Everybody’s Scalin’ – Big Ol’ Tars
Before getting started this week, we want to wish Corey from RPP Hobby / Gear Head RC a very speedy recovery from a recent accident. He and his crew are an integral part of the global scaling community, whether it’s selling their latest trick wheel or dishing out advice to a clueless newbie scaler on an internet forum. From all of us here at BigSquidRC, get well soon!
When I recently built my Axial Dingo the goal was to use the stock Ripsaw tires. I wanted to use them for a few various reasons, the main one being that I wanted to use the truck for “Class 1″ style scaling and the 4.19″ height was right in the wheelhouse. Or so I thought.
Just a few years ago 4.19″ was a good size 1.9 scaling tire. Nowadays it’s akin to running around with training wheels compared to the gargantuan rubber most people sport. A lot of rigs come out of the box with 4.6″ plus tires while many of the aftermarket offerings climb up over 4.7” – that’s over a half inch of ride height. A half inch doesn’t sound like a big deal but on an r/c trail truck it’s a gigantic change.
2.2 tires have also followed this trend. The older 2.2’s that people used to rock on rigs like the classic AX10 Scorpion were around 5 inches in height. Modern popular offerings from Pro-Line or Pit Bull are pushing 6″ – a massive hunk of rubber.
While I appreciate the fact that smaller tires typically look more proportionally scale, it’s hard to argue against the performance of the bigger ones. I guess over the years I’ve just gotten used to driving taller tire equipped trucks because each time I’ve driven a smaller tired rig in the last year (my aforementioned Dingo, various review kits) I wind up not having as much fun.
You really have to change your driving style and be less aggressive or you’ll just find yourself hung up and/or banging the body. While that offers additional challenge that some enjoy, considering that most everyone else I run with are using the big boys it’s more of an exercise in frustration for me.
Back to the larger size I go!
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