Jump to content
Saito2

Your favorite tire?

Recommended Posts

This thread topic is kinda inspired by a topic TC member @Hibernaculum had on his blog. The topic was such a good one, I figured it deserved a larger audience here. So, what's your favorite vintage Tamiya tire? Possibly odd to think of at first, but tires add so much to the personality of old Tamiyas not to mention the smell we all get when cracking open that kit for the first time. I have a love for them all, the sand paddles, the buggy spikes, the Holiday Buggy tire, the massive Clod Buster tire etc.

If I had to pick one buggy and one truck tire it would be down to the Super Gripper Pin Spikes and the Monster Beetle tire myself. The Pin Spikes are featured on two of my favorite buggies, the Super Shot and the Avante. They were Tamiya's "ultimate" tire for a time. The aggressive look they sport almost makes them look dangerous. I wouldn't want to get my hand close to a Super Gripper Pin Spike spinning a top speed. For a truck tire, it was a toss up between the Monster Beetle tire and the Clod Buster tire. The Clod rubber is huge and definitely an icon. Still, the idea of planting pin spikes on top of a standard monster chevron tread is kinda cool. 

 

  • Like 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm with you on the Pin Spikes, but I also always had a thing for the King Cab tires, with their odd push button style flat spikes. Very technical looking, they always seemed like highly specialized serious racing tires to me. 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Tamiya: FAV/Brat/etc "Sand Blaster." Wears like iron and grips better than you'd guess. Second place: oval blocks.

Other vintage: Kyosho original Optima/Javelin "Sand Super." You want pointy bits? You got 'em.

Vintage aftermarket: Pro-Line Waffles, in all their various sizes. Second place: Duratrax 2.2 street treads.

For vintage truck tires I have to give it to the Marui Big Bear. The gearbox fell apart, the steering was only a vague suggestion, but I did love mushing those big chevrons down and watching them "reinflate."

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I really like the Michelin TRX-style tires that featured on the original Tamiya rally models: the Audi Quattro, Opel Ascona 400, and Lancia Rally. They were decent road and wet-weather tires, with an authentic tread. Like the cars they appeared on, they were incorrect in proportion, but correct in other details, and they really contributed to the personality of the models.

Alas, they are quite rare, and presently have no prospects for reproduction. Being an odd size, there is virtually no off-the-shelf alternative...

... other than the slightly-smaller and also-cool Advan HF tires that were on the Willy's Wheeler, and have happily made a comeback with the Honda City Turbo!

The Advan HF-style tires are my second-favourite right after the Michelin TRX-type tires, but that stylish asymmetrical tread on the HFs blur that particular line between the two...

Edit: The Advan HFs are also slightly larger - and much wider - than regular touring car tires, and so I am convinced they will make a fantastic impression on a cartoonishly-proportioned road racer (besides the Honda City Turbo) - like an outrageous Group 5-type parody. Its interesting specifications and little use elsewhere makes it, to me, a tire with plenty of untapped potential.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Has to be the Oval Blocks for me. They were on my first hobby grade car and I still prefer the look of them (and the car) to my modern goosebumps and blockades

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Most iconic for me would the the Grasshopper rear paddle tires.  They don't work well on anything except for loose dirt & sand, but for some reason I just love them.  Also the original Clod tires.  There are much better options for monster trucks now, but there was nothing like a Clod tire when they first came out.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My favourite has to be the Buggy Spike, first tyres I ever seen in person on a Frog. Love the Padlatrak also the Sand Blasters both front and rear, and let’s not forget The Smoothee. These are all tyres I grew up with, and are kinda special to me.

For after market, it’s gotta be You-G’s front and rear.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My favorite design would be the hybrid spike from the Egress, Astute, and even the kingcab/monster racer had the same design just bigger.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 3/16/2019 at 7:26 PM, markbt73 said:

Tamiya: FAV/Brat/etc "Sand Blaster." Wears like iron and grips better than you'd guess. Second place: oval blocks.

