| UTRCRC REVIEWS |
Getting new parts for and upgrading your Crawler is almost a NEED, you know what I'm takling about don't try and deny it. "I want to try out those new tires, but I don't want to shell-out $60+ dollars and have those cool ass new shoes preform like crap." We have all thought this. Well with these reviews we hope to guide you in the right direction in spending your hard earned cash on worthwhile upgrades.
All our Reviews are only considered as informational guidelines and in no way are the authers or UTRCRC resonsable for any draining of bank accounts or harm that may accure to anyones self or property while fallowing these guides.
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Pro-Line Giant Tracs Clodbuster Tires
Losi Zombie-Max Monster Truck Tires
New Era Models-Super Clodbuster Upper 4 Link Suspension Mount
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| Product: |
Super Clodbuster Upper 4 Link Suspension Mount |
| Manufacture: |
New Era Models |
| Model Number: |
SCT703 |
| Cost: |
$18.50 |
| Reviewed by: |
Kaetwo |
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First Impression
My first impression of the mounts was really quit good. The packaging alone is very meticulous let alone the machine work done on the mounts themselves. At first glance they look like every other mount for the upper 4 link design. But upon closer inspection you’ll notice a set screw in the bottom of the mount and an extra hole in the lower plate. This is to prevent the lower plate and the mount from rotating in the Clodbuster gear case. Very impressive! The mount fits a 3mm screw for both the lower plate and the upper link hole. Fit and finish is spot on with no modification necessary. My only complaint is that they came with a Phillips head screw to mount the lower plate to the mount. Phillips head screw? With this kind of quality you would expect a stainless 3mm allen instead. No big deal but just a little bit of a pet peeve of mine.
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Installation
Installing these little gems is really quit easy. The first thing that you want to keep in mind is the position of the lower plate. Make sure that the end with the larger rounded portion ends up being tucked into the Clodbuster axel where it makes a 90 degree angle. Mounting it any other way will allow the mount to pivot on it axis.
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Performance
Flawless, just as the finish work. They remove all the slop from the upper mount both laterally and torsionally. I have yet to have them twist or loosen up on me and don’t foresee a problem in the future.
Summary
Well there really isn’t much else to say. If you are in need of a 4 link center pivot mount then this is the product for you. There simply built to a higher level of quality and would highly recommend them. They easily receive 5 stars.
Kaetwo@hotmail.com
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| Product: |
Zombie-Maxx Monster Truck Tire |
| Manufacture: |
Team Losi |
| Model Number: |
LOSA7670R |
| Cost: |
$29.99 per pair |
| Reviewed by: |
PinchFlat |
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First Impression
Out of the bag these tires are super soft, super sticky and small in height, with an ultra aggressive-looking tread pattern.
Super soft: These Zombies are soft and floppy they almost flatten when you stand them upright.
Super Sticky: Out of the bag the tires stuck to each other. I was tempted to throw them against the wall and watch them creep down like those gummy wall walkers you buy in the 25cent machines at the market.
Small: I have to say the height thing disappointed me a bit. In looking at the pictures of the Zombie-Max tire I thought they looked bigger than they actually where.
Tread: Their tread looks Bad-Ass! Pins and lugs, lugs and pins everywhere. I was excited to get these Zombies a-crawlin’.
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Installation
These tires are VERY soft and floppy. I have found you need to use the full foam inserts that came with the tires. They just wont support their own weight. Although the tires were small in height, by using the full foam with the Zombies, the foam actually stretches the tire to the height of a standard MAXX tire (+/-6”). I used the RPM StableMaxx Monster Clawz offset rims to mount these tires. I use Sho-Goo to mount my tires onto the rims so I can later remove them with ease if needed. This process gets messy with a MAXX style tire because of the overhang of the sidewall. Other than the mess the tires mounted up nice with a little adjusting.
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Performance
I mounted the Wheels onto my trusty Clod based, Dust Guppy and tested The Losi Zombie-Max tires in a variety of terrains; loose and packed dirt, mud, sand, gravel and rock. What I was looking for while scoring these tires on all surfaces was side hill, forward traction, tread pack-up and height/clearance on these surfaces.
