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Mad Ax

2.2 Monster Truck Wheel and Tyre Comparison Thread

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There once was a time when hobby stores and online stockists were overflowing with 2.2 monster truck wheel and tyre options, with the likes of HPI offering more crazy wheel designs than you could shake a pointy stick at and Proline making monster truck tyres that looked good and offered grip on the track.  But here we are in 2022, and wheel and tyre options are thin in the ground, at least here in the UK.

Here I thought I'd do a comparison of the wheels and tyres I have.  Most of these are available now from somewhere in the world.

First, here's some visual comparisons of the tyres.  Apologies for the focus being off in some of them, I didn't notice on the small screen.

From left to right: HPI Mud Thrasher (Wheelie King standard tyre, IIRC), MST Monster Truck Tyre (standard with MTX-1), Ho Bao Monster (no idea if these are still available, I've had them for around 15 years), and finally the ubiquitous Tamiya spiked chevron

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Now let's get a closer look.  First, the Tamiya tyre.  All my Tamiya tyres are glued, so this one is shown on the rim.

Rolling diameter: 119.0mm / 4.7"

Sidewall width: 59mm / 2.3"

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Next: Ho Bao Monster.  I bought these because, well, I can't remember, but I got them for a 14.4v Wild Dagger project around 15 years ago.  They're quite soft, at the time they had a very powdery white texture but that's mostly gone now (you can still see it in the bead).  They had buckets of grip on tarmac, being quite sticky; they were too sticky for a metal-chassis Wild Dagger and prompted it to flip over on every corner.  They are also very bulbous - you can see even in the photo how far the sidewall bulges from the bead.  To install these on most Tamiya trucks, one must use a 15mm spacer hex and barrel nut.  (That only exacerbated the handling problems on my Wild Dagger and made it impossible to steer with a plastic-geared cheap servo).

Rolling diameter: 123.6mm / 4.87"

Sidewall width: 72.7mm / 2.86"

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MST Monster Truck Tyre.  These came with my MTX-1 and fortunately were not pre-glued, so I could take them off for measurements.  Now before you fall in love with these and order a set for your SMT-10 or whatever, note this:  they aren't 2.2 tyres, they are WR-02 / GF01 size.  I thought they looked a bit small on the MTX-1 box photos but the wheel diameter isn't included on any of the specs, only the overall rolling diameter.  Despite this, they are the second-biggest tyre here  So now you know for sure.  They feel quite thin, the surface is very flexible, and no foams are included.  The whistling in the wheels when they hit a bump is testament to the amount of deformation when driving.

Rolling diameter: 127.0mm / 5"

Sidewall width: 77.4mm / 3.05"

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HPI Mud Thrasher.  I believe these are standard fit on the Wheelie King.  I managed to get these NIB from a UK-based store last year, I guess they're still in production (HPI parts can be hit-and-miss these days).  Quite heavy (I probably should have weighed all the tyres when I was doing this, maybe next time) and solid-feeling.  No foams.

Rolling diameter: 132.9mm / 5.23"

Sidewall width: 71.3mm / 2.81"

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OK - now onto the wheels!  These are basically the wheels I have.  I nabbed a spare King Blackfoot wheel for the Tamiya comparison because the Wild Dagger wheels are glued to the Wild Dagger tyres.

From left to right: HPI chrome gothic spike type things, Axial SMT-10, Tamiya King Blackfoot, MST MTX-1

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At this point the wheels escaped and I got them back in the wrong order.  From left to right: Tamiya KBF, HPI things, Axial SMT-10, MST MTX-1

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OK - MTX-1 wheels.  Very deep, very wide offset, hex is practically on the back of the wheel.

Bead seat diameter: 48.7mm / 1.92"

Bead rim diameter: 54.8mm / 2.16"

Width: 61.9mm / 2.44"

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Axial SMT-10.  Now these wheels annoy me somewhat, because, for reasons beyond the ken of mortal man, Axial decided to include these in the SMT-10 Kit Builder's box, but not to include any tyres.  So now I have a lovely set of monster truck wheels lying around and, until recently, no tyres to fit them.  Axial parts aren't usually hard to find in the UK but last time I looked, nobody anywhere outside the US was listing them as a saleable item.  Perhaps it's a licensing issue, as AFAIK they are licenced replicas of the official BKT Monster Jam tyre (although they are not quite to scale).

Bead seat diameter: 55.7mm / 2.19"

Bead rim diameter: 61.9mm / 2.44"

Width: 64.0mm / 2.52"

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HPI dark chromey things.  There's an official name for this and it's probably right there on HPI's website (which I generally find very good for looking up info) but I can't be bothered to go check.  I've had these at least as long as I've had the Ho Bao tyres, and the two  (well, actually 8, because I have a full set of each) have rarely been apart.

Bead seat diameter: 55.3mm / 2.18"

Bead rim diameter: 61.9" / 2.44"

Width: 50.1mm / 1.97"

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Finally, the Tamiya King Blackfoot wheel, which fairly represents the majority of Tamiya's hex wheels in terms of dimensions.

