Hey Board,
I need some help deciding what sand tires to buy for my sandrail. Here's a little info about the rail. It's a LT 4 seater about 1900lbs. powered by 2332 turbo VW motor with a 091 tranny. I put a set of 15 X 13.00 sand vipers, which are basically useless on this car considering the tires are only 29 inches tall mounted. I don't know if I should go with the Xtreem 14.50 or the STU Padla Trak 13.00. There's not a big difference in price for either, so money really isn't an issue. I don't want to by a tire that's going to put too much load on the motor or tranny. Any thoughts? Why one over the other? Thanks

OH Yeah,
If anyone has a lightweight 2 seater and looking for some brand new (used for lees than 1 hour) 15 X 13.00 paddles, $200 takes them . Located in Corona

Update: Paddles are posted on Buggy Parts catagorie. Pictures included

I have a 1800-1900 # car and I run the 14.50x15 Extreme (sportsman cut) sand tire. I only have a 2.7L bolted to a 091 and it does great.

Thanks SANDFANATIC

Anymore input, anyone?

I'd probably go with STU 13.00 pluses. They have a hair more bite than the 13.00 but not as much as the 14.50. Extreme makes a 13.50 that would be good too.

I run 1300 pluses with a 2054 turbo vw. They are 1 inch wider than 1300. The extra width will help with flotation. You can see the extra width in the center of the paddle.Click to view attachment

i have the 1450 extreme but like the 1450 sand tires of america better

the extreme is round has good bite.

the sand tires of america is square and is great for sliding.

^^^Yeah but they are not tall enough and you have traction problems, thats why you want sandblaster 33s.

gabet, I would look into finding somebody in your group to lend you the 1450s and 1300 plus and 33s and see which one works best. I personally think the 33s would be better because of the height for your car which is similar to mine and it is an 091 with a V6.

True I want 33 blasters, but I have used the pluses for like four seasons with out any issues. They measure 31" from tip to tip.

Come on. I know there's more members that have tried or have some info on these tires.

Why were they useless?
Sinking?
not enough bite (scoops too short)?
What pressure were you running?

I should have clarified a little. The tires aren't useless, but will not work for my application. My car is too big and heavy for these tires, the car would basically sink everytime I stopped and then tried to get going again. I figure a taller (33 inches) narrower tire with more curviture would have more floatation. The scoops seemed about right, but too flat for a heavy car. I was running 15# of pressure

wow, 15 psi sounds like a lot.

I thought with bead locks, you should be able to run 6-8 PSI

I remember bumping up from 8 to 12. Couldn't do ANYTHING with the car. Below 10 things started to feel right.

yeah, beadlocks allow you to safely run 6 psi, but with 15 psi the tires were already to0 short (29-30 inches). If I would have run any less psi the tires would have been that much shorter.

Best bet for height is going to be 33 blasters. The 14.50 and 1300 pluses are going to be to short. You can get the blasters with the small paddle if your worried about bite.

I had the 1300 Plus Sand tires on a turbo 2275, 091 and they were great. But when I went to the Subi I wanted more height so I went to the 33" blasters with the #1 cut. Sand tires said that the bite would be the same because the #1 Blaster is a smaller cup than the 1300 Plus with #2 cups. I love my new tires.

I run 13 pluses right now and there is a nice difference in 'off the line' performance between the standard 13 and the pluses.
The pluses will give you a short lead out of the hole.

I noticed nobody mentioned gear ratio changes when going to the 33's.

Do you like how the tranny feels as far as ratio's goes now?
Going to a larger tire would allow you to run a gear out a bit further before shifting.
Will that work for you? I have ran a car that seemed to have a perfect tranny/engine combo, but
when I went to the larger tires it fell flat on its face. Not enough hp to overcome the difference.

Just a thought.....

I had the 14.50 with staggered comp and sportsman cut on a 1600lb 4 seater with a 2332 turbo and a 091. If your running low boost they will be way too much tire for you. I was running 20-25lbs boost and they seemed to be decent but still hooked up to much for turning.

yeah, I think the 33's might be alittle too much for the gearing an hp I'm currently running. i actually bought some STU padla traks 13.00 plus over the weekend and seem to do the job.