Loose Dirt: The Zombie did well on the loose dirt. It had the tendency to want to slide a bit while side hilling but the slide was manageable.
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Loose Dirt:
Rating: 4.1 |
SH: 3
FT: 3.5
PK: 5
HC: 5 |
Packed Dirt:
Rating: 4.4 |
SH: 3.5
FT: 4
PK: 5
HC: 5
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Mud:
Rating: 1 |
SH: 1
FT: 1
PK: 1
HC: 1 |
Sand:
Rating: 3.9 |
SH: 3
FT: 3.5
PK: 5
HC: 4
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Gravel:
Rating: 4.4 |
SH: 3.5
FT: 4
PK: 5
HC: 5 |
Rock:
Rating: 4.5 |
SH: 4.5
FT: 4.5
PK: 5
HC: 4
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| Total Average Score: 3.7 out of 5 |
| SH = Side Hill / FT = Forward Traction / PK = Tread Pack-up / HC = Height/Clearance |
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Packed Dirt: This tire is great on firm ground. It has great forward bite and when drifting it is very controllable and predictable.
Mud: Now mud is apparently the Zombies nemesis. The treads packed up so quickly and the tire just wouldn’t let go of the stick earth. After that It was tough to find any traction with all that guck wedged between the lugs. I also had a bear of a time trying to rinse that mud out… The tire just didn’t want to part with its new gooey friend.
Sand: Zombies do fairly well in sand. Lots of paddle shaped knobs grab the small stuff great. It did like to slide a bit sideways when traversing a sand hill but this wasn’t to bad.
Gravel: These shoes loved the gravel. Side hilling was middle of the road but it was hard to break forward traction in the small rocks.
Rock: Oh these tires do EXCELLENT on the rocks. Tons of knobs edges and pins to grab on in any direction and hold on. If it weren’t for clearance issues these rubbers would scored higher.
Summary
Other then that Cranberries song “Zombie” that is stick in my head while I finish this review; I really like these tires for crawling. BUT… because of the clearance issues when you use standard MAXX sized tires on straight-axel style crawlers, and the horrible mud packing issues of this tire, the Team Losi Zombie-Max Monster Truck Tires aren’t the best all-around tires. I would however, highly recommend the Zombies if clearance isn’t an issue for you and you crawl in dry areas. Team Losi Zombie-Max Monster Truck Tires receive an all around score of 3.7 out of 5.
-PinchFlat
Note: Keep in mind when reviewing these items, we are testing and scoring these products as they relate to RC rock crawling. All our tests are done with RC rock crawlers unless otherwise indicated.
pinchflat@utrcrc.com
I'm out...
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| Product: |
Giant Trac Clod Tire |
| Manufacture: |
Pro-Line Racing |
| Model Number: |
Discontinued |
| Cost: |
N/A |
| Reviewed by: |
Kaetwo |
Construction
Pro-Line used a very cool rubber compound, which feels a lot like stealth rubber used in climbing shoes. The rubber holds up well to wear and shows no signs of breakdown or tearing. We have used a set of these tires now, ever week for 4+ months and there still in great shape.
The tread design is one of the tires most unique qualities. It’s actually a paddle like design with a great deal of separation between them. I noticed on a set that I had purchased used that the tire near the bead had a pattern to it and the rubber felt just a little different. I am guessing that these tires are an older model, but work really well. The newer models are without the pattern and have a stickier rubber feel to them. I also noticed that that the older tires had a more rounded sidewall to them.
Here are a few images:
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Another great quality about these tires is how dead they feel. By that I mean how little bounce is in the tire. Now I know that this in large part has to do with how easily the air trapped in between the tire and the rim escapes, but with that aside they are very planted. They just don’t bounce like the other synthetic style rubber tires do. You’ll no exactly what I’m talking about if you have ever used a stock Savage tire. The rubber produces a bouncing effect when it looses traction which causes a greater loss in traction.
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Performance
Loose Dirt: The Giant Tracs do well on the loose dirt. The knob/pladdle tread pattern seems to do great in the loose.
Packed Dirt: This tire will slip a little on a packed side hill but other then that it's great on the hard stuff.
