dirt track tread pattern

[btaylor]

This may be the wrong board for this,but since i tried it in 1/32,here goes.
While building a modified coupe ( dirt style) i wanted the tires to have that hoosier diamond tread pattern,i know they are available to buy,but my chassis was already set up and running good times.this may be an old trick some of you know,but i had not tried it till now.
I took and old piece of METAL screen wire,heated with a propane torch,layed it on a flat piece of steel and rolled a frt axle with tires over at an angle,and what'ya know! perfect scale diamond tread tires!.
i put those tires on the rear,lightly sanded them to remove any lumps,and ran the exact same lap times as before.did the same with the other set of tires for the frt. not only looks great,it did not effect performance.this was done with artin stocker series tires,so im not sure how this would work on other tires. im not even sure what artin stocker tires are made of? but it worked well for me.
Bob

Ps they seemed to stay cleaner longer on my plastic track?

[HomeRacingWorld]

Great tip Bob, thanks for sharing this.

[TuscoTodd]

Would love to see pics!
Thank you for the tip though either way - will have to try that out now that the weather is getting warmer. :)

[btaylor]

I am still having trouble with the picture thing,as i dont have a good camera.but i can tell you they look real good,especially if you air brush a little georgia red clay in the grooves! and a little on the body. ill try and get my daughter to help me get pics.

[TuscoTodd]

:D
Looking forward to it!

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Every now and then an idea comes out of left field like this and works great. I can't wait to try it.

[btaylor]

After doing a little recon at work yesterday,i found that another source for varied diamond patterns can be found on automotive air filters,its the outer wire mesh holding the paper element together
I found at least three alternate patterns and sizes that should suit other scales and frt to rear variations. all the ones I found were steel as well.

[TuscoTodd]

Very cool! I hadn't thought about the air cleaner angle - that opens up additional sizes!
:D
Now have to work on controlling heat. :)

[btaylor]

I found that putting the mesh flat on a steel plate keeps the wire from going to deep into the tire,i am going to rivet some mesh to a plate with handle just to have ready when needed. as far as heat goes,the screen wire gets red real quick!,but after a few seconds its ready to roll. i also made a hollow t-handle to put the axle thru to keep from potentially burning my fingers. i suppose different tire compounds will react differently as well.trial and error i guess.

[TuscoTodd]

Appreciate the additional thoughts/tips!

:handgestures-thumbup: :handgestures-thumbup:

[RichD]

K&S has aluminum mesh that might work as well, I bought some at a local hardware store to use as chain link fence.

[btaylor]

Best close-up shot i could get with my camera...poor,but you get the idea

[TuscoTodd]

Thank you for the close up! I got to give this process a try - hopefully this weekend! :)