Air vs Foam

[Louisbaby]

Hey guys

I've been eyeing a set of those Gmade air sealed rim/tire systems for a while now. I didn't really have that kind of money to spend on a set of rim/tires that I only what because they cool and not a huge performance upgrade. So I decided to make my own set, using a set of 2.2 aluminum beadlock rims from Ebay, and a set of Proline Flat Iron 2.2.

My plan is to drill one of the vent holes slightly bigger, and install the rubber valve found in a soccer ball. I still don't know if this will work, but it's worth a try.


What is the main difference between the air and the foam?

Most people cut the foam in a star pattern, so this will be like inflating the tire halfway. So what is the main disadvantage to the air system?

[808DA6]

U are going to get tons of bounce with just air. I don't know anybody (i don't know too many people) that cuts foam anymore. With companies like Crawler Innovations, foam tuning has come a loooooong way.

[Louisbaby]

Hahahaha, shows you how long ago I was in the crawling scene. I've been building 1.9 trail rigs so long, everything I know is out of date. Lol

So you think the tire will be too bouncy. And if I weight the rims a bit?

[808DA6]

Yup, still bouncy. The sealed tire will not have any dampening to cushion the rig. Wheel weights may make things worse. But, of course, I'm not speaking from experience. Never did it.

[Louisbaby]

Ok, I'll try it and publish my findings. So the Gmade air system must suffer the same with being bouncy.

[Louisbaby]

I must see if I can find the Gmade YouTube clip I saw once before. I'm sure they had a clip showing the inflatable tires off.

[Honchoforever1]

There's a couple of guys around here that run no foams and just air presure. Here's a link with a little discussion an a video of a rig with the air presure setup,Does anyone use sealed air pressure in their tires?. I run one rig with no foam my cc-01 liberty, it works ok, the only problem I have is one of the wheels leaks a little bit. So I have to loosen the bead one in to let the air in and it's good to go hope this helps

[Louisbaby]

Thanks for your reply buddy. I just watched that clip, and I noticed 2 things. 1, the rig looks very light or the tires have to much air in them. And 2, the rig looks too fast, or the tires aren't gripping very well.

I'm holding hope that mine will fold a bit more... But time will tell...

[notmanywords]

I use no forms in any of my rigs I just clue and tape up the vent holes and it acts like a air downed tire and I have no problem and don't have to worry about the forms getting soaked

[Louisbaby]

Ok, so last night I fitted the Proline Flat Irons to my aluminum rims without foams inserted. The rims are roughly 425grams each with the weight ring provided, and 150grams without.



I'll post some pics tonight, and I'll take her for a test run a little later and report back how she goes...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Louisbaby]

Ok, here are some more pics







As you can see, the tires fold quite nicely. Prelim tests are very positive. I had a quick run over the small rock patch at my office. And what I can say is, there is no bounce, the tire folds to the shape of the object you climbing over.

And lastly, the complete weight of the rig is around 7kg/15.5lbs, she's a huge b1tch... Lol

[Little Fella]

This is great to hear. I just seated my new Mud Slingers on a set of integy non vented aluminum bead locks without the supplied foams. I felt that the foams were reeeeeally stiff for the Wraith I'm mounting them on and I figured I would try air pressure first rather than custom foams. I run mostly trail and rocks so speed turns shouldn't be and issue.