The rear tires on an HO Slot Car are one of the most important items that govern performance. The molded rubber tires supplied on box-stock slot cars can normally be replaced with slip-on silicone tires. Tomy Super G+Plus chassis, however need to have their rear hubs replaced first before silicone tires can be fitted.
If you would prefer not to replace the rear hubs on a Tomy Super G+Plus chassis you can still improve the stock tires’ performance by lightly sanding and truing them. Look closely at a pair of used Super G+Plus tires and you’ll often notice that the edges of the tire are worn, but the center section is not. This indicates that only the outer edges of the tires are actually contacting the track.
You can eliminate the high edges on the rear tires by placing a finger nail emory board on the track and then gently lowering a running car onto the emory board. The running car’s rear wheels can be sanded and trued using this simple technique. Remove the body first though, so that it’s easier to see the results of sanding and to avoid getting rubber dust inside the body and motor. A properly sanded and trued tire will have a flat surface that makes better contact with the track.
Silicone Tires
Replacing the hard rubber rear tires with softer compound silicone tires will make a substantial difference to a cars handling and performance. Slip-on silicone tires are available in a variety of sizes.
The box-stock tires on most HO Slot Cars are slightly oversized. One of the benefits of replacing these large tires with smaller silicone tires is that the chassis ride height will be reduced, thus placing the traction magnets closer to the power rails. The combined effects of stronger magnetic downforce and sticky tires will dramatically improve the performance and handling characteristics of an otherwise stock chassis.
You can normally reduce the rear tire diameter by 0.010 to 0.015 and still maintain sufficient clearance so that the chassis doesn’t hang up on track section rail joints, or the power rails themselves.
Box-Stock Wheel Hub & Tires Sizes
The table below lists the standard factory dimensions for box-stock wheel hubs and rubber tires. Due to rubber molding variations tire diameter tolerances may vary by ± 0.0025 inches.
Manufacturer/Chassis Model Hub Size Tire Diameter*
Aurora A/FX 0.275 0.455
Aurora A/FX Magna-Traction 0.275 0.455
Aurora G+Plus 0.275 0.465
Tyco / Mattel Magnum 440/440×2 0.255 0.466
Tyco / Mattel HP-7 0.280 0.470
Life-Like / Rokar “M” Car 0.285 0.468
Tomy Mega-G & Mega-G+Plus 0.265 0.450
Tomy Turbo & SRT 0.275 0.450
Tomy Super G+Plus N/A 0.455
BSRT G3 with 5-Spoke Molded Wheels 0.285 0.448
* ± 0.0025 inch tolerances
Silicone Replacement Tire Sizes
The table below lists hub diameters and the resulting tire diameters for various silicone tires. By looking up the manufacturer’s normal tire diameter in the table above, and then finding a slightly smaller diameter in the table below you’ll arrive at the perfect tire choice for any brand of slot car chassis.
Wheel Hub Size
(Diameter) Black
Cats
(0.250 x 0.410) Black
Jacks
(0.250 x 0.428) Black
Panthers
(0.250 x 0.432) Black
Gum Drops
(0.250 x 0.450)
0.250 0.410 0.428 0.432 0.450
0.255 0.415 0.432 0.438 0.455
0.275 0.426 0.442 0.450 0.468
0.280 0.430 0.445 0.452 0.470
0.285 0.434 0.448 0.454 0.476
Note: The AJ’s tires listed for sale below specify an un-mounted 0.250 inch inside wheel diameter. Using the table above you can easily determine what size they will “grow” to when used on larger diameter wheels.
Recommended Hub & Tire Sizes
The table below lists the recommended silicone replacement tires for the various chassis available. The tires choices shown below will reduce the ride height slightly while still maintaining sufficient rail clearances on molded plastic sectional track.
Manufacturer / Chassis Wheel Hubs Tires
Tomy Super G+Plus BSRT Delrin (0.250) Black Gum Drops
Tomy Super G+Plus BSRT Delrin (0.275) Black Panthers
Tomy Super G+Plus BSRT G3 (0.285) Black Panthers
Tomy Turbo / SRT Stock (0.275) Black Panthers
Tyco / Mattel Magnum 440 & 440×2 Stock (0.255) Black Gum Drops
Tyco / Mattel HP-7 Stock (0.280) Black Panthers
Life-Like / Rokar “M” Chassis Stock (0.285) Black Panthers
Aurora G+Plus Stock (0.275) Black Jacks
Aurora A/FX Stock (0.275) Black Jacks
Aurora A/FX Magna-Traction Stock (0.275) Black Jacks
BSRT Wheel Tools
Delrin is a relatively hard plastic and while wheels can be pressed on the axle manually wheel pullers and presses make the job much easier.
