Best Wheels For Drop-Center Drivetrain.
 

Hello CD community,
This year we decided to go with a drop center drive train to help out with defense on the field. The wheels that we have on there now are the original VersaWheels. Our drivetrain is a single-reduction 3 CIM, so there is a lot of power going into the center wheels. We replaced the wheels once during our last district because all the wheels shredded smooth. Our center-wheels lost about 1" of thread. The thread turned smooth. So once we changed it, about 4 qualification matches and 3 Semi-Finals and 3 Quarter-Final Matches later the wheels were smooth again. We were wondering which wheels would be ideal: colson, thread, etc. Our sprockets are VEX, so would prefer something from VEXpro.

Thanks
-Shadath

Re: Best Wheels For Drop-Center Drivetrain.
 

We used VersaWheel DT wheels this year on our 6WD drop center and they worked like a charm. Pretty minimal wear-- two competitions later and you can still see some of the pattern on the center wheels. Definitely the best my team has used, and we've used 8" and 6" pneumatics, AM 6" plaction, old IFI 6" wheels, and the works. Would definitely recommend the DT versions, never used the originals.

Re: Best Wheels For Drop-Center Drivetrain.
 

One alternative would be Colson wheels with the dead axle hub from WCP. These have excellent traction stock and even better traction if you cut a custom tread pattern into them. They also wear slower than any other common FRC wheel. The downside is that they're a bit heavy. You're looking at $7 per wheel and $15 per hub.

You can also go with either VEXPro Traction Wheels ($14+$3 hub) or Andymark Performance wheels ($26). The AM wheels are a bit pricier as they're machined out of aluminum vs the VEXPro wheels which are glass filled nylon, I believe. The advantage of both of these wheels is that you can choose your own tread to put on the wheel. Common choices are the typical wedgetop and roughtop treads available from many suppliers, or the blue nitrile tread from McMaster which is used by many teams over on the west coast. When the tread wears out, all you have to do is replace the tread instead of the entire wheel.

Due to the balance between performance and cost, 5188 chose to go with Colson this past season, and they've been wonderful.

Re: Best Wheels For Drop-Center Drivetrain.
 

4901 used 4" HiGrips this year--replaced the centers Thursday at Palmetto (drove it a bit in the parking lot to practice), and we'll replace the centers again at Championship after wearing them bald again after playing hard D in the Orlando finals. (We had 26 matches on them across Palmetto and Orlando.)

We entertained switching to Colsons in St. Louis, but with other upgrades and the limited amount of practice time for them, we decided the time spent fiddling with spacers and other bits wasn't worth it. Maybe next year.

Re: Best Wheels For Drop-Center Drivetrain.
 

Honestly, with the number of COTS options it's hard to go wrong here.

KoP wheels are fine. Cheap, easy to use. Not the grippiest but good enough to get you going, and better than past options.

Colsons are a very good grip and very low maintenance wheel. You will not need to replace your competition robot's wheels within a regular season. They aren't too expensive even with the hubs. Main drawback is weight.

Treaded traction wheels (either VexPro Traction or AM Performance) combined with roughtop tread are the best commonly available off the shelf traction solution. The gains in traction come with the cost of regular maintenance as these wheels require tread changes fairly often. Expect to change tread at least a few times a season.

Ultimately, I think Colsons are close enough to optimal that they're the best option for a lot of teams and drivetrains, but really any of the above can work. I have heard good things about VersaWheels but I do not have first hand experience.