vr6vdub

I was interested in getting some aluminum beadlock wheels. My question for anyone who may know is...how does the added weight of the aluminum affect the handling characteristics of a vehicle (a Jato 3.3 in my case). Specifically I am referring to the unsprung weight of the vehicle. If anyone is not familiar with this here is a Wikipedia entry.

[link]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsprung_weight[/link]

Apparantly soft tires offset the effect of unsprung weight but I don't know how this translates to the RC world. Does anyone have any experience running these types of wheels? I don't race but I do care about performance and I am aware of unsprung weight's importance in a good handling 1:1 car. Thanks.

ASSOCIATED_DRIVER

I think it will be pretty much the same on RC cars.

I dont think the weight of the wheels would make much of a difference. Any added weight in the car I think will make it handle much better and have more traction, but takes away some of its speed and acceleration. Once in motion, it will also take more braking power and longer distance to put to a stop.

The hardness or softness of the tires though, I think will make more noticeable difference. Softer adds more grip and less response to bumps and road imperfections but takes more power to move hence slower. Harder tires have less grip, and is more suceptible to bumps on the road and takes less power to get up to speed hensce faster.

Most beadlocks I see are mounted on Monster Trucks, and Crawlers. What type of performance gain do you want to get out of your Jato?

vr6vdub

I'm really interested in them because they are reusable. At $100 they should pay for themselves in a couple sets.

snowbl!nd

All wheels are resuable - you just have to know how to get the tyres off the rims.

vr6vdub

Without stinking up my house?

snowbl!nd

Yeah of course. Plus i find it unlikely that a set of aluminium rims would outlast the tyres anyway - one good hit i would imagine they'd bend out of shape.

smaxx3.3

get the maximizers, they are really strong plastic beadlocks. and pretty cheap too.