Help!!..wheels?

[sdcantrell56]

Ok so I have been thinking about the subject of wheel choice in relation to drivetrains I have been designing. All of my designs this offseason have used custom treaded wheels with roughtop. We have in the past used colsons with very very good results, and had a robot that no one could push using 6 2" wide colsons and AM shifters. Now the dilemma... We can buy colsons for about $6 and then machine hex keyed hubs for them for a total price per wheel of probably $7.50. The weight of the wheel plus hub would be right around 3/4lb. Now all of the custom wheels I have designed weigh slightly more than 1/2 lb with tread and would cost around $10 per wheel in material. The big dilemma comes from the need to change tread frequently with roughtop versus never having to with colsons. True roughtop does have higher traction than a colson wheel; however, how much of a difference is it really. Also colsons are designed to work on dirty surfaces and they might work better on a plastic surface (HDPE) as well. Given these factors what would a team choose?

Also I have been strongly considering a 8wd west-coast style design for the upcoming season. Going with Colsons would negate the benefit of quick wheel changes so the only noticeable benefits of a west-coast style drivetrain would be slightly improved lateral stability and possibly less weight. So question number 2. If we go with colsons, would there be any benefit in going with a west-coast drivetrain?