What good-performing 1.9 tires have tougher sidewalls?

[andymac0035]

Short version:

What 1.9 tires (4.5"-4.7") have a tough sidewall that does not tear/puncture easily?
I was looking at the Pit Bull Blood Axe and the Jconcepts land mines but am concerned about too soft/thin of a sidewall.
Perhaps I may have to look more at proline stuff in G8 compound?


So as you might guess, I run sealed tires and have been dealing with a LOT of punctures this year and I'm getting tired of it. Tires squishes... pin hole lets the air out, then closes and won't let any back in.

I run on mountain trails most of the time. There's sharp twigs and these little half-inch long pine needles that have been playing havoc on my sidewalls. My trucks see a wide mix of dirt, roots, and rocks (as well as ledge) as well as mud and water. I do NOT do comps, I just like to get out there on the trail and enjoy my day.

This is mainly in regards to my 8-9 lb TRX4, but will also see duty on my SCX10's and ascender (5-7 lb range).

I have a set of modded/cut canyon trails and a set of the vaterra super swampers that have been great! They have held up fine and no punctures, but I'd like to add to the tire collection and that has not been going well:

RC4WD MTZ'z; great tires but pinholes right off the bat (used on SCX10)

RC4WD IROCK's; held up good last year but then pinholes this year

duratrax scaler; small tears after one run......

Boom racing hustler; punctures after a few runs

Pro-line TSLs; (G8 compound) No complains here, these ones are old and held up for many years, only finally breaking down this year.

I want to try more tires, but I don't want to spend money on tires that puncture too easily. I loved the traction those MTZ's had. I even went so far as to try the hair buns and live with vented tires as they worked so well on my SCX10. I also had to toss them yesterday..... They ripped sooo bad, but hey, what a send-off, they were working killer till that happened. I also learned that hair buns don't hold up to trail duty very well, as all 4 were breaking down after 3-5 trail-runs.

I would like to add that my axial tires (R-35) have ALL held up great, I've never had a puncture with any of those either. I have a set of ripsaws, but those are a bit small for most of my trucks. The trepadors are big enough, but they suck for the terrain I run on. I used to have the wild peaks, I may have to think about those again. I've never tried the krawler's they have, curious how those compare to the pro-line version. (?)

[WHITE-TRASH]

You pointed out your problem but failure to fix it is the issue.

I run in similar conditions and very, very rarely rip or puncture sidewalls since the tire can conform to the terrain and sticks etc rather than just puncture or tear.

[HumboldtEF]

Honestly I dont think durability and good performance goes together, a good performing tire will be softer and the side walls should be on the thinner more flexible side and easier to tear.

Maybe pack some tire glue along and repair the pin holes as needed?

I just put together a set wheels with the Vanquish VXT tires and they have a very stiff sidewall, the lugs on the side of the tire really beef the sidewall up. These dont perform all that great though.

[andymac0035]

I guess I should word my question a little differently. I'm curious as to what tires have a thicker sidewall?

I do understand the a softer compound will rip easier, and a harder one will not grip as good. I'm guessing that's why the IROK's lasted a lot longer vs the MTZ's and the G8 stuff lasts a good long time.

Here's me running the MTZ's, they were great till they started ripping. Some (but not all) of the rips happened where the vent holes where.

[andymac0035]

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

Honestly I dont think durability and good performance goes together, a good performing tire will be softer and the side walls should be on the thinner more flexible side and easier to tear.

Maybe pack some tire glue along and repair the pin holes as needed?

I just put together a set wheels with the Vanquish VXT tires and they have a very stiff sidewall, the lugs on the side of the tire really beef the sidewall up. These dont perform all that great though.

I was looking at those tires, good to know (thank you), I'll skip those.

I did try repairing the various pin holes, but I'd just get more so I gave up and went to venting the tires that got punctures. I thought that going to hair buns for foams would be perfect as I could just let the water drain out afterwards, but they just don't hold up.

Doing a search here shows me that closed cell will hold up, but isn't the perfect solution either.

[andymac0035]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

You pointed out your problem but failure to fix it is the issue.

I run in similar continuing and very, very rarely rip or puncture sidewalls since the tire can conform to the terrain and sticks etc rather than just puncture or tear.

I'm not 100% sure what you trying to say there, but after reading some topics before posting mine, I'm gonna' guess your referring to my keeping my tires sealed?

I've been running sealed tires for several years now. Some hold up, some don't (lately I've just had a lot that "don't"). I run a soft foam and take the hit on side-hilling as compromises always need to be made. The canyon trails I have are on their 3rd season. They are well broken-in and no punctures. The vattera swampers are on their 2nd season, breaking in nicely, no punctures. All the R35 axial tires I have tried have been puncture free as well.

I'm just trying to get an idea of what other mainstream tires out there might have a sidewall that might be thick enough to be resistant to punctures. (usually pin-holes)

[HumboldtEF]

How are you venting the tires?

I use a soldering iron and little flush cutter to clear the melted rubber. Its probably not the best method and sometimes I worry they will tear on the rougher holes. I try to finish it up with the soldering iron melting the edge of the hole. I guess an actual punch would be the best for a clean hole.

Never mind I guess this has a lot less to do with vented tires.

