Sand Tires

by Tim Gaasch

Our sport of Sand drag racing is not so different from the drag strips across America. Both sports have different classes, staging lanes and lights. The vehicles both have big motors and speed freaks at the controls. The big difference is the tires. Paddle tires make sand drag racing fast. You can get around on street tires with low air pressure but paddles make racing happen.

You can ask many racers about which paddle tires are the best and receive a wide variety of answers. The best combination will depend on the track surface and moisture content, air temperature, air pressure in the tire, horsepower, and the driver. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Like drag racing on the street, the key to success is getting all of your power to the ground. Not all paddle tires are the same. I currently run (STU) 20.00, cut with a "play" groove on a Douglas 15" x 15" rim. What does this mean?

	Sand Tires Unlimited 20.00 paddle tire.

(STU) Sand Tires Unlimited is a company that makes paddle tires for bikes, quads and larger vehicles. The 20.00 has paddles that are 20 inches wide and fits on 15 - 20 inch wide rims with a 15-inch diameter. The tire is manufactured with 36 paddles and typically has 18 cut off using a grooving tool. A play groove cuts off just the paddle and leaves the surrounding rubber. The competition grove removes the paddle and the extra rubber between the remaining paddles as shown here. This makes the tire lighter for less rotating mass for quicker racing response but the tire will not last as long and is more prone to punctures.

	Lightweight aluminum rim.

Along with the less rotating mass comes the lightweight aluminum rims. I use Douglas, 15-inch wide 15-inch diameter wheels with a 5 on 5-1/2 inch bolt pattern to maintain my Jeep illusion. I have run these rims on both of the Jeeps and have not bent one yet. I have run the air pressure as low as 3 pounds while racing and have not spun a tire of the bead yet either. The tires are not balanced so spinning them on the rim has not been a problem.

With a race vehicle that is heavier or has more horsepower you may have to run a bead lock tire to keep the tire on the rim. A more aggressive paddle tire will also load the rim harder. For high horsepower vehicles you might move up to the Bigger Diggers or Super Scoopers. This style tire is based on a street tire that has most of the rubber shaved off and big paddles attached to the flat surface. This style tire has a lot of bite on the ground and the paddles do not fold over as easy as the formed paddle of the STU style.

	Digger tires to run where the sand is very soft and you can handle more traction.

I have given some thought to getting a set of the digger tires to run at Pismo where the sand is very soft and I can handle more traction. I will keep the STU on tracks like Avenal because the amount of Bite is more easily altered through air pressure in the tires. I have seen short wheelbase vehicles like my Jeep get to much traction on the diggers and have to back off to keep control. Right now I have some control and consistency with my tire combination so I will continue to run these until I have time to work out the bugs on a set of the digger style tires.

The perfect combination is still out there so you may see me and others trying different tires on different tracks. You may see me experimenting with Diggers later this year, so keep in touch for my latest opinion!

You can get more info on tires and rims at powerproracingproducts.com, douglaswheel.com, and sandtiresunlimited.com.