Infraction 3D Printed Hard Plastic Drift Wheel and Tire

[Arise0185]

With my Infraction v2 on the way, I am knee deep in researching tire options. I know Choons are popular and I have a couple sets of those on the way. I've seen the Vipaz solid rubber tires which seem interesting as well, but are currently out of stock.

I'm curious if anybody has found an off-the-shelf hard plastic drift tire/wheel with a 17mm hex and appropriate ~100mm OD. I can't seem to find anything in my searches. I saw someone had used 3.5" OD PVC pipe glued to off-the-shelf rims with pretty decent results (link to post)

Perhaps this is a totally inappropriate rig to try this with, but I was tossing around the idea of 3D printing some wheels to try out on smooth surfaces like polished concrete. I imagine any 3D printed material would get chewed up almost immediately on concrete or asphalt. I'm thinking it might be a fun way to keep the speeds low but develop some different skill sets.

Quick wheel I modeled up. Goal was to keep it as flat as possible on the outside face for easy printing. Will need to update the model once I get the actual car in hand so I can take some measurements. Looking at the qty of filament it will use, the materials cost will be about the same as a set of Choons (minus shipping).

 

[dure16]

You really need to keep wheel and tire separate.

Nylon wheel and TPU tire could work.

 

[Surchaufeur]

I did print a tire out of TPU and reused the rims after cleanup. Have yet to test them

 

[dure16]

I did print a tire out of TPU and reused the rims after cleanup. Have yet to test them

TPU works surprisingly well as a drift tire. Zero traction and decent life. I’d keep it <4S though.

 

[Surchaufeur]

TPU works surprisingly well as a drift tire. Zero traction and decent life. I’d keep it <4S though.

Better traction than hard filaments in theory. I mainly did it because its wear a lot more wear resistant

 

[dure16]

Better traction than hard filaments in theory. I mainly did it because its wear a lot more wear resistant

A tiny bit better traction than hard filaments, yes, but not as different as you might think. TPU tires don’t grip at all.

 

[VDVC-RC]

A very tech way of doing it. After watching #ClairsRC I just find soda bottles close to the tires outside diameter...

I guess you could do a 3Dprinted tire wrap

 

[Surchaufeur]

A very tech way of doing it. After watching #ClairsRC I just find soda bottles close to the tires outside diameter...

I guess you could do a 3Dprinted tire wrap

Indeed might give it a try

 

[Tex Koder]

A very tech way of doing it. After watching #ClairsRC I just find soda bottles close to the tires outside diameter...

I guess you could do a 3Dprinted tire wrap

Interesting..

So that gives me an idea.

 

[Arise0185]

You really need to keep wheel and tire separate.

Interesting, why do you say that? So the tire is replaceable after it wears?

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. If doing separate tire and rim, I would likely just reuse an off the shelf rim and print the tire out of TPU.

Soda bottles look interesting...

 

[Surchaufeur]

My guess is the tpu will stretch and fly off

Interesting, why do you say that? So the tire is replaceable after it wears?

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. If doing separate tire and rim, I would likely just reuse an off the shelf rim and print the tire out of TPU.

Soda bottles look interesting...

Yeah. It costed me 2$ a tire i believe

 

[dure16]

Interesting, why do you say that? So the tire is replaceable after it wears?

Because of the hex. A TPU hex is too flexible.

My guess is the tpu will stretch and fly off

I haven’t had that problem

Edit: I see what you’re saying now. Yes, you’re right.

 

[Arise0185]

Because of the hex. A TPU hex is too flexible.

I haven’t had that problem

Ahh I see where you're coming from. I was thinking the whole thing could be nylon or petg, not TPU. When I say hard plastic drift tire, I meant HARD plastic

 

[dure16]

Ahh I see where you're coming from. I was thinking the whole thing could be nylon or petg, not TPU. When I say hard plastic drift tire, I meant HARD plastic

Ah okay. That might be okay on a perfect surface. But you may be breaking wheels on 99% of surfaces.

 

[VDVC-RC]

I put cheap AliExpress hard rubber drift tires on my 4400kv sensored 1/12 buggy.

After a few minutes of smooth asphalt drifting, I was chasing the rear tires because they separated from the rims. The friction from the asphalt got them soft & the high RPM caused them to expand.

A polished concrete surface may alleviate the heat, but high rpm separation can damage bodies and other components.

 

[Surchaufeur]

I did print a tire out of TPU and reused the rims after cleanup. Have yet to test them

Update on my original comment.. best thing i ever did to my infraction. Its insanely good at 50% full theottle doing perfect circles under control always sideways and i can even go full throttle down the street at 75% speed like an arrow qithout any loss of control. I didnt try 100% but that would be stupid to do on tires that are meant to drift. After 2 packs little no wear at all on them 102mm thick still. The real test is how would it handle on a stock suspension(i have a caster mod). I need to test them further but i don't think i can really kill them