I've had good luck with G8 Proline Krawlers on my heavy TRX4 but I've never had issues with tearing or punctures so I may no be the best example.

[andymac0035]

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

How are you venting the tires?

I use a soldering iron and little flush cutter to clear the melted rubber. Its probably not the best method and sometimes I worry they will tear on the rougher holes. I try to finish it up with the soldering iron melting the edge of the hole. I guess an actual punch would be the best for a clean hole.

That solder iron idea actually sounds clever. I've been using a dremel with a small pointed bit to get a nice round hole. I really do need to get a punch though, although the goal here is to not need too.

The issue with those MTZ's is that the tire carcass is paper-thin. I only had 2 holes in each tire on opposite ends. A lot of those rips are where there were no holes in the 1st place. That's why I'm trying to get an idea of what tires have a thicker carcass/sidewall.

Here's my ascender with axial ripsaws, coated with those nasty little pin needles. They work great and no punctures, I just wish I could get them in something a bit taller.




Here's my TRX4 with the deepwoods scalers on it. There were take-offs with zero runs on them that I got from a buddy. They were glued on vented wheels when I got them. I ran them once, and baked them off. Went to mount them up on beadlocks and found pin-holes... I was not happy. The tires themselves were not the greatest on the trail, but I wrote that off due to the wet conditions. They have a lot of extra rubber/material on the outer sidewall, but the inner part closer to the bead was were the pin-holes happened.

[ferp420]

Originally Posted by andymac0035

Short version:

What 1.9 tires (4.5"-4.7") have a tough sidewall that does not tear/puncture easily?
I was looking at the Pit Bull Blood Axe and the Jconcepts land mines but am concerned about too soft/thin of a sidewall.
Perhaps I may have to look more at proline stuff in G8 compound?


So as you might guess, I run sealed tires and have been dealing with a LOT of punctures this year and I'm getting tired of it. Tires squishes... pin hole lets the air out, then closes and won't let any back in.

I run on mountain trails most of the time. There's sharp twigs and these little half-inch long pine needles that have been playing havoc on my sidewalls. My trucks see a wide mix of dirt, roots, and rocks (as well as ledge) as well as mud and water. I do NOT do comps, I just like to get out there on the trail and enjoy my day.

This is mainly in regards to my 8-9 lb TRX4, but will also see duty on my SCX10's and ascender (5-7 lb range).

I have a set of modded/cut canyon trails and a set of the vaterra super swampers that have been great! They have held up fine and no punctures, but I'd like to add to the tire collection and that has not been going well:

RC4WD MTZ'z; great tires but pinholes right off the bat (used on SCX10)

RC4WD IROCK's; held up good last year but then pinholes this year

duratrax scaler; small tears after one run......

Boom racing hustler; punctures after a few runs

Pro-line TSLs; (G8 compound) No complains here, these ones are old and held up for many years, only finally breaking down this year.

I want to try more tires, but I don't want to spend money on tires that puncture too easily. I loved the traction those MTZ's had. I even went so far as to try the hair buns and live with vented tires as they worked so well on my SCX10. I also had to toss them yesterday..... They ripped sooo bad, but hey, what a send-off, they were working killer till that happened. I also learned that hair buns don't hold up to trail duty very well, as all 4 were breaking down after 3-5 trail-runs.

I would like to add that my axial tires (R-35) have ALL held up great, I've never had a puncture with any of those either. I have a set of ripsaws, but those are a bit small for most of my trucks. The trepadors are big enough, but they suck for the terrain I run on. I used to have the wild peaks, I may have to think about those again. I've never tried the krawler's they have, curious how those compare to the pro-line version. (?)

this is exsacly why i run the white trash turdunkin tire system the outer tire gets beat up while the inner tire gives suport for the truck why still being flexable

it acts alot like air filled but with no bounce and no puncturez to deal with and no flat spots so you can use them over and over again for years to come even if your rig sits on its tires for a day or 2

[andymac0035]

Originally Posted by ferp420

this is exsacly why i run the white trash turdunkin tire system the outer tire gets beat up while the inner tire gives suport for the truck why still being flexable

it acts alot like air filled but with no bounce and no puncturez to deal with and no flat spots so you can use them over and over again for years to come even if your rig sits on its tires for a day or 2

How are you mounting 2 tires on the same beadlock?

[ferp420]

stuff one tire inside the other tire mount just the outertire in to the bead lock

[meatmonkey]

I play alot in riverbeds and also deal with punctured tires. Wet rubber certainly cuts easier. The Axial tires are quite durable, and I'm fond of the Ripsaws, just wish they were available in a 4.75". I did cut'n'shut some 2.2 ripsaws down to a 4.8" 1.9 wheel. There kinda silly wide proportions, but work well on a 1.25" wide wheel.

The Pro-line swampers and krawlers have done me well in G8 compound. I did finally manage to tear a sidewall on a 4.3" swamper, but it was driver error getting tangled with a barbed wire fence I didn't see.

I get that vented tires can work better than sealed, but not when there full of water. Running vented tires in the water leads to the foams breaking down into mush over time, and I'm not breaking down my tires after ever trail ride to dry the foams. So sealed tires work better for me in my conditions. I'm sure many on the dry coast think this is crazy reasoning.

I've never heard of running an "inner tire" on an RC. I thought that was a demo derby trick.