Slash Mounted Tire Guide
How to Choose the Best Wheels and Tires for Your 2WD or 4X4 Slash
Is your 2WD Slash or Slash 4X4 ready for a new set of shoes? As you may have already discovered, your choices include a variety of wheel designs, tread types, colors, finishes, and rubber compounds. We’ll explain all the options, and you’ll find photos and item numbers for all the mounted wheel and tire sets you can install on your Slash to restore performance and like-new looks—or give your truck a new style. Let’s dive in.
Wheel and Tire Styles
Slash wheels and tires are available separately to assemble yourself, or you can choose from a wide variety of factory-mounted, ready-to-install options, which is what we’re covering here. There are two wheel designs: SCT and Split Spoke, both with simulated bead-lock rings. As for tires, you can choose the Traxxas SCT tread, officially licensed BFGoodrich® Mud-Terrain™ T/A®, or Kumho Road Venture MT replica rubber. All three or great multi-surface tires for all kinds of on- and off-road fun. For dedicated snow and sand running, Traxxas offers the 5891 paddle tires.
Slash wheels and tires are available separately to assemble yourself, or you can choose from a wide variety of factory-mounted, ready-to-install options, which is what we’re covering here. There are two wheel designs: SCT and Split Spoke, both with simulated bead-lock rings. As for tires, you can choose the Traxxas SCT tread, officially licensed BFGoodrich® Mud-Terrain™ T/A®, or Kumho Road Venture MT replica rubber. All three or great multi-surface tires for all kinds of on- and off-road fun. For dedicated snow and sand running, Traxxas offers the 5891 paddle tires.
The tread choices for multi-terrain use are SCT, BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/A, and Kumho Road Venture MT. Not shown: paddle tires, which are strictly for sand and snow.
Pre-mounted tires are the most popular choices, but you can also purchase wheels and tires separately and mount them yourselves. Click here or on the image for a detailed how-to article on mounting tires.
Tire Compounds and TSM Rating
Traxxas short-course tires are molded in a rubber compound optimized for multi-surface traction and long tread life. For maximum traction, you can also get the SCT and BFGoodrich tread patterns in a softer S1 compound. As with full-size tires, softer rubber and greater grip also means faster tread wear, but the S1 rubber isn’t that soft—you’ll still get good life out of S1 tires, especially if you’re primarily an off-road driver. If street action is your thing, stick with standard rubber.
Traxxas short-course tires are molded in a rubber compound optimized for multi-surface traction and long tread life. For maximum traction, you can also get the SCT and BFGoodrich tread patterns in a softer S1 compound. As with full-size tires, softer rubber and greater grip also means faster tread wear, but the S1 rubber isn’t that soft—you’ll still get good life out of S1 tires, especially if you’re primarily an off-road driver. If street action is your thing, stick with standard rubber.
The track-ready Slash 4X4 VXL Ultimate includes S1-compound tires as standard equipment.
You’ll note that some Traxxas mounted tires are “TSM Rated,” meaning they have been assembled with Traxxas Ultra Premium Tire Glue, originally developed for the 100+ mph XO-1. Traxxas Stability Management makes full-throttle driving with brushless power a lot more fun, because the stability system eliminates most spin-outs. TSM allows you to stay on the “gas” longer and corner harder, which really tests the glue bond. And so, Traxxas offers TSM-rated tires. You can still use tires that aren’t TSM-Rated with TSM-equipped models, but if you’re all about wide-open, maximum-voltage driving, it’s best to install TSM-Rated rubber.
TSM makes it easy to drive full throttle with maximum brushless power and enjoy huge dirt-roosting power-slides, which pulls hard on the tires.
TSM-rated mounted tires are assembled using Traxxas Ultra Premium Tire Glue, originally developed for the 100+mph XO-1.
Front and Rear Wheels: Understanding Wheel Offset
Traxxas short-course wheels are offered in different offsets to suit the 2WD Slash’s front and rear suspensions. The 2WD truck’s front suspension is a few millimeters narrower than the rear, so the front wheels have a more offset to make both ends of the truck the same width when the wheels are mounted. The Slash 4X4’s suspension is the same width front and rear, and uses identical wheels on all four corners. The 4X4’s wheels are the same offset as the 2WD Slash rears. Traxxas wheels marked only “Front” are only for use as front wheels on the Slash 2WD. Wheels marked “Rear” or “4WD F-R” can be used as rear wheels on Slash 2WD, or as front and rear wheels for Slash 4X4.
Traxxas short-course wheels are offered in different offsets to suit the 2WD Slash’s front and rear suspensions. The 2WD truck’s front suspension is a few millimeters narrower than the rear, so the front wheels have a more offset to make both ends of the truck the same width when the wheels are mounted. The Slash 4X4’s suspension is the same width front and rear, and uses identical wheels on all four corners. The 4X4’s wheels are the same offset as the 2WD Slash rears. Traxxas wheels marked only “Front” are only for use as front wheels on the Slash 2WD. Wheels marked “Rear” or “4WD F-R” can be used as rear wheels on Slash 2WD, or as front and rear wheels for Slash 4X4.
This illustration shows Stampede wheels, but it’s the same principle for Traxxas short-course wheels. In a zero-offset wheel, the center of the tire (blue line) is aligned with the face of the hub carrier (green line). In a wheel with offset, the center of the wheel is ahead of the hub carrier face (negative offset) or behind it (positive offset).
The wheels on 2WD Slash models have different front and rear offsets, so front wheels should not be mounted on the rear, and vice-versa. (They’ll fit, but your truck will have extra-narrow front wheel spacing and extra-wide rear spacing.) Slash 4X4 models use "2WD rear” wheels on all four corners.
Traxxas short-course wheels are labeled to show compatibility for use as front or rear wheels.
You can also differentiate front-offset and rear-offset wheels by the opening for the mounting nut. The front wheels have greater offset, and a deeper opening.
Rally Wheels & Tires for Slash 4X4
The Ford Fiesta ST Rally is built on the Slash 4X4 platform, so the wheels and tires offered for the Rally can be installed on the Slash 4X4 (and vice-versa, if you’ve got a Fiesta and would like to run Slash wheels and tires on it). The Rally wheels come in black, orange, white, and green with replica BFGoodrich gravel-tread tires in the same compound as Slash tires. You can also get the tires in softer S1 rubber on white wheels as item number 7473R. Since the Fiesta is only offered as a 4WD model, the Rally wheel design is not offered in the “front” offset for 2WD Slash.
The Ford Fiesta ST Rally is built on the Slash 4X4 platform, so the wheels and tires offered for the Rally can be installed on the Slash 4X4 (and vice-versa, if you’ve got a Fiesta and would like to run Slash wheels and tires on it). The Rally wheels come in black, orange, white, and green with replica BFGoodrich gravel-tread tires in the same compound as Slash tires. You can also get the tires in softer S1 rubber on white wheels as item number 7473R. Since the Fiesta is only offered as a 4WD model, the Rally wheel design is not offered in the “front” offset for 2WD Slash.
Rally with Slash wheels
Slash with Rally wheelsTraxxas SCT Wheels Guide
Click on the images below to see all the Traxxas mounted SCT tire options. You’ll find the item numbers for front and rear styles, and notation for TSM-Rated tires and S1 compound availability.
Tire Guide 1
Tire Guide 2
Tire Guide 3
Tire Guide 4
Tire Guide 5With so many wheels and tires to choose from, there’s something for every wheel and tread preference and color scheme. Click on the links below to find your perfect combination.
