Are current Tamiya buggy wheels letting us down?

[ThunderDragonCy 9114]

I am going to say yes! They persist with the Star Dish design, even going as far as tooling a new narrow hex front for TD2/DT04, but it looks rubbish! Seems like a cheap steel wheel on a 70s car. And don't get me started on the Astral Dish design. The large dish/Dark Impact wheels are cool, but there is no narrow or bearing front option for 2wd. 

Tamiya used to have amazing wheels. The Hotshot and Fox wheels are iconic. Egress wheels look fantastic. Despite the bizarre sizing the Thundershot series wheels are cool, or at least interesting, to look at. Even the Grasshopper and Grasshoppet 2 wheels have something interesting and scale about them. 

What are you saying? Is it time Tamiya did us some cool buggy wheels (for 2wd and 4wd)?

[toyolien 6707]

I agree about the Astral Dish, but I really like the Star Dish wheels, and am not a fan of the Egress wheels. I would like to see a 12mm hex Star Dish for narrow 2wd front tires.

 

[Howards 911]

If the star dish wheels were the same size and internal geo as wheels made by everyone else I’d hate them less. 

Really lost all love for them the day I mounted new Schumacher mini spikes on them. The rears are incompatible; too narrow and the shorter diameter is really telling. 

also they melt in acetone - as do all Tamiya wheels as far as I am aware! Ok you can work around this by vapouring them but it’s silly in this day and age. 

[Andreas W 3163]

Well, you say something I have thought since I returned to the hobby, but never said to not step on someones feet. Astral dish reminded me of something that could go on a wheelbarrow. I am happy that we have JC Racing, so that's why I run Pepper Pots or Kyosho Scorpion wheels on most of my buggys, apart from the Dragons that run 2,2 Hotshot instead. 

[Superluminal 4210]

Yep, try getting hold of front wheels for a DN01 / TRF201. They've basically abandoned anyone who wants a plain bearing fit dish wheel other than a stardish.

[Otis311 423]

It would be nice if they made more full width hex rears too. The Dark Impact rears are pretty much full width but of course they are hard to find now. Fortunately for fronts you can use racing wheels. Rear racing wheels though have that very thick hub which is quite annoying.

[SlideWRX 1082]

I dislike the Stardish - it looks like a brake disc on the outside of the wheel to me.  I would definitely applaud some new 2.2 (and actual 2.2 diameter) wheels from Tamiya.  They did give us new wheels with the BBX and the new Hornet option, but those are both 1.9".

[Kol__ 3967]

I like the Stardish, it's classic Tamiya to me. Started with the Super Astute in 1991 I think. There are plenty who aren't fans of it and that's fair enough. It's a pretty decent performing wheel imo. The Astral wheel is hideous though for sure, wheel barrow?🤣🤣🤣 @Andreas W

JC Racing solves all our wheel issues with their Astute/Egress style 2.2's and they have the pepperpots too, plus Kyosho wheels that fit Tamiya👍👍

[Big Jon 762]

Am I the only person who likes the Astral Dish? Jeez…..

I sure do wish there was a bearing front Dark Impact wheel. I like the style and have several sets in various colors for my 4WD buggies. I find the Star Dish to be terribly unattractive, and the only set I use is the dyed black set on my Super Astute. They’re one of the reasons the TD4 and TD2 are so unappealing in stock form - a set of yellow DF03 wheels really improved the appearance of my TD4.
 

I agree, though, that Tamiya has let us down with 2.2” buggy wheels. I’d like to see something other than boring dish wheels, maybe an adaptation of the Method 305 or something, although the DE Racing Borrego is a good looking dish. Even the old concave dish wheels were better looking than the modern flat dish wheels, although the Bigwig flat dish looked fantastic.

[Big Jon 762]

On further thought, I’d like to see all the classics in 2.2. Egress, Astral Dish, Hot Shot and Fox, even the three-piece 1.55 wheel, all of them. And decent tires to match. I can buy race tires all day long; Tamiya should make 2.2 versions of the knobby dirt bike tires on the vintage stuff. Look at how good that looks on the Turbo Scorpion.

[Blista 1632]

A good looking set of new wheels could've sold me on the Astute 2022.  Brand new chassis made with modern plastics and an original design but same old wheels, same old tyres.  It even ruined the box art.

[Wheel_Nut 419]

I guess Tamiya supply 60mm star dish wheels as a deliberate ploy to make customers buy the genuine tyres from Tamiya.  I suggest to buy 2.2” rims from Kyosho instead.

[Mad Ax 11492]

Yeah, I've thought this for years.  Cars should look like cars, and wheels should look like wheels.  Proper spokes and detailed mouldings.  I intensely dislike flat and dish racing wheels, on buggies or touring cars, and Tamiya's efforts really aren't much better in the buggy world.  I guess the Dark Impact style wheels are kind of scale, in that they look a bit like an OZ Racing wheel, or a modern F1 wheel with a wheel cover, and in some futuristic buggy racing series they could be a spec wheel to aid brake cooling or aerodynamics, but right now I want a wheel that looks like a wheel.

The early 3 piece wheels were great, but too small for today's buggies, so let's have something like that, or a Fox style wheel, but for modern rubber, please.

I use JC Racing's 5-spoke wheels on my Cougar.  They completely change the look of the car.  I detest the original Schumacher conical wheels with a passion 

[ThunderDragonCy 9114]

Looks like there are a lot of people on the same page me. Having read all your posts I think one thing that comes out a bit is the lack of scale, which isn't very Tamiya. Something proper 2.2, with bearing front (or maybe a 2 piece design with bolt in centre for 12mm hex or bearing?), but nice scale or old school design. Even though I have never had any on a runner, these GH2/Sonic Fighter wheels I have left over from my Uktra G Evo build are really quite attractive. Bit of dish at the rear. Multiple spokes, rims with a bit of surface feature. Just a 2.2 version of these with hex fitting would be great IMO. 

