Tire Cutting 101

[chvman]

So I've been working on a Usa-1 for a little while now and the tires and rims are in good shape but they were a little heavy and I didn't like the tread pattern. So I thought I would cut them. After a little searching I didn't find much info so I thought I would do a quick write up to show how I did it and the results. The first thing I ran into was how to do the first cut to remove as much material before sanding to make it quicker. After trying many things I found a regular set of diagonal cutters worked the best. So heres some pics showing step by step.
Here's the stock tire.

Here's how I measured where to do the cut.

I used a Silver Sharpie to mark where to cut.

Here's the tire after usng the diagonal cutters.

After the first cut I went over those areas with a sanding drum on the dremel.
I suggest doing this outside and with a mask (no need to breathe that stuff in) Go slow and watch how deep you go. These are the end results.

Now here's somethig I didn't figure I lost 2 ounces per tire. That means I saved 1/2 pound just by cutting the tires.
Before.

After.

There you go I hope I helped somebody out there.

 

[william g]

Great post :tmb

I should sticky this, where is the best spot....

 

[Electrohacker]

I would say this should be in the clod section, but could also be in any other crawler section

 

[chvman]

Thanks.

For the comments guys. I'm not kidding when I said I tried all sorts of things to cut stuff off before sanding from nippers to clippers to razors and the only thing that worked good was the diaginal cutters. Anyways how about Stickying it in the Tips-Tricks section?

 

[Electrohacker]

actually, I didnt want to bring it up... but this is the oldest trick in the book and has been covered many times.

it always comes down to wire cutters and a dremel sander

 

[william g]

Anyways how about Stickying it in the Tips-Tricks section?

Will do, I'll leave it here a couple days, and move it with a re-direct.

 

[SteelCityRCJunkie]

I'd be interested to know how well the new tread pattern works compared to the original.

 

[chvman]

Your Right

You are correct Electrohacker it has been covered (sort of) I looked at many posts on different forums and could not come up with any info on what to do the first cut with. They all did say to use the Dremel. Sorry about reposting info though was just trying to help out others.

 

[Electrohacker]

You are correct Electrohacker it has been covered (sort of) I looked at many posts on different forums and could not come up with any info on what to do the first cut with. They all did say to use the Dremel. Sorry about reposting info though was just trying to help out others.

I know, and will fee free to clean up my posts when this gets stickied that's kinda why I didnt want to say it, because I know we needed this as a permanent thread :tmb

 

[chvman]

Hmm

Good question Denver one good thing is I don't compete so it shouldn't be a biggie however one thing I did notice is that the center is much softer and I will need to use foam inserts now. So I will be putting a little of the wieght I saved back on. Unless I want to just seal the tires and the rims but I think that would have a really bad effect on things. The build is going to take a while due to living in a small apartment so I do most messy things on my lunch break at work. So I have plenty of time to come up with something.