Before there was a ton of tire choices back in the day, Sand Blasters seemed like the most realistic tire to me. From a totally function/durability standpoint, oval blocks are tough to beat, grip but pretty long wearing too.

On 3/17/2019 at 8:51 AM, 87lc2 said:

Most iconic for me would the the Grasshopper rear paddle tires. 

Yeah, I love paddles too but my soft spot would be for the big Wild Willy/Blazing Blazer paddles. I did love how long Grasshopper paddles could last though.

On 3/16/2019 at 7:25 PM, S-PCS said:

but I also always had a thing for the King Cab tires, with their odd push button style flat spikes. Very technical looking, they always seemed like highly specialized serious racing tires to me. 

 

16 minutes ago, GTodd said:

My favorite design would be the hybrid spike from the Egress, Astute, and even the kingcab/monster racer had the same design just bigger.

Totally with you guys on these. They seemed like a step forward in tire development for Tamiya.

BTW, anybody have a tire they don't care for? I'm not crazy about rear Blitzer tires. Pattern's fine but they seem more plastic than rubber and the wear out instantly. I had a pair that I think wore out from being on the shelf :lol:.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My fav tire has to be the hornet's. It was my first impression of what a buggy should wear and provided the basis that everyone copied. Even the original RC10's prolines were similar if not a derivative. 

Question for those that remember. There was an entry level buggy (I think) in RC Car Action, way back when. The author in describing the kit tires referred to them as only adequate on shag carpet. What could it have been? Maybe a Cox or ...?

Been bugging me for awhile.😉

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hmmm, I remember that shag carpet comment in RC Car Action. I think Mike Lee did the original Cox Turbo Scorpion review but the tires would have been up to date at that time in the mid 80's. Dick Brinton reviewed the Cox Ultra Stock and he had a pretty discerning eye. It sticks in my mind that the shag comment was made when the Turbo Scorpion was re-reviewed in RCCA's "Time Warp" series (can't remember the author off the top of my head). They were looking at old cars even back in the early 90's. I remember the author got it to review when Tower was cleaning out their old stock of Turbo Scorpions for something like $59.99. How I remember this stuff when I can't remember what I had for breakfast this morning is beyond me. Oh, wait, its Cheerios. Its always Cheerios.:lol:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, geniusanthony said:

The author in describing the kit tires referred to them as only adequate on shag carpet.

I remembered now. The author of the Time Warp Turbo Scorpion review was Stan Vandruff. It was the August '92 issue. He said "The tall-spiked tires don't provide much traction (maybe on shag carpet)."  Being "on the spectrum" has its perks from time to time. ;)

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, Saito2 said:

I remembered now. The author of the Time Warp Turbo Scorpion review was Stan Vandruff. It was the August '92 issue. He said "The tall-spiked tires don't provide much traction (maybe on shag carpet)."  Being "on the spectrum" has its perks from time to time. ;)

Thanks Saito,

Now to search for a turbo scorpion, may as well I have a pair of re-re's both turbo and not already. What's one more?

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Great thread @Saito2

For me the answer depends on nostalgia vs racing. 

The prettiest - and most authentic - Tamiya tyres have got to be on the 934, 935 and Hi Lux.

All stunning replicas before copyright got in the way - and Tamiya still made models with motors vs true r/c 😇

The Blazer, WW and (smaller) Scorcher tyres also deserve credit.

Rubber vs sponge on later sets is a bit like comparing jelly with trifle - both ok but neither satisfying. 

And true performance tyres - for me - started with the 959 ... which is ironic given the rest of it is a glass cannon ! 

Later 80s tinkerking then lead us to  harmoginised boredom - starting with RC10 etc spikes.

 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Any monster size chevron will do it for me. Marui Big Bear, or Lunchbox, Mad Bull, Clod/Bullhead, and the dual Hunter and alike.