It's a shame 3d printing isn't really up to the job of wheels. Would be fun to do some cool designs ourselves.

[Mad Ax 11492]

1 hour ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

It's a shame 3d printing isn't really up to the job of wheels. Would be fun to do some cool designs ourselves.

At one point I started designing a 3D printed 1.9 touring wheel, and although it was very early stage the wheel came out fantastic in resin.  I need to redesign it to grow directly from the foot, so it doesn't have all the support stuff on it, but I think it should be good enough for drifting.

Sadly that was years ago and I haven't had the enthusiasm to go back to it since.  Potensh could print it in a hard plastic, or there are some tough resins out there these days.

[ThunderDragonCy 9114]

Actually, thinking on this a bit more, my favourite looking current Tamiya offroad wheels are the Blitzer wheels and these have attractive spoke type hubs, 12mm hex, actual 2.2" size, bearing front. Dear Tamiya, can you do a 38mm wide rear and 21mm wide front Blitzer wheel. Thank you please.

[toyolien 6707]

I may be on my own here, but I don't think that any 2.2" wheels look 'Scale'! If you look at modern single seater Baja buggies their wheel size is more akin to the original Sand Scorcher size wheels.

 

I much prefer Tamiya's smaller size wheels with their own properly fitting tires. I get, that if you're racing, you'll want to use 2.2" wheels, but I'm happy for Tamiya to stick to smaller wheels for their buggies. Especially as Tamiya have no interest in their buggies being used against modern racing buggies. I'd personally like to see more 'beadlock' style wheels like the Frog, Scorcher & Hornet etc, but in a slightly larger size.

 

[Jonesy924 240]

I don't like the Astral dish or the solid dish wheels, I'll be buying the Egress wheels from JC for the Sand Viper. 

I gave a full set of Astral wheels and tyres to my friend for spares for his Rising Fighter along with anything I didn't need for doing the Super Hornet replica.

The Hornet/Frog/Grasshopper wheels really suit this models but the only issue is tyre choices.

Also don't like black wheels on any car , real or RC. I don't see the point of having a good looking wheel and hiding it with black paint 🤷

[ThunderDragonCy 9114]

27 minutes ago, toyolien said:

I may be on my own here, but I don't think that any 2.2" wheels look 'Scale'! If you look at modern single seater Baja buggies their wheel size is more akin to the original Sand Scorcher size wheels.

 

I much prefer Tamiya's smaller size wheels with their own properly fitting tires. I get, that if you're racing, you'll want to use 2.2" wheels, but I'm happy for Tamiya to stick to smaller wheels for their buggies. Especially as Tamiya have no interest in their buggies being used against modern racing buggies. I'd personally like to see more 'beadlock' style wheels like the Frog, Scorcher & Hornet etc, but in a slightly larger size.

 

This is a very fair point. I guess the thing with 2.2" is that you can get proper performing tyres. I wouldn't mind the odd sizes if the Tamiya tyres were any good. 

[toyolien 6707]

1 hour ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

This is a very fair point. I guess the thing with 2.2" is that you can get proper performing tyres. I wouldn't mind the odd sizes if the Tamiya tyres were any good. 

Yep, maybe they should make some new tires. I'm still waiting for the the Padlatrak rear tire for the BBX!!

[Silver-Can 403]

9 hours ago, Big Jon said:

On further thought, I’d like to see all the classics in 2.2. Egress, Astral Dish, Hot Shot and Fox, even the three-piece 1.55 wheel, all of them. And decent tires to match. I can buy race tires all day long; Tamiya should make 2.2 versions of the knobby dirt bike tires on the vintage stuff. Look at how good that looks on the Turbo Scorpion.

I think JC concept racing (name might not be 100% accurate) do the egress, hotshot and fox type wheels in 2.2. I recently purchased a hotshot set in black for my new boomerang and an egress set in pink for my df 01. Obviously they're not official tamiya but they seem OK and they'll be runners anyway. They're available through modelsport. 

[Thommo 1501]

Great topic from @ThunderDragonCy.  I’m picking up Tamiya got it right with scale buggies right up to the BBX.  Star Dish wheels look great on the Super Astute and Top Force where they started, but getting tired 34 years later…    Combine DF03 rears with DT02 dish wheels on the front if you’re running 2WD bearing front and DF03 wheels for hex all round and Tamiya do have “good” tyres for both set ups.  There is a buggy hex dish wheel from the DB01 era too.  
 

if you’re running any buggy with all hex, my fave is good old CC01 / TA02T wheels with either Rock Blocks or BBX rear tyres.  They look good and work great with more give in the sidewall for proper off road.  

[MadAnt 899]

The fact that not many aftermarket companies make compatible wheels anymore is a bummer too. I would love to see more cool designs for 2.2 buggy wheels that accept metric bearings instead of having to modify stuff to work, which is what I did.

[ChrisRx718 4730]

On this topic, you right knowledgeable bunch, is there a way for me to fit Tamiya 54896 Rib Spike Front Tyres to my TD2 (hex)?

I ordered them as I'm having some under-steery issues on a local compacted grass track and I thought these might improve front end 'bite' but they're too narrow for my hex-fit front buggy wheels.

Alternatively does anyone know of an aftermarket 2WD front wheel which I could try instead?

[Thommo 1501]

I thought 4WD front square spikes would be a direct fit.  I’ve used those on DT02 front dish that work with the same soft rib tyre.