How To Belt Truck Tyres
Whether you like to bash your truck around a gravel pit or race your off-road buggy or truggy around a race track you may have noticed that under a certain load your car’s or truck’s tyres tend to expand with increasing RPM of the car’s drive train. Having a tyre that ‘balloons’ under high revs is not always just a problem with off-road tyres but also with rubber on-road touring cars. That’s why most of the current TC rubber tyres have some sort of glued on ‘belt’ inside, just like on full scale tyres to prevent the running tread from expanding at high speeds.
While 1:10 scale electric off-road tyres show a limited amount of ballooning, 1:8 scale truggies and monster trucks are prone to develop real ‘pizza dishes’ or LP-sized tyres under acceleration especially if one wheel looses icontact with the ground. One could say that the increasing diametre of the tyres could affect the possible top-speed in a positive way but there is the decreased traction generated by the tread’s small contact patch. Also the high carcass of the ballooning tyre decreases the steering response making direction changes very unpredictable. Not to mention the increased tread wear and potential possibility of damaging the tyre when it comes lunattached from the rim!
To belt all sorts of rubber tyres we would advise the use of fibre reinforced tape like used to secure battery packs to chassis plates. Ask your local DIY store or model shop for it. And here comes how to make use of it:
For our DIY belting we used Pro-Line’s Paddle MT 40 series tyre that is made out of very soft and relatively thin rubber. First turn the tyre inside out so the tread faces inwards.
To make the fibre glass tape stick better to the tyre it is necessary to clean the inner part with motor spray. Otherwise the mould releasing agent will prevent the tape from adhering to the rubber of the tyre.
New tyres are often covered with mould releasing agent. These not only affect the tape from sticking perfectly but also prevent a good binding between the tyre and the rim when gluing the wheels. Therefore make sure to clean the bead of the tyre very carefully.
Always use good quality fibre reinforced tape. These tapes are available in a variety of different widths and the wider versions seem to fit perfectly for large monster truck tyres but we advise you to use narrow tape as this is much easier to use compared to wide tape.
When applying the tape make sure not to put it on too tightly as this could deform the tyre when turning it out the right way. After applying the second layer press the tape on thoroughly.
The tape should overlap by 10 or 15 millimetres. We additionally sealed the edges with CA glue to prevent tit from coming loose.
This is our belted monster truck tyre. Now put it on your favourite rim and enjoy the increased performance provided by the tougher and more stable rubber.
