I have been running a narrowed Proline Badlands 30 Series tire on my
Baja Bug since I built it and it works great. Its narrow profile fits
the theme of the truck and the tread pattern gets traction everywhere.
The problem that I run into is that the tire is over 10 years old and
the rubber is getting hard and dried out. I looked around at all of the
SC tires on the market and nothing really suited the project so I spoke
with Proline and we decided to try something a little out of the box.
The 2.2″ BFGoodrich KO2 had the height and narrow profile that would
suit the truck without being too tall. They stand at 5.43″ tall and
1.80″ wide and are molded in Proline’s G8 crawler compound. The tires
include standard open-cell foam inserts that are full sized to support
the entire carcass. I ran more than 20 packs through these tires on
every surface imaginable and after ten hours behind the trigger I am
really impressed with how well these tires coped with going fast. I
mounted the tires to a set of RPM Revolver 2.2″ wide offset crawler
wheels as they are the only 2.2″ wheel that will fit on a Slash 4×4 as
well as the Baja Bug (a 2wd) and I plan to use them on another project
soon as well.
ASPHALT:
Wow these tires hook! I was afraid that these tall tires would squirm
around under acceleration and fold over during cornering but they held
up much better than expected. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of
sidewall to these tires and there is no getting around that fact (at
least not without using a firm insert) but these tires do surprisingly
well. If one were to use a closed cell insert or a two stage insert
instead I believe that would help in higher traction situations. The
truck is very stable under braking and doesn’t move around without
provocation.
LOOSE DIRT:
The BFGoodrlich KO2’s have a more closed tread design that most SC tires
and therefore don’t penetrate into a loose surface as well. They tend
to slide on top of silt and dusty hard-pack and it makes for an
interesting driving experience. Think more drifting and less point and
shoot track driving. This is simply not what these tires are designed
for but it is still fun to drive the truck like this.
HARD PACK/GROOVED CLAY:
On these higher grip, clean surfaces, the KO2’s behave similarly to
driving on asphalt. They steer well when the front tires are on the
ground, but keeping them there can be a chore. The forward traction is
impressive, due mostly to the amount of tread on the surface at any
given time. The side bite isn’t as harsh as you might expect either.
When entering a corner too fast the truck will bicycle but it is fairly
easy to catch.
ROUGH TERRAIN:
This is where this tire shines. The rougher the surface, the more the
KO2 likes it. It will bite into rocky, rooted, nasty surfaces like no
other SC tire does. I would even go so far as to say that these tires
outperform the Badlands in this category (and that’s saying a lot coming
from me). I took the truck to the trail that I usually run my trail
trucks on and gave it a rip. It was an entirely different driving
experience, watching the truck blast across the roots like they were
ramps. When the truck would get to the rock gardens it was a little
rougher going. Obviously a new set of tires isn’t going to make a 2wd
Slash into a rock crawler but they do give you the ground clearance you
need to clear some fairly large obstacles. I was able to drive up a
large, smooth rock inclines (simply straight up, no articulation) and
the tires never slipped. It surprised me how far the truck was able to
climb without losing grip and sliding back to terra firma. I am going to
mount these up to my 2.2 Clod next to see how they do on a real
crawler.
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:
These tires are impressive. They were never designed to do what I have
been doing with them but they never gave up. They could use a set of
firmer inserts for this application (the softer inserts will conform to
the rocks though) but that’s all that I would change for a go fast
truck. If I were to do this again, I would cut the back bead to fit a
2.2/3.0″ diameter wheel which would open up my wheel choices since the
RPM wheel is the only 2.2″ wheel that works on the 4×4.
Overall I am thrilled with how this experiment turned out. The tires
grip on nearly every surface that I used them on and have worn well
(they still have around 80% of their tread left). I love how they look
on the Bug and they are not so tall that they put an unusual strain on
the motor or drivetrain. I would recommend this tire to anyone wanting
to build a Slash MT or has a need for a scale tire.
Item #10122-14
Link: https://www.prolineracing.com/tires/…n-truck-tires/
