on the rock, all I have to do to get the no foam effect is slide the tire a little bit so the rock is in between the spikes.

[pigeonfarmboy]

You can always just "tack" the tires to the rims in a couple small spots and try different setups. I really think it's 100% personal preference.

[J_Bone]

CrawlAZ,
Let me know which setup you are going to use. I got Moab's too and I'm not sure how to run the foams. I have Beadlocks so it might be easier for me, but I don't want to cut foams and then go re-buy some more because I did them wrong.
I've read so much my head is spinning. Spiked foam, block foams no foams..

I plan on attending some AZ events so maybe I meet all you guys in person.

[CrawlAZ]

Well I cut them in a spike shape, like lugs all the way around the foam. Spiking out. I have only crawled a little indoor with them, but they seem to grab well when under pressure and when needed too, but when just driving on flat they keep there shape. They are good for ledges and things like that too, because the no foam spot's grab. I also trimmed the side of the foams to make them narrower, and it gave it sort of a narrowed effect, the stock foams seem really wide and like they would be too wide. hope this helps a little. I have learned that reading on here helps A TON! but also if you just think about the physics of things you can figure it out.

[CrawlAZ]

well I did some testing just now and I cut two foams a little differently to see how to cut the rears. On the right I had more spikes, smaller spaces and on the left I had less spikes, bigger spaces. The right actually seemed to pull a little better and for some reason seemed to give more under pressure, which I loved. I am going to cut the rears like this, more spikes, smaller spaces. It just seems to work a little better. Either way I don't think it will make much difference. So the design will work well no matter what.

[J_Bone]

So with the small spikes, is the circumference the same? Just cut down into the foam? Did you take any off the top?