Help me pick out some tires for my 1/8th Scale SVT Raptor build

[DeoreDX]

I'm starting the process of tearing down my son's New Bright 1/6 raptor and rebuilding it into something that can at least pull itself over it's own shadow. As it is out of the box a finger sized stick on asphalt will bring this thing to a standstill. 16.5" wheelbase is about 1/7.6 scale when compared to the real deal. The wheel wells are just a CH under 5" wide. I don't really want to do any hacking on the body to get wheels under it though a little bit of grinding isn't too far out of the question. I'm never going to use this rig for serious heavy duty rock crawler just some mild trail and dirt road running with the 5yo.

I have 2.8 and 1.9 rims so any tire in those sizes would at least be a budget saver. I've seen a lot of 2.2 options that are around 4.88" but at least on paper that seems like a pretty stuffed wheel well. Lots of options in the 4-4.25" range on a 1.9 wheels. Scale wize that's about a 32.5" wheel. I pulled the BFG T/A's off a slash which are 4.25" in diameter and put them under the truck to see what it looks like.



From a scale perspective it's probably pretty accurate on what a real SVT Raptor would have underneath. I think I have room to safely go a little bigger though. I *think* something in the 4.5"-4.75 range would look better and let me roll over some bigger rocks and give me less headache with wheel rub. In the 4.5"-4.6" range I've only seen 1.9 Interco IROK, RC4WD Gladiators, and Rox Lox. I've seen 1.9 Baja Claws, Super Swampers, and the RC4WD 1.9 Compass in the 4.75" range. Most of the 2.2's all looked to be 4.8" and over.

I'd love to hear some opinions on what size tires you guys think I should use, I'm sure most of you have way more experience than I do stuffing wheels into wheel wells. I'd say outside of getting the right sized wheel price is the #2 most important thing more so than performance. I doubt this truck will see much more than dirt roads, some back yard action, and some trails through the nature preserve so super sticky extreme comp wheels aren't a priority. It seems like some of you know every RC wheel ever made so maybe there are some tire/wheel options I have missed.

[canadianbacon]

I think Gladiators, or the Compass would look killer on there. The Gladiators being 4.57" would fill the wheel wells pretty good, and wouldn't have to trim much if any. The Compass' are 4.75" so you'd have to trim a bit more, but you'd gain a bit of ground clearance.

[DeoreDX]

Originally Posted by canadianbacon

I think Gladiators, or the Compass would look killer on there. The Gladiators being 4.57" would fill the wheel wells pretty good, and wouldn't have to trim much if any. The Compass' are 4.75" so you'd have to trim a bit more, but you'd gain a bit of ground clearance.

The more I look at the picture the more I like the idea of the 4.57" Gladiators or at least something of that size. I thought 4.3" would be way too small but staring at the setup in my office I think this size actually looks pretty good to scale. Just a hair more size and I think it will look pretty awesome. Just wished I could find a 2.2" with a ~4.5" OD that looked pretty scale as the 2.2's would scale to around a 16-17" rim while the 1.9's scale to around a 14-15" rim. My Traxxas rims are 2.2 on the outside IIRC and I think that rim size looks perfect. Just eyeballing my axial 1.9 beadlocks and the rims just look really small. Maybe it will look better once I get some rubber wrapped around it?

[canadianbacon]

You could always stretch some 1.9 tires over 2.2 wheels, of course it would be better if you could borrow some to see if you like the look instead of spending money to find out you don't.