On-road 32mm wide - best tires?

[Pylon80 2629]

I am looking for the best performance tires to fit on the rear of my Porsche 911 RSR. The rims are 32mm wide. I want to keep these rims (Fuchs!) and was wondering what the best rubber tires on the market were.

I currently run the super grip wide (53231) and will need a replacement soon. They seemed like a good enough compound but are not belted and are very floppy and prone to deformation. They do not come with inserts so when I first tried them I used the only hard wide inserts on Tamiya's catalog and they were way too large and dense for the poor floppy tires and made them bulge out! I was running on the crest of these comical bulged-out tires and of course grip was terrible. I ended-up scavenging the original foams from the kit.

The only other Tamiya option are the so called "racing slicks" (50547), they are some sort of hard plastic you could almost go drifting with  I have them too but never mounted them; they seem just as hard and slippery as the kit ones I was running at the beginning.

I also found some Losi 30mm "S compount" on Amain. They would probably stretch a bit on the 32mm rims but I might like the looks of it actually. The thread pattern would match the Tamiya Super Grip radials (26mm) I am running in the front as well.

Any tips on the Losi or other tires would be helpful. Obviously the best performing tires are in the current 24mm TC standard but I like the Porsche and its wide tires at the back. Thanks.

[svenb 3778]

Tamiya super slicks wide 53228 👍

[Pylon80 2629]

How did I miss these?

Actually wait... They don't seem available anywhere. Any idea where to source them?

A few websites list them as discontinued or out of stock etc and I see "wms-rc.com" that has them. Not sure if that's a legit store?

Thanks,

[TurboRSR 356]

HPI has the "Falken Azenis" slicks in 31mm and 34mm. I have read that they are pretty grippy. 

https://tamico.de/FALKEN-AZENIS-SLICK-TIRE-31MM-FRONT-2PCS
https://tamico.de/FALKEN-AZENIS-SLICK-TIRE-34MM-REAR-2PCS

[IXLR8 1162]

It's now May 2023 and virtually every wide tire mentioned in this thread is either out of stock or discontinued.

It appears the Vaterra/Losi 30mm wide tire and Tamiya's 50547 32mm wide slick tire could be our only choices in today's world (I'm assuming 50547 are still in production - anyway I have them backordered with Amain).

Traxxas has an "extra wide" tire but so far I've not been able to confirm the width.  Anyone know the width on these tires?  Meanwhile, I'll keep looking at the info on their website.  EDIT: Oh, found it -- they are 30mm wide.

Anyway, is there another option short of offset-cutting and gluing together narrow tires?

Edited May 18, 2023 by IXLR8
update

[Pylon80 2629]

49 minutes ago, IXLR8 said:

It's now May 2023 and virtually every wide tire mentioned in this thread is either out of stock or discontinued.

It appears the Vaterra/Losi 30mm wide tire and Tamiya's 50547 32mm wide slick tire could be our only choices in today's world (I'm assuming 50547 are still in production - anyway I have them backordered with Amain).

Traxxas has an "extra wide" tire but so far I've not been able to confirm the width.  Anyone know the width on these tires?  Meanwhile, I'll keep looking at the info on their website.  EDIT: Oh, found it -- they are 30mm wide.

Anyway, is there another option short of offset-cutting and gluing together narrow tires?

Yes the so-called racing slicks in 32mm are the kit tires for the Porsche's amongst others and they are still available. Like all racing slicks they are made of very hard rubber seemingly impervious to even the hottest weather or best tire sauce 😅 but they're just fine for the scale enthusiasts taking their Porsche out for a spin (literally haha).

[Alexei 547]

HPI makes some 31mm wide tires, some in vintage style, and some more modern. have a look;

https://www.hpiracing.com/en/part/4797

https://www.hpiracing.com/en/part/102994

https://www.hpiracing.com/en/part/4792

 

https://www.hpiracing.com/en/part/116537

https://www.hpiracing.com/en/part/109158

https://www.hpiracing.com/en/part/160208

[Busdriver 6209]

Protoform 31mm VTA ‘s might work?

[IXLR8 1162]

7 hours ago, Busdriver said:

Protoform 31mm VTA ‘s might work?

I've had a look at the Protoform tires on Pro-Line's website and they look quite nice.

Apparently these are only available pre-mounted on VTA style wheels.  $28.99 pair

 

Also, the website doesn't list spec's other than width so not sure if they would fit Tamiya or other manufacturers touring car wheels (49mm dia.).

[Pylon80 2629]

I think the VTA tires are very hard in order to slow down the class which is intended as a beginner 25.5t class here in the US. So they might not be much better than the racing slicks.