All BSRT wheel tools are precision-machined using hardened tool steel for the pins/presses and anodized aluminum for the frame. These are high-quality tools that will last a lifetime.
BSRT Pro Wheel Puller
This tool will safely remove the rear wheels for any Tomy, Tyco or BSRT slot car. It can also be used with any vintage Aurora slot car.
BSRT Pro Wheel Press
This well made tool will quickly press any HO wheel onto a standard rear axle without damaging the wheel or the axle itself.
This tool can be used on both modern Tomy, Tyco and BSRT slot cars as well as older vintage Aurora slot cars.
BSRT Pro Front Wheel Puller
Use this tool to remove the front wheels from any modern HO slot car. It can also be used to remove the wheel retainers used on BSRT Independent Front End kits.
This tool is NOT designed to remove rear wheels.
AJ’s Silicone Tires
AJ’s Slip-On Silicone tires are available in pairs and 6-packs (6 pair) in four (4) different diameters. See the tables above for suitable applications.
Note: Unground Foam tires are soft sponge rubber and will need to be glued to the rear wheel hubs and then sanded to size.
AJ’s Delrin Hubs & Silicone Tires
BSRT Delrin Hubs
BSRT G3 Wheel Sets
BSRT also offers a precision molded 5-spoke wheel set. Each set includes a pair of front and rear hubs. They are available in standard and narrow widths. The standard width wheel sets are designed for Tomy and Tyco chassis, while the narrow wheel sets are to be used with BSRT G3 chassis running “wide” traction magnets. Both “Wide” and “Narrow” wheel sets are available in White, Gray and Black colors.
If you plan to paint your wheels to match your slot car’s body then order the BSRT G3 White Wheel Set as they are the best for painting.
BSRT Tyco Front End Kits
BSRT Tires
Aurora Silicone Rear Tires
I also stock Slip-On Silicone tires for all of the popular Aurora vintage slot cars. Here again tires are available in pairs and 6-packs (6 pair.) These tires are designed specifically for older Aurora slot cars as well as the Johnny Lightning and Auto World reproductions.
The tires listed below are a much better fit for vintage Aurora A/FX wheels than the generic AJ’s Silicones listed elsewhere on this page.
Note: The Silicone tires listed above also fit the rear hubs of Johnny Lightning and Auto World X-Traction reproductions. These silicones tires really improve the handling of JL/AW X-Traction slot cars.
Note: JL/Tuff-Ones Silicones are wider than standard T-Jet tires and will fit on the rear hubs of Johnny Lightning and Auto World ThunderJet 500 reproductions. These silicones tires really improve the handling of JL/AW ThunderJet 500s.
BSRT Tires for Aurora
Note: BSRT T-Jet Delrin Hubs and Silicone tires are “Wide” and should only be used on Fray-style T-Jets or chassis fitted with 1:64 scale Lexan bodies. These hubs and tires will protrude well beyond the fenders of most T-Jet bodies. They do work well on Hot-Rods though.
Jel Claw Racing Slicks
Jel Claw Racing Slicks are a newly developed molded proprietary synthetic rubber blend that work extremely well on plastic and wooden tracks. These tires are a direct replacement for the factory rubber tires fitted to all Tomy A/FX, Aurora, Auto World, Tyco, Life-Like and Johnny Lightning slot cars.
Jel Claws are available in individual pairs and bags of 5 pair for all of the popular HO slot cars including vintage Aurora and Tyco chassis.
Wheel & Tire Sets for T-Jets
I am also selling a nice set of wheels and tires for Aurora ThunderJets and Johnny Lightning/Auto World T-Jet reproduction chassis.
These wheel sets include both front and rear wheels and tires in four (4) different styles. Each “set” includes the four wheel styles shown below. You get 16 Wheels/Tires in this one set. That’s enough to upgrade four T-Jets!
These wheels are a direct replacement for the factory stock wheels and tires and provide for a wider rear slick than what originally came on an Aurora T-Jet. They’ll fit any chassis and no body modifications are required.
They’ll really dress up an Aurora T-Jet, and make for a much better handling car to boot!
Front tires are 0.025″ wide and the rears are 0.085″ in width. That’s much wider than the standard T-Jet tires, but they will still fit in the wheel opening without modification.
Cleaning Tires
Clean tires are important for optimum performance and grip. Rubber tires and especially silicone compounds pick up oil, dirt and dust that reduces their ability to properly grip the track. Formula 409 Cleaner & Degreaser is the best tire cleaning fluid I’ve found. It removes oil and dirt without leaving a residue that will attract more dust. Warm soapy water also works well in a pinch.
Avoid using tape to clean your tires. The adhesive on tape will clean tires, but it also leaves adhesive behind that quickly picks up more dust and dirt.