Pro-Line RC car tires and wheels

How we size rc car tires and wheels

Every Pro-Line tire carries three numbers and you need all three. The first is the tire size in inches — 1.9 and 2.2 for crawlers and buggy, 2.8 and 3.0 for stadium and short course trucks, 3.8 for monster truck. The second is the hex that drives the wheel: 12mm hex on most 1/10 cars, 14mm on heavier trucks, 17mm hex on 1/8 buggy, truggy and the big bashers. The third is offset, which sets how far the wheel stands out from the hub.

Offset is the one people skip. A wider offset widens the track of the car, calms it down and adds steering bite at the cost of agility. A narrow offset makes the car rotate faster and puts more load through the inner edge of the tire. We publish the offset on every wheel so you can swap deliberately rather than by accident.

• 1.9 and 2.2 — crawler and buggy sizes, mostly 12mm hex, plus the beadlock wheels that let you run very low pressure.
• 2.8 and 3.0 — stadium truck and short course rc car tires and wheels, 12mm or 14mm hex.
• 3.8 — monster truck rubber on 17mm hex, for vehicles heavy enough to fold a lesser carcass.
• 24mm hex — large scale vehicles; a 24mm hex set is its own world and does not mix with the rest.

Compound: soft, super soft and everything after

Compound is the rubber recipe and it matters more than tread on most days. Super soft and soft blends are for low grip: indoor clay, carpet, polished concrete, cold mornings. They give up wear in exchange for bite. Medium blends are the default for outdoor dirt and will survive a whole day. The firmer G8 and predator blends are rock terrain rubber — sticky but tough enough to be dragged over granite.

Inserts finish the job. A closed cell foam insert controls how the carcass folds under load; a soft insert lets the tire wrap a rock, a firm one keeps a racing tire from rolling over on a high grip corner. Every unmounted Pro-Line tire ships with the insert we designed for it.

• Pro-Line tires, inserts and wheels are drawn together — the insert in the bag is the one the carcass was designed around.
• Soft and super soft Pro-Line rc tires for low grip: indoor clay, carpet, cold mornings.
• Medium Pro-Line rc tires for outdoor dirt, plus the inner support of a firmer insert when the car is heavy.
• G8 and predator blends for rock, where the inner edge of the tread does as much work as the outer one.

Beadlock wheels, pre-mounted sets and mounted tires

A beadlock wheel clamps the tire bead between two rings instead of relying on glue. For crawling that is the right answer: you can change rubber trackside, run very low pressure and never pop a bead off in an awkward place. For racing, glue is lighter and faster, which is why our race wheels are plain.

If you would rather not glue anything, our pre-mounted sets arrive with tires mounted, trued and ready, in front, rear or front and rear pairs. The wheel color and the hex are part of the name.

• Beadlock wheels — clamp the bead, change rubber trackside, run very low pressure without rolling a tire off the rim.
• Pre-mounted racing sets — tires mounted, trued and glued, in front, rear or front and rear pairs.
• Unmounted Pro-Line rc tires and wheels bought separately, plus a tube of thin CA and an evening at the bench.
• Spare inserts — the cheapest way to change how a set of racing rc tires behaves without buying new rubber.

Picking by surface

Loose dirt and loam want open lugs that can move material. Hard packed blue groove wants a low profile tire with a tight pin pattern that will not squirm. Astro and carpet want a super soft compound and a short lug. Sand and snow want a paddle. Rock terrain wants a tall sidewall, a soft compound and a wheel you can clamp.

Short course and desert trucks sit in between and carry more weight, so we build them a tire with a stiffer carcass. Monster truck rubber is the extreme end of the same idea — a 3.8 tire has to carry a heavy vehicle onto a landing without folding.

• Club racing on dirt — medium compound, a firm insert and a spare set put aside for the main.
• Indoor racing on carpet or astro — super soft, short lugs, low ride height.
• Rock crawling — tall sidewall, soft compound, beadlock wheels you can clamp.
• Bashing and desert racing — a stiffer carcass, pre-mounted sets, and vehicles heavy enough to need both.

How do you measure an RC tire?

Measure the outside diameter of the mounted tire at full height and the width across the tread, both in millimeters, and note the rim size in inches. The inch figure in a Pro-Line name — 1.9, 2.2, 2.8 — is the wheel the tire fits, not the height of the tire itself.

What is RC wheel hex size?

The hex is the six-sided drive adapter on the axle that turns the wheel. 12mm hex is standard on 1/10 buggies and touring cars, 14mm on heavier 1/10 trucks, 17mm hex on 1/8 buggy, truggy and large scale. Our removable hex wheels accept 12mm and 14mm from the same set.

What is wheel offset on an RC car?

Offset is the distance between the wheel's mounting face and its centerline, in millimeters. More offset pushes the wheel outward and widens the car; less offset tucks it in. Front and rear often use different offsets on the same vehicle.

How do you make RC tires sticky or get more grip?

Start with the right compound — a super soft tire on a cold track beats any additive on a hard one. After that, drop a little pressure, make sure the insert suits the surface, and keep the tread clean and free of dust. Check your class rules before using traction compound.

How do you soften radio control tires?

You cannot usefully soften cured rubber, so buy the softer compound instead. What you can change is the insert and the air: a softer foam and a vented wheel let the carcass deform more, which feels like a softer tire and is kinder to the tread.

Are long-wear tires worth it?

For bashing and practice, yes — a medium or firm compound that lasts a season costs less per run than a race tire you wear out in an afternoon. For a race day where the result matters, fit the soft compound and accept the wear.