[Superluminal 3750]

I believe they also only fit those wheels and not regular touring car wheels. They are the same moulding as the HPI vintage series which has an assymetric lip design on the wheels and tyres to give a deeper tyre profile on the visible side.

There was a Porsche build on here that did use them and they looked very smart. Will try and find it.

[Superluminal 3750]

Just realised your probably going to be looking for tyres for the Taisan porsche right?  So will be looking for something compatible with the BBS style mesh wheels.

[OoALEJOoO 3127]

@Pylon80 I've found the 32mm 50547 slicks respond quite well to camber adjustments (more so than 24/26mm), with significantly added grip if negative camber is increased.

[IXLR8 1162]

11 hours ago, Alexei said:

HPI makes some 31mm wide tires, some in vintage style, and some more modern. have a look;

https://www.hpiracing.com/en/part/4797

https://www.hpiracing.com/en/part/102994

https://www.hpiracing.com/en/part/4792

 

https://www.hpiracing.com/en/part/116537

https://www.hpiracing.com/en/part/109158

https://www.hpiracing.com/en/part/160208

Thank you for mentioning HPI - they don't ever seem to be on my radar for some reason.

Using the links you've provided, I've done some research on HPI's on-road tires.  They do offer a nice selection and at least a couple on-line sellers (Michaels and Liquid) have them in stock. 

102994 (31mm) treaded and fit vintage style wheels - 65mm O.D. x 42mm (1.6") I.D.

116537 (31mm) Ken Block treaded for touring wheels - 69mm O.D. x 49mm (1.9:) I.D.

109158 (31mm) Falken slicks for touring wheels - 65mm O.D. x 49mm (1.9") I.D.

160208 (31mm) treaded K compound for touring wheels - ? O,D. x 49mm (1.9:) I.D.

This leaves the two tires that are of most interest to me:

4792 (31mm) slicks D compound for vintage racing - 64mm O.D. x 49mm (1.9") I.D. (the I.D. is from Liquid website but could be 42mm since HPI lists it as "vintage").

4797 (31mm) treaded D compound for touring wheels - 64mm O.D. x 49mm (1.9:) I.D. (Michaels also provides this note: "Note: Because of the special sidewall construction, these tires must be used on HPI Vintage Wheels.")

I have Tamiya's touring car wheels so I'm not sure if either of these tires will fit my wheels.  Also, these websites appear to use the terms "vintage" and "touring" interchangeably so it's confusing.

 

 

[IXLR8 1162]

41 minutes ago, Pylon80 said:

I think the VTA tires are very hard in order to slow down the class which is intended as a beginner 25.5t class here in the US. So they might not be much better than the racing slicks.

You could be correct.

I thought "vintage" referred to the wheel diameter but I could be wrong about that.

[IXLR8 1162]

24 minutes ago, Superluminal said:

Just realised your probably going to be looking for tyres for the Taisan porsche right?  So will be looking for something compatible with the BBS style mesh wheels.

Yes, that's correct.

I'm looking for wide tires to fit Tamiya touring car wheels (49mm diameter).

When I first posted my question, I wasn't aware that there were other wheel diameters available for on-road.

[Busdriver 6209]

1 hour ago, IXLR8 said:

I've had a look at the Protoform tires on Pro-Line's website and they look quite nice.

Apparently these are only available pre-mounted on VTA style wheels.  $28.99 pair

 

Also, the website doesn't list spec's other than width so not sure if they would fit Tamiya or other manufacturers touring car wheels (49mm dia.).

You used to be able to buy just the tyres. I have some 26 and 31mm ones but they are glued on. If I can dig then out I’ll measure the inner and outer diameter 

[Pylon80 2629]

2 hours ago, IXLR8 said:

You could be correct.

I thought "vintage" referred to the wheel diameter but I could be wrong about that.

Vintage is just a reference to the Vintage Trans-Am racing class, VTA. The Protoform tires are the spec tires/wheels for this class in most (probably all) clubs. Meaning you must use them to enter VTA racing. If you attend a VTA race, you will hear the squealing of these tires on every corner and that will makes you smile, it will remind you of a Dukes Of Hazard scene! They are not meant to be grippy; VTA is the slowest class.

If anyone finds out about compatibility of HPI tires with Tamiya rims I would be very interested! Like many people I have shopped around, found the HPI tires, asked the question, got no answer and ultimately did not buy tires that might not fit.

[Superluminal 3750]

I have both unglued sets of HPI vintage / VTA and tamiya wide rims at home - when i get back from work i can take some comparison photos to show the difference in rim profiles.

