Slot Car Tires? Rubber? Silicone? or Urethane?

Hafa Adai Slot Car Friends!

Tires can make a world of a difference, but if you're like I was, I had no idea what I should use or why.  When I set up my first layout I was so excited to get it up and going, and was racing around the track and de-slotting like crazy, and didn't even care - at least for the first hour.

I didn't even think  whether there was anything I could do about all the de-slotting.  I then I discovered that cleaning them with a little bit of alcohol made a huge difference, and was off racing again.  Then I discovered sanding or truing the tires to give them a nice smooth finish, this made even a bigger difference.

Then I discovered SILICONES!  Wow, I was amazed, but not too long after they seemed to have failed.  Actually, they really didn't fail at all, it was that I was running cars with both silicone tires and rubber tires on the same track.  Silicones are picky, they get jealous if you run rubber tires on their track.  If you run silicone tires, then your track has to be squeeky clean in order for them to perform well.

THEN.... I discovered Urethane tires!  Wow!  They don't mind if the rubber tires run on the same track with them.  They are awesome, of course you have to clean then every now and then, but overall if you're running rubber tires also, they work great!

I did discover though, for my HO cars, that silicones work the best even if I'm running rubber tires on the same track.  I'm not sure why, but this is my theory:  The HO cars are small and very light as compared with 1/32 cars. The rubber residue doesn't rub off on to the track as easily, so you don't get as much rubber build-up.  I would think that over time it would build up, but would probably take a lot of racing before you get a layer of rubber on your track.

Sponge Tires - Let me get back to you on these, I'd like to test them out and give you my first-hand experience.

Until next time - Si Yu'os Ma'ase my Friends!

Rob