Soft tire review (dig my rims?)

[chelboed]

I just got 2 sets of soft tires in. Why 2? Because the soft and medium tires come in a set of 4 with 2 different size tires. 2 are thin and short, and the other 2 are thicker and taller. In theory, you are supposed to put the small ones on front for max traction, and the small ones one back for max torque.

The big ones are slightly taller, thicker, and wider than the stock tires. The small ones are slightly shorter, thinner, and skinnier than the stock Epoch tires.

The soft compound is super grippy. These are a must for my 5cell Spec-2. They would benefit a 4 cell quite alot as well.

I hate imbalance. I need symmetry. I put them on as matching sets/sizes and tested them...

I love the taller wider ones on lanolium, hard wood, slick cement, and all other slick surfaces. They are GREAT for maximum traction and handle slick corners well. They do rob a little bit of your torque, but give you a tiny bit more top end than the small ones. Another thing I noticed was that they like to rub on the tie rod ends. You will have to sand a small amount off either the tire or the tie rod so it will clear in the tight turns.

For max torque, I put on the set of shorter, thinner ones. These are incredibly quick and tear up the tight weave carpet and stickier surfaces. I like this set-up the best.

[chelboed]

Here's a width comparison of the 2 sizes from the bottom of the car.

[chelboed]

Here's an angled shot...pay close attention to the front tire width comparison.

[chelboed]

Here's a good side shot to compare the tire thickness and height.

I got the rims from apex. They are stock silver integra rims with the center star painted blue.

[chelboed]

Sorry, here's the pic.

[Reeyad]

am still waitin for mine, taking so long, epoch is unheard of in the UK, ave to buy my hop ups in the states, am hoping that I can also use the tires on my clone viper, coz the handling really needs sorting, it so dam fast, its like it just skates no traction wat so ever, when u turn the back end always breaks lose.

Improved it slighty by using epoch springs up front, and making the rear, hard, no spring, plus rear epoch tires....

Buts it no-way near the handling of me epochs.......

[chelboed]

The Viper will probably always handle like dookie. The steering servo is very slow, so there is a slight delay in responsiveness. Since you do have an Epoch, you know what a super nice 1/43 car SHOULD feel like, so every time you go back to your Viper, you will want to vomit.

I tore my clone Viper apart and used the cells for other things. I also tried to put the steering servo in my Bit, but it was too slow. Kinda like a diesel or something.

[Reeyad]

don't mean to hijack your post, but chelboed, u have open both ur clone and epoch servo and gears, do u reckon u can transplant a epoch servo and gears in2 a clone, also the servo motor.

Im thinking that i could drasticaly improve the handling this way.....

[chelboed]

A clone servo will fit in the same hole as a Zip Zap/ Bit motor. Epoch servo is much, much bigger. That would be cool, though. Funny, a teeny little Puchi Maru's servo is about 2x bigger than a clone Viper/DG-Master servo.

You know, I bet you could fit an R-spec in place of the clone servo. The shaft is smaller, so you'd have to figure something out there, but it's pretty much the same size as a Bit motor.

The Servo on the clone has a bigger shaft with 8 or 9 tooth gear. Maybe you could use a perfection 3.8 with a 7 tooth bit racer pinion. Better yet, use a motorworks motor, because it already has the 2 wires attatched to it.

[chelboed]

You know, I noticed that a couple of my wide tires are off center so they wobble up and down a bit. I told Apexrc-racing about this and they told me that they'd send me 2 complete new sets to replace the 2 sets I ordered. I was so pleased with their reply that I had to share it with you.

[kwikbb]

chelboed-

Nice review man! Some good information about those wheels, so you got them from apex-rc right?
I know you said you like the wider/taller wheels, but did you run the car with matched softs or matched mediums to see what the results would be?
Speaking of clones, one of the RS near me had a 50th anniverasary corvette... same controller as the viper had. It was $50 if I remember correctly.

[chelboed]

My wider taller tires are the soft ones. I usually run all wide, or all small. I don't like to put skinny/short on front with wide/tall on rear. I don't know why. I do notice that it turns quicker with the same size tire all the way around.

Yeah, I really wish they'd revamp the steering on that clone, then it would be pretty nice.

[Racer9]

Wierd Idea. I thought we could cut a soft eraser into tires and use that. It would create little rubber balls that would build up in the outside of corners like real tires do.

[Racer9]

Oh yeah I love those rims. The tires are cool too.