Good Tyres For The Snow?

[evirob]

Apologies if this has been discussed before, I couldn't find an answer by searching the forums.

I've never run my cars in the snow, but now we've got some (in London) I want to give it a go. From pictures I've seen, they often pick up a lot of snow on the wheels. Anyone got a recommendation for what type of tyres perform best in the snow? Or do they always just get snow-logged?

Cheers,

Chris

[volksrod68]

Paddle tires are readily available for 2.2 wheels, and also for the emaxx/savage trucks.

These act as scoops and fling the snow out of the way, i cant see them getting clogged up either as there are no grooves or treads for the snow to get packed between.

Have fun!

[markbt73]

My Clodbuster used to go pretty well in the snow on its stock tires, so maybe a V-paddle style like that would be best. And the taller the better; ground clearance is your friend in the snow.

[Spetz83]

What model do you want to run?

I've seen somewhere, someone had a TB01 and he got the standard rally block tires and put pins through them. They protruded only by about a mm or so as he filed them down.

I think this would probably work best on ice conditions, as on snow I think the wheels would sink into the snow

[evirob]

What model do you want to run?

I've seen somewhere, someone had a TB01 and he got the standard rally block tires and put pins through them. They protruded only by about a mm or so as he filed them down.

I think this would probably work best on ice conditions, as on snow I think the wheels would sink into the snow

I have a Hotshot, Frog and a modified TL-01 959 w/rally block tyres, although I don't particularly fancy putting pins through them :/

I will try some paddle tyres on the Frog, they're easy enough to come by, but options for the Hotshot seems to be rather limited. But I'm procrastinating really - I should just charge up some batteries and get out there!

Thanks for the responses everyone.

[HomerJHandley]

I took the clod out yesterday and it performed great.

The centre of the wheels got filled and the chassis was covered in snow but it never got stuck, this was in 2-3" snow.

The battery life was reduced (due to the weight of the snow on the lower parts i imagine) but all was well, it just didnt like turning very quickly!

[Snakehands]

I took the clod out yesterday and it performed great.

The centre of the wheels got filled and the chassis was covered in snow but it never got stuck, this was in 2-3" snow.

The battery life was reduced (due to the weight of the snow on the lower parts i imagine) but all was well, it just didnt like turning very quickly!

The cold will have had a big influence too.

[Butler]

Just been out and a Lunchbox on its standard tyres barely moves on snow.

[Jonny Retro]

Clods go very well on snow - but I'd put that down to 4WD, high ground clearance - and the size of the contact patch on those enormous tyres (rather than the tread pattern) ... my Hotshot went fairly well on stock tyres (once I'd "ploughed" the 4-5" snow down to 1 - 1 1/2" with the Clod 1st ). I've put Hpi "Sand thrower" tyres on my 2WD Mardave Cobra, that also goes pretty well on shallow (or ploughed) snow. Pumpkins/Lunchboxes/Wild Willy 2's are all surprisingly useless on stock tyres - you really need chains to get anywhere (see here, here and here for the ones I made ... I'm in the process of typing up a tutorial - I expect to have that finished & published within a week or so

[Butler]

Awesome idea. I'll try and get to my local DIY place tomorrow.

[cubsfan2009]

2nd the chains. I made a set up for my E-revo and it goes great. It can handle about 6" of fluffy snow before bogging down. Hard pack is like running on gravel. It's also 4wd so that helps as well.

[gozone]

In general, 4x4´s are of course better on snow, due to more tread moving, and thereby, more traction. I run my DF-03 Castrol Celica in 3-6 cms of ice cold snow without any problems, but of course, when the temperature goes up, the snow will clog more in both tyres and chassis, probably making the Rally Blocks useless.

Haven´t had my Hotshot in the snow yet.. Might try tomorrow, LOL..

I also run my Subaru Brat in the snow, but the std. rear tyres (Sand Blasters) were utterly useless, even with every second block cut out, so i tried a set of Troll v-tread tractor-type tyres on it, and now it really goes like a rocket in the snow! Even though its pretty deep. The keywords here seems to be "more throttle" LOL.. Of course again, when the snow gets heavier, it will clog the front tyres, making the diameter too large, fouling the bodyshell and suspension..

Also, i run my Wild One in the snow, and at first, it didn´t go all that well, but after a few tests, it turned out that a full set of Buggy Champ wheels works fantastic on it.. The toher wheels tested were the standard ones, and a combo of Hornet rears and Dynamite Racing rib and studs on the front, but these from the Buggy Champ just works better, which is funny, as the same type of rears didn´t work on the Brat at all. Go figure...