Bead seat diameter: 56.3mm / 2.22"

Bead rim diameter: 64.3mm / 2.53" (note the inner bead lips on both sides of the wheel are slightly bigger)

Width: 50.8mm / 2"

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Now let's mount some tyres on some rims and see what happens:

Ho Bao Monster on Tamiya King Blackfoot.  Lovely rounded profile to the sidewall for that classic bouncy bouncy monster truck look, but beware the bulge on the inside too - this will catch your shock absorbers, so you'll have to run big spacers

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HPI Mud Thrasher on Tamiya King Blackfoot.  This chunky looking tyre fits this wheel very well and looks super-aggressive, but its large rolling radius will make your truck taller and increase its gearing.  Great for a custom solid-axle 2.2 rig, but use with care on a vintage Tamiya.  Again these tyres have a bulging sidewall, so might not fit on anything with big shocks unless you space them out.

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Ho Bao Monster on Axial SMT-10 Wheels.  Here I've mounted the tyre "properly" with the bead properly seated between both lips on the inside and outside of the wheel.  The sidewall is kinda stretched and the tyre doesn't really want to be this wide.

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Here I've done something a bit different - something we sometimes do with competition buggy tyres - I've mounted the tyre bead on the inside of the inner lips, to give the tyre a narrower fit.  Because it has such a bulging sidewall, it's able to fill the extra space made by the rim.  You'd have to be very careful with the glue if you wanted to run tyres like this, but the results could be worth it.

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And the HPI Mud Thrasher on the Axial SMT-10 wheel.  The wheel's great width puts a crease in the sidewall that looks kinda lame.

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Once again, I popped the bead into the inner lip.  The pronounced sidewall profile hides the excess wheel rim.  The lettering on these tyres looks a bit too cartoony for my liking, but the profile is good on these wheels.

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while I'm here, I figure I'll go over the MTX-1 and WR-02 wheels as well.  The wheels and tyres I have here are the rears from a Wild Willy 2, which I believe are the same as those on the Konghead.  For the record, they will not fit on the MTX-1 front axle without a wide hex (10mm should be fine).

Here's a WW2 tyre.

Rolling diameter: 111.6mm / 3.94"

Width: 67.0mm / 2.64"

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MTX-1 and WW2 wheel

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Tyre-swapping

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The wheels might be the same, but I doubt you'll get these tyres on a Konghead :o 

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Bead inner diameter: 48.7mm / 1.92"

Bead rim diameter: 54.9mm / 2.16"

Width: 58.5mm / 3.94"

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Thanks for posting.  It's true that 2.2 monster wheels/tires have taken a hit the past few years.  I really like the Proline Destroyers in 2.2 size but sadly they' were discontinued shortyl after they were launched which seems typical for Proline these days.

I've been looking everywhere for the MST tires without wheels and can't find them.  I only see them for sale from MST glued to the original wheels which is of no interest to me.   I'd use them on 2.2 wheels and stretch them a bit most likely.  If you know anywhere to get them (other than the kit) without wheels I'd appreciate the tip. 

As for the SMT10 wheels, I have about 10 sets of those things kicking around from Builder's Kits...No idea what to do with them, they're pretty useless.  

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Excellent thread as per usual @Mad Ax, your posts are always worth the minute or two that the page takes to load due to all the pictures LOL.

Figured I'd add in a few MT tires I had laying around that would fit in as well

1- GoolRC 2.2 MT tires- mounted on Traxxas 2.2 wheels

Picked up a set of these on recommendation from a friend as I was planning on building a stampede at the time, but priorities changed and these have just sat around. Compound actually feels pretty good, similar to Pro-Line M2. However, the included wheels are molded from cheap brittle plastic and need to be replaced immediately. I still feel that these are a pretty good value despite the wheels being throwaways as the set of 4 was only $30 on amazon. Unfortunately I can't report on how they perform since I haven't ran them yet, but they may go on my Axial bomber and make a sort of psudo-SMT10.

Diameter: 134.8 mm

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Width: 72.2 mm

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2- Pro-line Trencher 2.8 MT tires - mounted on Traxxas 2.8 wheels

Pretty much since Traxxas came out with the stampede 4x4 over a decade ago, 2.8" rims and tires have been the standard for non solid-axle and Tamiya type monster trucks at least here in the US, so I figured I'd include these as a comparison. Overall these tires are excellent, and work well on pretty much any surface with very little wear. 

Diameter: 122mm

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Width: 73.1mm   

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thanks for the extra info @Bash, it's been hard getting info on tyres and the cheaper brands can be hit and miss (even if they can be found).  Gool RC might be worth a look for a bigger truck, without the comedy lettering of the HPI tyres :) 

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Great thread as always! Here it is also not as easy as a few years ago to get Tires in a Hobbyshop. So now you habe to get some in Onlineshops and you never know what you get because of the lack of comparison....

I habe some really soft Tires with foaminserts on my Wild Dagger. I bought them from Ebay because someone suggested these. They look more scale, are way bigger than the originals and provide Grip on all surfaces.

Sadly i do not find them anymore in any shop....

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1 hour ago, whahooo said:

Great thread as always! Here it is also not as easy as a few years ago to get Tires in a Hobbyshop. So now you habe to get some in Onlineshops and you never know what you get because of the lack of comparison....

I habe some really soft Tires with foaminserts on my Wild Dagger. I bought them from Ebay because someone suggested these. They look more scale, are way bigger than the originals and provide Grip on all surfaces.

Sadly i do not find them anymore in any shop....

 

Pretty sure thee are the tires @Bash showed first in his thread.  They're not great tires, but they do fit Blackfoot wheels perfectly and look pretty good on there.  Nice for a crawler as well, had them on my CR-01 for a while.  Sidewalls offer zero support so unless you run closed cell foam they won't work on a high performance truck.  

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