RC4WD rubber compounds?

[fyrstormer]

Thus far I've seen X2 SS, X3 SS, and X4 on the RC4WD website. What do these mean? Do they have other compounds as well? Which other tire brands' rubber compounds are they equivalent to?

[new2rocks]

The tire compounds differ in their firmness and stickiness. X2 SS is the softest and stickiest compound, followed by the X3 Soft & Sticky, followed by X4 medium. As a general rule of thumb and all else being equal, the firmer compounds will work better on soft, loose surfaces such as sand and mud or on very rough surfaces. They also tend to handle the weight of heavier rigs with less sidewall sagging than the super soft compounds. The softer compounds will work better on hard/smooth surfaces such as river rocks.

Two other factors that make a big difference are the foams and tread pattern. Performance of most tires can be improved significantly by replacing the stock foams with foams that are more tailored for your particular rig and driving conditions. Crawler Innovations offers a terrific selection of foams to suit a wide range of applications. I run the CI 2-stage foams in many of my rigs.

With tread pattern, the ability to clear loose dirt and debris can have as big an impact on performance as the rubber compound, Tires with very narrow sipes and closely packed treads tend not to clear dirt as well and can get slippery when running from dirt to rocks. As an example, at the ECSC a few weeks ago, virtually all of the C2 rigs running 1.9 Pit Bull Growlers or Mad Beasts had traction issues, but the rigs running Pit Bull 1.9 Rock Beasts gripped very well. Same compound (Komp Kompound) on all 3, same conditions,, very different results.

I've used a variety of X3 and X2 SS tires on different rigs. As a general rule, I tend to use X3 tires on my heavier rigs or rigs that aren't going to spend much time on slick, wet rocks. For example, I'm a big fan of the Tomahawks on my D90 or D110, and the stock Mud Thrashers that come on TF2s make for an excellent all-purpose trailing tire. Conversely, I like the X2 SS compound on rigs that are going to see more rocks, like my Ascender that climbs like a mountain goat on 1.7 Iroks.

I hope that helps!

[EeePee]

We got a tire and wheel forum!

[gottorque]

X2SS is an awesome compound. Even on heavier rigs i still would run the X2SS, the trick is to let the foams do all the work supporting the weight. Crawler Innovations single stage DW foams are a go to for the heavyweights and even I've ran them on light weight rigs with great success. But like new2rocks said, on a dedicated scale type rig, most are willing to sacrifice a little bit of traction for a tire that has the look and fit they are going for.

[Reflektr]

Another thing to keep in mind when choosing a tire compound is how easy or difficult they'll be to mount to whatever wheels you have...

I love my 1.9 x2 ss Iroks, but they were a royal pain in the ass to mount even on my rc4wd wagon-wheels... Now on the other hand, my X3 Grabbers, and X3 Stompers with the reinforced sidewall mounted in no time flat.

Maybe I'm way off base here, but food for thought.

[fyrstormer]

Originally Posted by EeePee

We got a tire and wheel forum!

The forum layout here confuses the hell out of me. I have no idea why.

Anyway, thanks for the info. I didn't realize RC4WD's tire compound numbers go in the opposite order of other tire manufacturers I've seen, like Pro-Line and Duratrax. It's good to know that ahead of time.

For my application I also have to consider tread life. Otherwise I'd just get the softest compound and revel in all the grip it provides. Sounds like X4 might be what I need.

[EeePee]

Use a browser that works and there it all is in plain sight. Hardly confusing. We even streamlined it about two months ago making it even easier. Rarely if ever have I read complaints about the forum layout. We even have a rally forum where you could look for XV-10T cars. And as you found out, a forum for XC/CC-10 cars. You're just not looking.

[fyrstormer]

This site has 87 forums in 9 categories, not counting the sub-forums that several of the forums contain. That's a lot of stuff I don't care about to sift through, to find the little bit that I do care about. Even then, the forums are so specific (a whole forum for a single vehicle? really?) that the amount of traffic in each one is miniscule, especially for the less-popular brands.

You will notice that I have posted my Build Complete threads in the appropriate forums, so it's not like I'm completely ignoring them. Rather, it is often simply more effective for me to post my occasional questions in the General forum that everyone sees as soon as they load the site, so I can get some kind of answer quickly. I'm not "hardcore" enough to have a zillion questions about a single platform.

For the record, I did try to post my question about RC4WD tire compounds in the RC4WD forum (I did a browser-text search on the main page and found the RC4WD forum that way), but apparently that forum is for advertising purposes only. So I defaulted to the General forum so I could get an answer, and I did.