By the way, my DF-03 runs a eZrun 4300kv brushless setup, the Brat runs stock silvercan, and the Wild One sports the Tamiya Superstock RZ motor, just for reference.

Cheers..

Michael

[caprinut]

I use HPI X pattern in the rear of my re-re Lunchbox, works very well

Made a video the other day if you want to see it

It's propelled by a TZ motor..

http://vimeo.com/8536226

[jagsxr]

hi i have been trying out tyre / model combinations over the snowey weeks and thought about some studded tyres?

i used my tamiya f 150 with a spare set of wheels and stuck 26 pins in each of the two tyres , i then took them out onto

compacted snow and a a bit with ice aswell.

It went ok but not great although i disconnected the 4 wheel drive shaft first just to get some comparison .

[Arcticfox]

spare set of wheels and stuck 26 pins in each of the two tyres , i then took them out onto

compacted snow and a a bit with ice aswell.

It went ok but not great although i disconnected the 4 wheel drive shaft first just to get some comparison .

Where did you gt the pins from, how did you fix em in and got any pics?

[evirob]

I took my 959 out. FWIW, it's not an original 959, it's a shortened TL-01 w/repro body and Tamiya rally block tyres. It went ok on the compacted snow. I mean, it slid about all over the place, but it was controllable enough to have some drifty fun. Once it got into anything deeper than about 1/2" it immediately got beached.

I'm waiting on a couple of parts before I can take the Hotshot out. I've got some Schumacher block tyres which are a bit more like tamiya pin spikes than oval blocks. I'm hoping they'll find some purchase in the compacted snow.

Chris

[jagsxr]

hi i drilled a pilot hole from the outside then pushed through the straightened paper clip , bent the end in the tyre through 90 deg

then pull the wire back out and cut it off a small way from the tyre

it looks good but i dont thing it works that well.

[HereBeMonsters]

Just been out and a Lunchbox on its standard tyres barely moves on snow.

You must be doing it wrong!

[Origineelreclamebord]

I have a Hotshot, Frog and a modified TL-01 959 w/rally block tyres, although I don't particularly fancy putting pins through them :/

I will try some paddle tyres on the Frog, they're easy enough to come by, but options for the Hotshot seems to be rather limited. But I'm procrastinating really - I should just charge up some batteries and get out there!

Thanks for the responses everyone.

Choice on the Hotshot seems limited, yes, but I think you should then simply look for bigger wheels and tires which do have paddles. Because of the limited grip in snow (even when running with paddles), I think (slightly) bigger tires wouldn't be too much of a problem to run them with. Something like Stadium truck wheels and paddle tires should work nicely?

For compactes snow and ice, as mentioned before, I would run something with pushpins (with flat heads) put through them. The tires I'd use would be tires with a block or shallow paddle tread, making sure that it's grip in shallow soft snow is as good as possible. With the pins you may want to watch out to accidentally run over a piece of tarmac, pavement etc.

[Arcticfox]

You must be doing it wrong!

That's not snow, this is snow lol (cue a Canadian to show us real snow)

It was great, we made an RC track in the back garden using a garden roller and some hard work, the Pumpkin struggled to get around but the 4x4 Master smacker did really well.

[Jonny Retro]

Have to agree with Mr Fox there - 1" of near slush is hardly braving the arctic wastes

[HereBeMonsters]

Have to agree with Mr Fox there - 1" of near slush is hardly braving the arctic wastes

No, it wouldn't be. That's why I went out in 3 inches of powder.

[Jonny Retro]

No, it wouldn't be. That's why I went out in 3 inches of powder.

Sorry about that - my skepticism re snow depths has been thrown into overdrive by every weather forecast in the last 10 days threatening a new ice age ... seriously, we had 2-3" inches of snow here, when by all accounts, I should have been out hunting woolly mammoths & dodging glaciers

[HereBeMonsters]

Sorry about that - my skepticism re snow depths has been thrown into overdrive by every weather forecast in the last 10 days threatening a new ice age ... seriously, we had 2-3" inches of snow here, when by all accounts, I should have been out hunting woolly mammoths & dodging glaciers

Yeah, they forecast 6-7 inches, which became 3-4ish. Better than my mate in Bournemouth though - he got nothing!