WORDS THE RC CAR ACTION TEAM PHOTOS PETE HALL

Whether it’s racing or rock crawl-ing, the single most importantaspect of a vehicle’s setup are thetires. In regular, go-fast racing,picking the right tire is easy: justgo with what the local A-mainwinners use. In the rapidly grow-ing rock-crawling segment, you’llbe at disadvantage if you jump onthe latest-and-greatest-tire band-wagon. New tires are beingreleased far too rapidly tobe limited to just whatwon last month. Addthe fact that there

are thousands of different types ofrocks to run on, and the issuegets further complicated. To helpyou select the best tires possiblefor your crawler, we gathered thefive hottest tires being used incompetition and tested them in avariety of conditions and situa-tions. Smooth rocks, coarse

rocks, wet

rocks, dirt, steep climbs, descentsand side-hilling were all part ofthe testing, and we also enlistedmultiple drivers using their owntrucks. Read on to see which tireyou should be running if you wantto dominate the rocks.

WHORULESTHE

2.2 COMPETITION TIRE GUIDEROCKS?

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2.2 COMPETITION TIRE GUIDE

AXIAL ROCK LIZARDSRACE COMPOUNDThe Axial tires are included with itspopular AX10 Scorpion rock crawlerbut in a standard compound. Theoptional Race Compound used here issofter, and it improved grip. The RockLizard has a slightly rounded carcass and features aggressiveside lugs with large voids between the tire’s treads.

TEST GEAR We wanted to make this testing as fair and scientific as possible, so each tire wasmounted on the same rims using the same amount of weight and the same inserts.No mystery black-magic setups were used. Here’s what we went with:

RIMS. We used RPM’s new RevolverRock Crawler wheels (item no. 82232)with the wide offset. These rims are madein the USA and come narrowed. The hexarea has also been beefed up better tohandle the stresses of rock crawling.RPM also offers its Clawz-style rim as anarrow rockcrawler. Wedrilled twobreatherholes ineachrim.

WEIGHTS. Almost all crawlers work bestwith weight added to the front rims, andthere are a lot of options for weights. Thebest overall is stick-on weights. GreatPlanes Segmented Lead Weights(GPMQ4485) can be found in most hobbystores. We used 4 ounces of weight ineach front tire.

INSERTS. Kreepy Krawler Designshooked us up with its popular Kreepy-Squishy Inserts. We ran Red inserts ineach tire but selected wide or narrow,depending on the tire shape.

Height 5.19 in.Width 2.2 in.Weight 3.8 oz.Item no. AX12010

Excellent climbing anddescending on rough rocks.

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2.2 COMPETITION TIRE GUIDE

LOSI ROCK CLAWSThe Rock Claws is the currentnational champion, so you knowit’s a solid choice. The tire is fairlydomed, and the tread pattern isalso directional, but we ran themin both directions for testing. The tread pattern featuresnumerous lugs with some hollowed out, and overall the tirelooks like a full-size aggressive mud tire. These tires are onlyoffered in Losi Blue compound.

Height 4.9 in.Width 2.2 in.Weight 3.1 oz.Item no. LOSA7682B

Excellent at climbing onalmost all rock surfaces.

IMEX RUBICON SOFTThe Rubicons are one of the newesttires to hit rock crawling. Previously,Imex tires where used more frequent-ly for their scale appearance thantheir performance on the rocks. TheRubicon, however, is a pure comp tire. The wide-lookingRubicon has a square shape and long, thin lugs.

Height 5 in.Width 2.4 in.Weight 3.8 oz.Item no. IMX7585

Fantastic overall climberand great on side hills.

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2.2 COMPETITION TIRE GUIDE

PRO-LINE MOAB M3COMPOUNDWhile it has a lot of new competi-tion, the Moab is still the mostpopular 2.2 rock-crawling tire. Thenarrow and round carcass fea-tures lugs down the side. Like the Masher 2000, the additionof the soft M3 will only make this tire better. The Moab isalso technically a directional tire but is run both ways.

Height 4.95 in.Width 2.17 in.Weight 3.2 oz.Item no. 1120-02

Great-looking, realistic tire that per-forms well on almost all surfaces.

PRO-LINE MASHER 2000 M3COMPOUNDThe Masher tire has been around for awhile, but Pro-Line just recentlyreleased in it in its super-soft M3 com-pound to make it even better for rockcrawling. This tire’s tread pattern is directional, but like theother direction tires, it’s most common to see it being used“backwards.” The Masher 2000 looks square and wide fromthe front.

Height 4.71 in.Width 2.48 in.Weight 3.7 oz.Item no. 1074-02

Great overall tire. Strongon climbs and side-hilling.

