| Proline Chisels and 2-Stage Foam |
| Written by Harley |
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Just as with everything else, RC Rock Crawling see’s certain trends develop with new product and the way people setup their trucks. In the earlier days of the 2.2 class we were modifying Maxx sized tires onto popular 2.2 tire sidewalls to get a taller tire, up to 5.5” tall. The last couple of years saw more “small” tires dominate the competitions, such as the Losi Rock Claws and Panther Cougars, however lately we are back to seeing some “tall” tires at or near the top. Hot Bodies, HPI, RC4WD, and Pro-Line have all released tires that exceed 5” tall. Pro-Line’s first step into a “Tall” tire is the Chisel. The Chisels are not a traditional tire that was just made with a larger diameter. They have a very open tread pattern with tall lugs, and the most unique feature seems to be the fact that the pattern only truly repeats 3 times. The Chisels are molded using Pro-Line's newest G8 compound.
 At the beginning of the 2009 Season I had built a new comp truck with a new suspension geometry. A large crop of new tires had came in over the winter and I wanted to test as many as I could. In all the testing I did the Chisels always seemed to be the one to really stand out to me on the local rock. Many of the local club members could also tell the difference they made on several lines, enough so that after that day almost half the field of local drivers chose to pick up a set to run. When I tested the tires originally I was using a set of NWTT All-Weather Reach foams. These worked well but I wanted more sidewall support. I picked up a set of Pro-Line 2-stage foams and tried them out. The firm inside donut and oversized soft memory foam outer really seemed to work well for me. I added 8 oz of stick on lead weight to each of my front DNA R/C Thrasher Beadlocks and no additional weight to the rears. This combinations has continued to work great for me all season, allowing me to take the first 4 comp wins.
Performance:The Chisels large well spaced tread lugs give these tires some interesting driving characteristics. While these tires still do very well when using wheel speed they seem to excel when slowly rotating the tires. You can see clearly the lugs biting and sticking to the rock allowing you to pull up large ledges. These tires also seem to dig UPHILL better than any tire I have ever ran. The G8 compound does not show very much wear after heavy use. I have many many hours on my tires and have just started to see them start to round off the leading edge of the tread blocks. It is also worth noting that I have been running my tires in reverse of the direction specified on the sidewalls. The latest test of these tires was at Capen Park in Columbia, MO. A very wet and slick rock surface was created by rains that continued into the comp. The rock led to quite a few slips and spills by the competitors but the Chisels didn’t seem to have any problems with it at all. None of the climbs that people were struggling with showed to be a problem at all for the Chisels.
 Pro-Line has made some huge improvements over the last year, the new G8 compound, tire designs, foam options, and wheel choices have shown how in tune Pro-Line is with the crawling market. I will continue to run the Proline Chisels.
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