Looking for non-magnatraction tire source

[qball41]

I'm looking for a source of tires for my non-magnatraction HO cars. Specifically, I'm looking for the older style foam tires NOT the sticky silicone ones. If anyone can point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated.

[ChallengerGuy]

I'd be interested to know if there is a source too. For now I am using Tom Heister silicone tires on my non-mag chassis and they are fantastic. But I would be interested in experimenting with foam...and the associated tire goop required!

[qball41]

different strokes for different folks!

I'm actually looking to "unhook" the back of the car a bit to get a little more of a power slide effect like you can get with the larger slot cars.

[vins123]

Hi
for foam tire, over the years, i did not find anything but from Tyco you can have replacement as combo rims and foam tire, unfortunately the front and the rear rims won't match anymore...
Sylvain

[RichD]

The original A/FX cars had foam tires, I remember those as being a pain in the neck. They had no grip at all unless you used conditioner on them and the gooped tires would go off rather quickly. While it is fun to run a car that slides a lot when you are by yourself it is very difficult to race cars with poor grip, especially HO cars. Foam tires need to be glued to the wheels, they stretch and slip on the wheels if they are not glued on. I have not seen any new foam tires that come glued to wheels. Vintage foam tires are likely to be dried out and are useless. AJ's used to have foam tires that were glued to threaded aluminum wheels, I don't know if they are still available. There are several other things that you might try besides foam tires. Urethane tires have a bit less grip than silicone, Super Tires has urethane tires, but not specifically for A/FX wheels. There are Pro Series and Tyco series urethane tires that could be narrowed a little to work. Another thing to try is Gel Claws which have a specific tire for A/FX wheels.

[qball41]

[Ralphthe3rd]

BallsoutRacing makes a Urethane AFX size tire that slides easily after a few laps and they get dirty. Look at the Urethane ONLY- http://ballsoutho.webs.com/apps/webstor ... ow/2709268 . Otherwise, BudsHOCars makes some cheap silicone tires in the AFX size, that also start sliding pretty fast after they get dirty, which only takes a couple laps- http://stores.budshocars.com/03-27-15-x ... s-updated/

[ChallengerGuy]

On my plywood HO track, I lose grip pretty quickly on the silicones. Especially if I go out of the racing line on a single power slide. The car remains loose until I pit and quickly run the rears over a roll of blue painters tape. Then my lap times return to super good times. And then it starts all over again.

[RichD]

If you are racing your goal is to get all the grip you can in most cases. Here the situation is different. The trick is to find tires that allow the car to slide but still be drivable. Silicone tires tend to have the best grip, except possibly freshly gooped foam tires, but they don't like dust. If there is any dust at all on the track silicone tires will be really stuck at first, but will soon go off to the point where the car will be undrivable. With silicone tires you will only have the desired amount of slide for a short time. What I believe that you want is a consistant amount of slide. I hve no experience with Jel Claw tires, so I can't speak for those. I believe that your best bet would be to try urethane tires. You would have to start with a track that is fairly clean and run the urethane tires for a few hunderd laps to get it conditioned. You may have to wash the tires from time to time, but eventually you will get to the point where you will be able to maintain the desired amount of slide for fairly long periods of time. A trick that some people use when the car finally gets too loose is to clean just one tire.

[Ralphthe3rd]

I'd like to make one last point about Drifting HO SlotCars, and AFX pancakes in particular. Ya see, I do alot of drifting on my 4 lane dirt-style oval, as that's what I did in the 1:1 Race world as well. But. the AFX Pancake doesn't drift as well as a T-Jet, as it only slides out so far, before the pick-ups lose contact with the rails and it stalls. And the reason being, it the location of the guide pin, as it's much further forward than on a T-Jet. Anyway, Aurora back in the day, sold what they called a Power steering kit for the original A/FX cars(pre MagnaTraction), and the kit consisted of pick-up shoes(that looked similar to G+ shoes) that extended further forward and had a nose like a toboggan. The kit also contained a steel guide pin like used on the later G+ chassis. Well, you need to get some of those shoes if you really WANT to drift a A/FX non MT chassis predictably. Trouble is, they are scare now, and my last source was JAG Hobbies, and now they are sold out(probably forever) :(

[TeamMadMarsupial]

[qball41]

Thank you all for the input on the tires and on the pick up shoes!

For the last week I've been experimenting with all kinds of chassis and tires to get the desired affect. I have not tried a T-jet chassis yet, so I'll have to pick one up.

Ralphthe3rd mentioned a dirt track style of racing. That is exactly what I'm building (4 lane about 2' by8') and the feel I'm going for.

Thanks again for all the input.

[qball41]

Thank you all for the input on tires for my desired purpose (i.e. not max traction, but the ability to slide them like on a dirt oval.

To assist others, I thought I would post what I have found out through following input here and trial and error.

After reading the posts, I bought some Urethane rear tires and some jel claw rear tires.

My preference in the jel claws. Both types were initially a little too sticky for my likes and also hard to tell apart. The primary problem was too much side bite, and the car traction rolling mid to late corner. After some laps, the jel claws lost some of the side bite and smoothed out. The Urethane tires seemed to maintain that side bite, making them less predictable when sliding.

I got the jel claws for $11.00 for 5 pair, so its a cheap way to refit all my cars so they will be consistent.

Thanks again for all the input and guidance!

[Ralphthe3rd]

Q-Ball, if you're unhappy with the Urethane A/FX tires, and you bought the ones from BallsOutRacing, I'll buy them off of you? ...I won't pay as much as you paid for them, but if you wanna sell them, I'll make you a fair offer :)

[qball41]

Thanks for the offer.

I'd have to look back to see where they came from. Either way, I'm going to hold on to them. I only bought 3 pair, and I never know when I might want to try them again or use them in another manner.

Scot