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2.2 COMPETITION TIRE GUIDE

PRO-LINE MOAB M3COMPOUNDWhile it has a lot of new competi-tion, the Moab is still the mostpopular 2.2 rock-crawling tire. Thenarrow and round carcass fea-tures lugs down the side. Like the Masher 2000, the additionof the soft M3 will only make this tire better. The Moab isalso technically a directional tire but is run both ways.

Height 4.95 in.Width 2.17 in.Weight 3.2 oz.Item no. 1120-02

Great-looking, realistic tire that per-forms well on almost all surfaces.

PRO-LINE MASHER 2000 M3COMPOUNDThe Masher tire has been around for awhile, but Pro-Line just recentlyreleased in it in its super-soft M3 com-pound to make it even better for rockcrawling. This tire’s tread pattern is directional, but like theother direction tires, it’s most common to see it being used“backwards.” The Masher 2000 looks square and wide fromthe front.

Height 4.71 in.Width 2.48 in.Weight 3.7 oz.Item no. 1074-02

Great overall tire. Strongon climbs and side-hilling.

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2.2 COMPETITION TIRE GUIDE

MATT HIGGINSIt was a lot tougher call than I thought itwould be, but my pick for this test session is the Losi Rock Claws. I was surprisedabout how very close most of these tiresperformed. The Pro-Line Masher 2000, Pro-Line Moab and Losi Rock Claws all workedexceptionally well. I have seen the ImexRubicons dominate at comps, but they hada hard time making vertical climbs when wetested. I used to run Moabs exclusively, butswitched to other tires as more optionsbecame available. Let me tell you, the Pro-Line Moabs are a whole new tire in the M3compound and the best-looking, in my opin-ion. For competitions, I’ll probably bring theImex, Losi and Pro-Line tires and decidewhich to use after testing at that comp’slocation.

PAUL ONORATOThe Pro-Line Moab tires worked the best onmy truck for the majority of the differenttests we performed. I like the narrow width,sticky tire compound and aggressive side-wall lugs of the Moab tires that allowed mytruck to consistently traverse obstacles thatstopped it when running the other tires. Therest of the tires all seemed fairly close inoverall performance, with the Imex Rubiconsbeing my second pick after the Moabs. Forterrain mostly composed of vertical climbs, I grabbed the Losi Rock Claws or Pro-LineMasher 2000 that both performed very wellon steep angles. Since you are usually facedwith many different types of terrain whenrock crawling, I always start with the Pro-Line Moab tires.

BRANDON WILCOXOverall, I believe the best were the Masher2000s. I set up four steep vertical gates andtwo off-camber tests, and I ran all the tiresthrough them numerous times. The AxialRock Lizards struggled on the tough verticalclimbs. The Imex Rubicons’ sidewallsworked great, but that tire also struggled onthe vertical climbs. The Pro-Line Moabs didgreat on both the vertical and side hill tests,but my two favorites were the Losi RockClaws and the Pro-Line Masher 2000’s—theonly two tires to make it up all the verticalclimbs. Both side-hilled exceptionally well,but the Losi’s could not side-hill quite aswell as the softer Pro-Line tires. When itcame to side-bite performance, the Losi tiresdidn’t compare with the super-soft Pro-LineM3 rubber.

WRAP UPThere are thousands of types of rocks and a variety of of obstacles, so ultimately there is nosingle perfect rock-crawling tire. We wish it were that simple, but that’s just one of the manythings that make RC rock-crawling so interesting. Our three testers all chose different individualtop picks, but we all agreed that the two Pro-Line tires and the new tire from Losi are solidchoices for competition. That said, we have also seen all of these tires run successfully atcomps. Your best bet might be simply to get your hands on a few sets of tires so that you’reprepared for any situation. Good luck, and see you on the rocks.

Testing took place at the rock-crawling locale we frequent most often and we’remost familiar with—Matt’s backyard. As a rock-crawling nut, Matt is lucky enough tohave a huge rock garden at home. This is no manmade pile of rocks; it’s just aboutbig enough to run a full-size Jeep on (but that would require a lot of explaining andapologizing). There’s a variety of terrain. The rock garden features some steepclimbs, off-camber sections as well as smooth and coarse surfaces. We set up acourse, but we also ran any line we could find while switching back and forthamong all of the tires. Here’s what each driver had to say about the tires:

TESTING

Axial Rock LizardsRace Compound

Losi Rock ClawsImex Rubicon Soft Pro-Line Moab M3Compound

Pro-Line Masher 2000 M3Compound

SourcesAxial axialracing.comGreat Planes greatplanes.comImex imexrc.comKreepy Krawler Designs kreepykrawler@gmail.comLosi losi.comPro-Line pro-lineracing.comRPM rpmrcproducts.com

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