Mud: The G-Ts do good in the mud. hardly a packing issue with these. Traction in general is good.
Sand: In sand they perform alot like they do in the loose dirt. I can see a possable clearance issue if you really dig in and roost the sand.
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Loose Dirt:
Rating: 4.1 |
SH: 3
FT: 3.5
PK: 5
HC: 5 |
Packed Dirt:
Rating: 4.4 |
SH: 3.5
FT: 4
PK: 5
HC: 5
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Mud:
Rating: 1 |
SH: 1
FT: 1
PK: 1
HC: 1 |
Sand:
Rating: 3.9 |
SH: 3
FT: 3.5
PK: 5
HC: 4
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Gravel:
Rating: 4.4 |
SH: 3.5
FT: 4
PK: 5
HC: 5 |
Rock:
Rating: 4.5 |
SH: 4.5
FT: 4.5
PK: 5
HC: 4
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| Total Average Score: 3.7 out of 5 |
| SH = Side Hill / FT = Forward Traction / PK = Tread Pack-up / HC = Height/Clearance |
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Gravel: These tires love the gravel. It was all good, nothing bad.
Rock: The Giant-Tracs on the rocks are the best tires I have ever used for crawling on the rocks. Great Side bite, great traction, grab grab grab... Is there glue on these? Clearance was the only issue, as is with most all clod based tires. A 7" Giant -Trac would be the ultimate.
These are without a doubt one of the best overall tires that I’ve used. The rubber compound makes them a great all conditions tire.
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- Stock tire with a stock sized clod rim. This is the biggest configuration with more that enough traction. This is perfect for the backyard basher and the monster trucker. But was a little to large for crawling. It proved to be far too big and bulky. This configuration measured out the tire to be 4.25” x 6.25” in size.
- Stock tire with a narrowed clod rim. This is the configuration that I ran for months before I went crazy and narrowed the tires. I would say that this configuration is great for the all round crawler. This works really well with a lot of side bit. If you really need the extra traction from the stock form then this is the perfect combo. Those side bars fold over the bead and make a perfect set of claws. At the time I thought that this combo was the perfect setup. But I was dead wrong. This configuration measured out the tire to be 4” x 6.25” in size.
- Narrowed tire with narrowed clod rims. FOR COMPETITION ONLY! This configuration will give you the perfect balance between traction and maneuverability. I found that the tire was significantly lighter and more manageable. Side hilling was increased due to the nimble feel and ability to turn without stressing out the servo savers. Traction was every bit as good as before and in some cases even better. The weight loss increased my run time as well as reduced the stress to all the moving joints. This configuration measured out the tire to be 3.25” x 6.25” in size.
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| Here are a few shots of the 3 configurations: |
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Modding
You can determine the quality of a tire by how much you have to mod it. Look at all the tires out there in play that have extra lugs glued to the sidewalls, using foams, cutting patterns in the tires and putting bb’s in the tires for added traction. You simply do not need to mod these tires if you don’t want too. I chose to narrow them a little for weight and maneuverability, however in there stock form or with a narrowed rim they work great.
For competition I recommend narrowing, and the giant tracs are perfect for this. The pattern makes them easy to align and the rubber compound glues well. I personally have found that the narrowed versions work much better overall. My turning radius increased, traction was scaled down a bit which made the tire much more forgiving and they where lighter which aided in runtime.
For more information on how to narrow these tires and rims, check out our Tech Articles.
Summary
Simply the best tire that I’ve used, period! There are other tires that work great, and many tires have there strengths and weaknesses but these are pretty close to being perfect. I’m docking them to 4 stars because you can’t buy them anymore and I would like to have a set of 7” versions. With those two factors in play they would be unstoppable. Pro-Line Giant-Tracs Clodbuster Tires receive an all around score of 4.4 out of 5.
-Kaetwo
Note: Keep in mind when reviewing these items, we are testing and scoring these products as they relate to RC rock crawling. All our tests are done with RC rock crawlers unless otherwise indicated.
kaetwo@utrcrc.com
A note about availibility
No longer manufactured. Ebay or private sale is your best bet. Check with us periodically, we just may have some kicking around.
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