Nitro RC Wheels and Tires

Traxas T-Maxx 3.3 showing off its stock wheels and tires

Wheels and tires are one of the best upgrades you can make to your nitro RC, especially if you are doing most of your driving on a single specific surface as you can find the tire that provides optimal performance for that specific surface. The traction of the tires is usually the number one concern, but durability is important, too (especially for bashers).

General RC Tire Info

This video by AJJamStudios on YouTube is the best one I’ve found for general information about RC tires and wheels.

This video by Razor RC goes over the various types of RC tire treads.

Watch this video by PM Hobbycraft to mount your tires like a pro.

Also be sure to read this overview by Amain Hobbies: Choosing the Right Off-Road RC Tire.

Tire & Wheel Maintenance

There isn’t much maintenance required for tires and wheels, except to keep them clean and inspect them now and then. You want to make sure the tires and wheels are free of damage or cracks. Below are a few common tire/wheel issues and what you can do about them.

General Tire Wear

Over time, the tread on your tires will wear down and the performance will suffer. It’s possible the tires will develop cracks or tears before the tread wears down all the way. You can try fixing any tears with super glue to extend the life of the tires.

Stripped Wheel Hub

The most common places for wheels to wear out are where the wheel hex fits into the wheel hub. It is common for a wheel hub to strip or round-out, especially if you are running a more powerful engine than stock or you are doing a lot of full throttle starts on a high traction surface. You can attempt to repair wheel hubs with a little teflon tape and JB weld, as demonstrated in this video. I’ve actually tried this method before and it worked great. The hubs held up for a long time and it was actually the rest of the wheel that shattered before my wheel hub repair did.

Repair ANY Stripped RC Car Wheel Hex NOW! | Cheap and Easy!!

Wheel Imbalance

Dirt can build up on tires and create an imbalance in the tire that will cause your nitro RC to shake at higher speeds. If a simple cleaning doesn’t fix the issue, then it’s likely some dirt or water is stuck inside the tire OR your tire/wheel has been deformed by an impact. In either case, you can try rebalancing the tire with a balancer and some putty, but those things cost money and might not fix the issue.

Flat Spots

Another possibility is that the RC has been stored for a long time on its tires instead of on some type of stand that keeps the weight of the vehicle off the tires. This can create flat spots in the tire that will cause the car to shake when driving. The best thing to do is to drive the RC around for a few sessions and hope the flat spots work themselves out. If they don’t, you can try removing the tire and installing new foam, but this can be tricky as the tires are likely glued to the wheels and are difficult to remove without damaging the tires or the wheels.

Rotating Tires

Tires should be rotated often so that you more evenly wear the tires over time. If you have the same tires on all 4 wheels, you can swap the back tires with the front. You can also swap the tires from right to left, but only if the tread is bidirectional. I mean, you can swap them either way, but you’ll lose performance running your tires in the wrong direction.

Checking wheel nuts

Before every run, I snug up the wheel nuts to make sure they aren’t loose (don’t to crank them too hard, you can damage the wheels). This prevents the nuts from coming loose during a run, which is annoying.

If you are having recurring issues with losing wheel nuts, it’s probably due to an imbalance in the wheel/tire which is causing excessive vibration. Try to fix the source of the issue, but if you can’t, you can try applying a drop of thread locker (e.g. blue loctite) to every nut.

Buying New Tires

I highly recommend figuring out exactly what size tires and wheels come stock with your nitro RC and buying the same size tires/wheels to replace them. Using bigger or smaller tires is going to threw off the gear ratio of your nitro RC and change the way it performs on the top or low end.

A common mistake is to put bigger tires on an RC for a more aggressive look and increased ride height. The problem is that bigger wheels and tires are going to be significantly heavier which is going to slow down your RC and add more stress to the drivetrain. Additionally, it will lower the gear ratio which will decrease low end performance of the RC.

The best thing to do before you buy new wheels and tires is to do a google search for “best tires for [insert nitro RC model]”. Than look at search results for forums and see what other owners are using on their RCs. For any given nitro RC model, there is usually 2-3 tire options that are highly recommended by the community of owners and you’ll be able to read reviews from owners that apply to similar terrain you are driving.

Tire and Wheel Size

Tires and wheels sizes are often described with a number, like 2.8 or 3.8. This number represents the diameter of the wheel or the inside diameter of the tire.

This image courtesy of Amain Hobbies shows what the tire measurement represents and illustrates that two tires with the same measurement can be different sizes

For the height of the tire, it should be listed on the website where you are buying the tire. The height is the most important thing to keep the same when changing to a different wheel/tire combo as changing the overall height of the tire will affect gearing, which can negatively affect performance and durability of your nitro RC.

Wheel Hex Size

Pretty much all nitro RCs come with wheel hex system for locking the wheels to the driveshaft outputs. The typical wheel hex sizes are 12mm, 14mm, and 17mm. If you’re buying new tires/wheels and your nitro RC uses 12mm or 14mm wheel hexes, look into upgrading to a bigger hex size. Bigger hex sizes are less likely to strip and can withstand more torque. Do your research into upgrade options that are available for your nitro RC and also make sure to look at the wheel/tire options that are available at the new hex size as those options might be different than what is available for the stock hex size.

Do I really need to tires AND wheels?

You usually need to buy new tires and wheels. Many tire options come with wheels by default, because most people replace wheels and tires at the same time for a couple reasons:

Wheels and tires wear at pretty much the same rate, especially for bashing purposes. By the time the tread is worn down on some bashing tires, the wheels are usually starting to crack, break, and have a general unsightly appearance.
The wheels are typically mounted to tires with super glue and are somewhat of a pain to remove (see video below). It is possible, but if you aren’t careful you can easily damage a wheel while removing a tire.

If you are able to purchase tires without the wheels, first try to remove the tires using the various methods available to see if you can do so successfully without damaging your wheels. If you succeed, order the new tires and reuse your old wheels.

Removing Glued RC Tires

What about beadlocks?

Pro-Line Trencher LP 3.8 tire and wheel, a popular upgrade for the Traxxas T-Maxx

Beadlocks are a system of mounting tires with hardware instead of glue. They are a cool system, especially for street tires that tend to wear faster. The disadvantage is that the beadlock hardware adds weight to the wheels/tires which adds stress to the drivetrain and decreases the performance of the nitro RC. They are also generally more expensive than glue mounted setups.

Tire Brands

You basically have three options when buying RC tires: stock, name brand, or knockoffs. The stock is always a great option as they are generally cheaper than name brand and are perfectly fitted to your vehicle. Name brand tires and wheels like Proline are the premium option that should give you increased performance and upgrade the look of your nitro RC. The knockoffs, typically found on Amazon, are the cheapest option. Read the reviews before buying and look for anecdotes in the forums.