Love the pattern they make in sand. :lol:

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I love the wheel (Weld-prostar?) / super gripper tyre combo on the hornet/frog etc, the profile and size just looks sooo right for an off Road vehicle. I quite like the tread of the oval blocks, but the profile looks a bit out.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
9 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

I love the wheel (Weld-prostar?) / super gripper tyre combo on the hornet/frog etc,

They're a miniature version of actual Jackman wheels. I think they were called "VW Star wheels" IIRC. I totally agree. When I picture early 80's RC buggy wheels/tires, its this combo that comes to mind every time.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 3/20/2019 at 9:10 PM, Frog Jumper said:

I'm a big fan of old Imex tires, like the Claw Dawg...

imx7575.jpg

Terry

Imex still make the Baja Claw and the Pullers

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Funnily enough, I just posted about this on another thread. Kyosho's Bridgestone Potenza on-road tyres from the early 90s. Perfect size, tread, shape and scale for buggies and buggy-based chassis using 2" wheels. They looked great and were grippy on dry tarmac, too.

88958270_KyoshoBridgestoneRadials.thumb.jpg.e5d890cd9cbdd867450748fc63940a58.jpg

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My vote goes to the Hotshot tires. They were/are just awesome 

Hotshot

 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The Smoothee...My 1st car was a Hornet. No grip and under steering chaos...but, they look the mutts.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 3/16/2019 at 6:58 PM, Saito2 said:

This thread topic is kinda inspired by a topic TC member @Hibernaculum had on his blog. The topic was such a good one, I figured it deserved a larger audience here. So, what's your favorite vintage Tamiya tire? Possibly odd to think of at first, but tires add so much to the personality of old Tamiyas not to mention the smell we all get when cracking open that kit for the first time. I have a love for them all, the sand paddles, the buggy spikes, the Holiday Buggy tire, the massive Clod Buster tire etc.

If I had to pick one buggy and one truck tire it would be down to the Super Gripper Pin Spikes and the Monster Beetle tire myself. The Pin Spikes are featured on two of my favorite buggies, the Super Shot and the Avante. They were Tamiya's "ultimate" tire for a time. The aggressive look they sport almost makes them look dangerous. I wouldn't want to get my hand close to a Super Gripper Pin Spike spinning a top speed. For a truck tire, it was a toss up between the Monster Beetle tire and the Clod Buster tire. The Clod rubber is huge and definitely an icon. Still, the idea of planting pin spikes on top of a standard monster chevron tread is kinda cool. 

 

Well said!  The remeberance I have is due to the smell of the tires when you crack that kit open.  My first was the Grasshopper and can clearly remember 1984 just from the smell of it.  I have built re releases and remember how disappointed I was when I opened the kit expecting the same sensation.  Once I took the tires out and took a huge whiff then it came back.  Maybe it’s because I’m 47 and my senses aren’t as acute as they were when I was 9 or maybe it’s the way they had packaged the re releases being that the tires are for the most part sealed and not left open like their  predecessor and that’s what allowed the smell to  permeate throughout the kit.. none the less I’m a fan for life and no matter how they package their kits or what style tire they use it will always take me back to a time of simplicity and excitement.  

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just another random thought for the thread. When early buggies first veered away from scale realism, tires were one of the first things to change. Case in point, the Tamiya Buggy Spike Tire. The tire, while found on countless Hornets and Frogs was introduced on the Super Champ.. I (and others on the forum) have always felt the design of the Buggy Spike Tire was specifically suited to work with the Super Champ. The tire has a rounded carcass with spikes that roll down into the sidewall of the tire. With the radical camber changes in the Super Champ's rear suspension, this tire would have been ideal for keeping spikes planted in the dirt. Full size tires generally don't have spikes and the Super Champ was Tamiya's first "competition" off road model. This led them to design a less-than-realistic tire (compared to the Rough Rider and Sand Scorcher's) for a buggy meant for competition.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The Tamiya tyre I liked the most and that kind of made me look closer when I was a kid, was definitely the tyres for the Clod and Bullhead. Big and cool, they were just impressive to a kid.

 

Today, it's probably more about how the tyre perform. I like the Schumacher Mini Pin, Mini Spike and Full Spike tyres in either yellow or silver compound. And they look pretty cool as well.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...