ASK Cubby – More of Your Letters, More of My Non-Sense

“Best Mud Tires

I need some advice Cubby and I know you are the $%@#$@ man to go to. Over the Covid break I bought a new 6S Kraton which has been a lot of fun. With it raining so much where I drive, what are the best options for mud tires? Are paddles a good way to go?

Preston A.”

Cubby- Hola there Preston, glad to hear from ya. Congrats on the new monster truck, a WHOLE lot of people have gotten new rigs the last couple of months. I can’t wait to see how busy bash spots will get later this summer!

Are paddle tires a good idea in mud? They are if-

1. The mud is deep and wet
2. You don’t plan on using the paddles on anything other than mud, sand, or water

IMO, paddles are a bad idea if-

1. The mud is not deep
2. The mud is super sticky and dry’ish (tends to pack on tires)
3. Paddles will be the only set of tires that you have

Paddles tires, like Pro-Line’s Sling Shots, give insane straight line grip is super loose surfaces like deep mud, sand, and when hydro-planing. However, they have very little side-bite, so they don’t lend to much corner speed, and they will wear very quickly on hard surfaces.

If you don’t have deep, soupy mud, and you will be using these tires for all around driving, I would recommend going with something like Pro-Line’s Badlands. Badlands are modeled after full sized motocross tires which are specially engineered for lots of grip in mud, while also clearing quite quickly. Badlands are fantastic on most surfaces, although driving them on pavement will result in a lot of wear on the sharp edges.

“Slash Kit?

Hello Cubby, I really love reading your stuff every week. I saw you posted a new Traxxas Slash kit? WTH? Who would even want a Slash kit? I’ll take my ready to race any day.

Ollie L.”

Cubby- Ya, I know right? Who would have thought that Traxxas would drop a kit version of the 2wd Slash?

Who wants a Slash kit? IMO, that would be two types of people.

1. People who used to be in the hobby before RTRs hit, but have recently gotten back into the hobby (guys getting back into their childhood hobby during Covid). These people want KITS and their own electronics, not RTRs.

2. Hardcore hobbyists looking to make sure every single part gets assembled with the utmost precision. These hardcore hobbyists “go deep” and love spending hours making sure their car is built to the uber-est of standards. Also, these are the guys that will buy all their hop-ups beforehand and prefer to install the upgrades while they build their car.

Btw, as a guy that has raced for decades, I fall into category 2. Personally, I have a Slash on the way and am pretty stoked to build one from bag #1.

Have a weird question? Need a really weird answer? Have a rant that will crash the internet? Email me- thecubreportrc at gmail dot com.