[IXLR8 1162]

I've taken another look at the HPI website and among the on-road tires we've discussed so far, these three don't appear to require special VTA wheels so I'm guessing they are compatible with generic wide touring wheels:

116537 (31mm) Ken Block treaded for touring wheels - 69mm O.D. x 49mm (1.9:) I.D.

109158 (31mm) Falken slicks for touring wheels - 65mm O.D. x 49mm (1.9") I.D.

160208 (31mm) treaded K compound for touring wheels - ? O,D. x 49mm (1.9:) I.D.

However, I've checked both Michaels and Liquid and they don't carry these tires - only those for VTA wheels.

For those HPI tires that require VTA wheels, from this image, the difference is slight but it appears that the inner diameter is larger than outer.

Maybe the inner is 49mm and the outer is a few mm smaller.

I understand the goal here is to look "vintage trans-am" but I can't see these wheels on a Porsche.  They look like Bullet wheels from a Mustang.

[Superluminal 3750]

Sadly i must have glued them years ago. But you can still see the assymmetric tyre that specifically fits this rim.

Front;

Back;

And tyre slightly peeled off rim, cant see the shape of these locating in the grooves of a regular wheel sadly. Unless you were to somehoe try and cut off the lip that overlaps the face of the rim to give the wide sidewall effect.

[IXLR8 1162]

Hey, thank you so much for commenting and posting pics.  Those are very nice looking tires but they certainly won't fit ordinary touring car wheels without some ugly surgery.  The Protoform tires and wheels appear to be similar - just more spokes.

I couldn't help noticing the HPI Racing lettering on the sidewalls.  It's probably no accident that the font they've chosen looks very much like the Hoosier logo.

[Pylon80 2629]

36 minutes ago, Superluminal said:

Sadly i must have glued them years ago. But you can still see the assymmetric tyre that specifically fits this rim.

Front;

Back;

And tyre slightly peeled off rim, cant see the shape of these locating in the grooves of a regular wheel sadly. Unless you were to somehoe try and cut off the lip that overlaps the face of the rim to give the wide sidewall effect.

They seem to use the "fake" sidewall on the outer sidewall to give a scale look like the F1 tires do (Tamiya F104 for instance). No way that would fit a touring wheel indeed.

[IXLR8 1162]

While browsing the web for something unrelated, I happened upon these 32mm wide slicks by Kawada so I ordered a couple sets.

They have essentially the same dimensions as Tamiya's 50547 32mm slick but they are much softer.  With the included foam inserts (unfortunately, also cut from sheet stock making the tire a PITA to install on the wheel without wadding the insert inside the tire ), the tires do have a fairly high center crown making the OD appear larger than the Tamiya equivalent.  However, I'm guessing with the full weight of the car pressing the tire flat, the roll-out distance will be close to that of the Tamiya tire - if not exactly the same. 

Anyway, I haven't tried them yet so I can't comment on performance.  So far, I've been running the hard Tamiya slicks without glue but these Kawada's will definitely need to be glued to the wheel. 

 

 

Oh, and they offer a treaded version as well.

Apparently, these don't include inserts so they could be hard rubber - but they certainly look nice and scale. 

[Pylon80 2629]

14 hours ago, IXLR8 said:

While browsing the web for something unrelated, I happened upon these 32mm wide slicks by Kawada so I ordered a couple sets.

They have essentially the same dimensions as Tamiya's 50547 32mm slick but they are much softer.  With the included foam inserts (unfortunately, also cut from sheet stock making the tire a PITA to install on the wheel without wadding the insert inside the tire ), the tires do have a fairly high center crown making the OD appear larger than the Tamiya equivalent.  However, I'm guessing with the full weight of the car pressing the tire flat, the roll-out distance will be close to that of the Tamiya tire - if not exactly the same. 

Anyway, I haven't tried them yet so I can't comment on performance.  So far, I've been running the hard Tamiya slicks without glue but these Kawada's will definitely need to be glued to the wheel. 

 

 

Oh, and they offer a treaded version as well.

Apparently, these don't include inserts so they could be hard rubber - but they certainly look nice and scale. 

Word of caution on the crowning. I have the 32mm Super Grip Radials (probably bought the last set ever made 🤣) and they are very floppy. When using the regular soft grey inserts, it resulted in the tires bulging out (crowning) and the grip was terrible. The weight of the car was nowhere near enough to get a decent contact patch. I managed to unglue the tires and I made my own inserts out of thinner foam. The grip dramatically improved after I did that.