Thread: High Traction Wheels
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Unread 17-03-2014, 01:05
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Re: High Traction Wheels
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnFogarty View Post
...We've been through 2 Regional events with them and we have "burned-rubber" with them as I call it. In fact by the end of the Orlando Regional where we played out primary role as inbounder/defender we burned all the tread off of the wheels by then of the finals. This might have been because of our weight. We were playing in my mind, pretty solid defense and we only weighed 77 pounds without bumpers/battery.

I'm looking into the possibility of purchasing a different set of wheels that could potentially give us even more traction. Almost to the level of this if you'd like a refrence http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39365

Has anyone got any suggestions on high traction 4" wheel types that they use and why/why not it would be a good idea to incorporate them into our drive train?
Speaking as someone from the team who built that robot in your reference image, I can personally say that we have been very happy with the traction and durability of the VexPro 4" Traction wheels with their corresponding roughtop tread (We've used the McMaster Blue Nitrile that Andrew suggested above, but found cutting it to the correct size can be a pain).
I would imagine that 4" VexPro Traction wheels (in a 1" wide configuration) could be used interchangeably with your kitbot wheels (use the guide orangemoore posted).

Another great benefit to using a wheel with replaceable tread is that you restore your wheels to like-new condition without having to completely replace them (which, depending on the wheels, can be quite costly). With replaceable tread, for the cost of two cheap 4" wheels, you can replace the tread on more than six. On top of that, they give you a lot more options for tread variety.


After playing a LOT of defense at Kettering our wheels are still in very good shape. It's quite possible we'll go all season without changing the tread like we have for several years now (though will all the defense this year, we MIGHT end up having to change them out once, but that's what swap spares are for).