Drift tyres

[Panther]

I thought I'd have a go at drifting with my old Tamiya Porsche 911 but the rear wheels are 32mm wide and the HPI drift tyres I got seem to be for a larger diameter of wheel. The front and rear wheels on the car are the same diameter. The fronts are just 26mm wide and the drift tyres fitted straight on. Would my only option be to get 26mm wide drift tyres and put them on along with an extra 6mm strip of tyre to take up the rest of the wheel?

I had a good look around the on google but I couldn't find anything.

[commiedoor]

you wont buy any thing that size .. ibought a set of 32mm rims and had a heck of a job getting tyres , i had to get genuine tamiya .. you can either buy a set of cheapo drift wheels , about 20 bucks posted of one of many ebay shops or ruin the genuine rims by going to a hardware store and getting a length of poly pipe with an inside diameter of the rim or close then contact gluing/silasticing a 32mm wide piece on ..

[Panther]

Thanks for the reply,

I've got the genuine rubbery tyres from Tamiya, but I think I might go with my original plan of taking two 26mm drift tyres and butchering one of them to make a 6mm wide tyre and putting both pieces on to make it up to 32mm.

The tyre is so hard that I don't thiink it will want to come off when I'm using the car. I'll see how it works. I don't want to glue pipe on as the wheels will most likely be destroyed if I ever want to get the pipe off again.

[commiedoor]

yeah , best idea is to get some cheapo drift wheels .. my drifting career last about 10 minutes .. i just couldnt see the point of sliding about ever where on purpose when i can do that under full power on the track while racing !

[TA-Mark]

You could get four 26mm wide drift tyres, cut 10mm strips off one side on all four tyres. Then fit the 4 remaining 16mm wide sections onto each side of the 32mm wheel. This would put the join line centre of the tyre insead of an 8mm strip on the inside which may come off easily.

CA glue should be able to glue the Tamiya hard rubber compound of their drift tyres to make them one piece 32mm wide.

To do this I would mount a disused axle into a variable speed drill. Clamp the drill in a vise. Fit the tyre to a disuded 26mm wheel. Fit the wheel onto the axle with a crosspin, drivehex and wheel nut. Make sure it all spins nice and true, then with the drill on very low speed, cut the tyre to the desired width. Call it a make-shift lathe. Of course if you have access to a lathe use it. A neat, straight cut line will be easier to mate up to the other half of your new tyre. I use this same method to cut the remainder of worn glued tyres from wheels after they've been cut from the wheel so I can fit some new tyres.

Some cheap 3Racing drift wheels (all 26mm wide) and fit them to see if drifting is for you might be a plan before the expense and time of making up a set of 32mm rear drift tyres.

[WillyChang]

HPI makes T-Drifts in different widths... they need to go on their "LP" series wheels though

http://www.hpiracing.com/hpitires/touring/

[Panther]

Thanks for the replies guys,

I'm going to try the makeshift lathe method for making two 16mm halves and sticking them together. It should be fairly easy to do. I got 4 cheap 26mm drift tyres off ebay for under £10 including postage so I'll see how I get on.

I initially got the 32mm HPI tyres thinking they would fit my rims, but they are for a larger diameter wheel and have a lower profile.

[VagabondStarJXF]

I initially got the 32mm HPI tyres thinking they would fit my rims, but they are for a larger diameter wheel and have a lower profile.

Yeah. I made this mistake too. I got them just after they came out so no one had tried them on other rims. It vexed me when they weren't right. I ended up going for some LP rims aswell which I'd put with a 200mm HPI S15 Silvia shell (see my showroom for pics). They don't look too bad. Are you going to keep the LP tyres?

[Panther]

I'm afraid I butchered the tyres trying to make them fit, but it didn't really work. I don't think the LM's are the look I'm going for with the old porker. It was a PIAA 911 GT2 but I have it covered in a Taisan body shell at the moment and I've swapped the drive shafts so that I can fit staggered wheels without the rears sticking out too far. I have a cheap set of disc wheels that I use for indoor racing incase I bash them, but I wanted the car to look a bit cooler for drifting.

I'll stick with my current plan and see how it pans out.

[tonysmini]

you could just et a set of drift wheels with a massive offset, these would fill the arches and save you the bug bare of cutting and fitting tyres to your rims.

[Static Age]

you could just et a set of drift wheels with a massive offset, these would fill the arches and save you the bug bare of cutting and fitting tyres to your rims.

This is the best solution, you can buy drift wheels with 10mm offset.

[Panther]

Thanks for all the replies. I just made a set of tyres using a makeshift lathe and fitted them to my existng rims and it seems to be working fine. I seem to have a vehicle for most occasions now (Blackfoot, Manta Ray, and PIAA Porsche), I just want to get a rock crawler now to take down to the shore with me.

PS. Static Age, how did you get on with your Axial prop shafts on the Scout?

[Panther]

The drift tyres worked well but they were easier to cut once heated using the hair dryer.

I just need a smoother surface to try them on now. The road outside our house is too rough and inconsistent and it makes the car unpredictable.