[Fluff]

Help please , it has most probably been asked before but I'll ask again , sponge ,or rubber tyres , what's best . I know it depends on the surface that you are racing on but I've just bought a couple of sets of rims with glued and trued tyres which says that they are good for wood tracks ,not tried them yet . Will they be better than soft rubber and do they last, ? Do you have to treat them like rubber ?. When I last used sponge tyres in the sixties you gooped them up also used silicon and rubber also treated with oil of wintergreen ,all this on a sandtex surfaced track .So back to the question , will sponge tyres perform on a wood track without any treatment as well as oiled rubber .

Many thanks, Steve

[Ken Mason]

Not sure. I was always told sponge tyres would destroy any grip you have put down on your track from rubber tyres, which is why you should stick to one or the other. I have been to the Silverwood track at Long Sutton where they normally race metal chassis with sponge tyres and put goop down on the track first etc. 

My hard body cars with rubber tyres wouldn't move till the goop was wiped off!

[Fluff]

Hi Ken ,not heard that , I thought it was silicon tyres that removed the grip ,not going to use them yet , don't want to spoil my months of work with rubber .

Hope you're ok and maybe see you soon , Steve

[CMOTD]

Stick to rubber and/or urethane tyres on your track Steve. Sponge tyres are strictly for BSCRA type cars and are always used with goop. They look awful as well. Silicones will ruin the grip for all other types, you cannot mix them with rubber.

[Fluff]

Thanks Brian , not going to use silicon , I just wondered about sponge .The ones I got from Pendals look ok and quite cheap ( will put a photo later ) and only 11 mm wide ,so not silly size .Was going to try them clean and see what happens but not if they take away the grip 

Steve

[chrisguyw]

Hi Steve, Sponge tyres provide the best grip on wood tracks bar none...........PROVIDED, that the track has been treated with spray glue,.......so , on most typical 32 scale tracks (which are "dry", and do not allow any additives on the track surface) they will not work that well at all......additionally the open cell nature of sponge tyres will grab and hold all dust/rubber bits etc. on a dry track, and traction will deteriorate very quickly.

And as to their longevity, most folks who use sponge tyres, and are at the sharp end of the grid, will replace their tyre every race.

Cheers
Chris Walker

[Nonfractal]

I've used several type of tyres on several different surfaces

Rubber from NSR and Slot.IT on Wood, Policar and Ninco track, sprint and endurance events.
Scaleauto preglued and pretrued sponge on NINCO for endurance events 
Urethane for sprint races on scalextric sport track. 

All work well. Getting them to work well is all in the prepration and cleaning. 
Zippo seems to work well on some rubber tyres (slot.it) 
Oils work better on others (NSR)
Domestic degreasers work well on Urethanes 

I've never used Silicone tyres 

I favour urethane . Easy to fit, easy  to true, lasts for years.

[Gordon Steadman]

Silicones are the work of the devil and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a decent track! It's like driving on ice if you follow someone whose been using them in a particular lane.

Urethane for me on all my cars. I usually wait until the rubber is worn out on RTRs and then fit urethane. More consistent and, as said, last for ages.

Sponge was OK with wintergreen as you said but elf and safety would have a word these days - nasty fumes! The whole track rooms used to stink of the stuff.

[Fluff]

Thank you all , so as long as the sponge tyres don't muck up my track I'll give them a go and see what happens . Will let you know ,also how quick they wear 

Steve

[Kevan]

On a painted wood track:

If you're going to use silicones then everyone has to use silicones and nothing else, then the grip will be the closest thing to foams as long as the track is spotless.

Urethanes leave a fine white powder which reduces grip for everyone else.

Some solid rubber tyres are the preferred option, not all tracks are the same, ours is heavily biased towards NSR Ultras.

We race a couple of times per years with JKX32 Falcons with clean dry ungooped JK B foams, they're nearly a second a lap quicker than anything else round our track but they do a fantastic job of cleaning everything off the track surface...including grip for the following meeting hard rubber shod cars that have to put at least 50 laps per lane down before getting close to normal race times.