WLtoys L959: Traxxas 2478R Tracer Wheel / Anaconda Tires combo review

Source:  Amazon (Canada)

Fit:  Fits stock L959 once rear axle hex nuts are removed.

Pros:  Chrome finish.  Pre-glued.  Foam inserts.  Car rides on middle 2/3 of tire, not edges.  Much better rear-end grip, car actually steers rather than skids out, rears stick better than fronts.  Car no longer bottoms out.  Top speed is faster, acceleration better due to improved grip.  Jumps can be more interesting since fat rears lead to interesting takeoffs.

Cons:  High-speed turns may be wider since rear end doesn't skid into turns any more and fronts tend to skid sooner, leading to understeer.  Car flips more easily since rear tires grip rather than slide.  Bigger diameter means motor works slightly harder and may not last as long.  Car doesn't handle curb jumping as well: big soft rear tires tend to bounce on takeoff, flipping car end for end.  Arguably not as much fun since it is extremely hard to slide the rear end around on command.  Smooth tread gives poor grip on grass.

Verdict:  Enormous improvement in rear-end grip.  Good for on-pavement, bad for off-roading.  Not necessarily too large for the car.  Might do well on L979 truggy and definitely suitable for L202 brushless buggy.  Hex spacers ineffective since wheels must be snug to inner end of axle to work.

Stock tires after, like, 10 batteries of fun

fopower 96mm 6030-7006 vs. Traxxas 2478R

Rock climbing tread vs. pavement tread

Fopower bigger, Traxxas wider

Comparison of mounting systems

Standard L959 wheels use 12mm hex nut mount

Traxxas 2478R wheels do away with the 12mm mounting nut

How they fit

How they grip (note dirt band where tire contacts road)

Looking shiny-shiny sharp

WL Toys L959: fopower (eBay) 4pcs Tyre 1.9Inch 96mm Tires wheel RC 1:10 Tamiya Rock Climbing Car 6030-7006 review

Available from:  eBay Canada (seller: fopower)

Fit:  Fit stock L959 setup.

Pros:  Foam inserts.  Much better rear-end grip, car actually steers rather than skids out, rears stick better than fronts.  Car no longer bottoms out.  Top speed is faster, acceleration better due to improved grip.  Jumps can be more interesting since fat rears lead to interesting takeoffs.  Good pricing, you get four instead of two.

Cons:  Not pre-glued, you need to glue them.  High-speed turns may be wider since rear end doesn't skid into turns any more and fronts tend to skid sooner, leading to understeer.  Car flips more easily since rear tires grip rather than slide, and without new rear spacers the rear wheels tend to sit a little too far in.  Huge diameter means motor works harder and may not last as long.  Car hesitates frequently due to thermal overload, especially on grass.  Car doesn't handle curb jumping as well: big soft rear tires tend to bounce on takeoff, flipping car end for end.  Arguably not as much fun since it is extremely hard to slide the rear end around on command.

Verdict:  Enormous improvement in rear-end grip.  Good for pavement/speed, bad for grass/motor life, and possibly just too big.  Might be better for L969/L979 truck/truggy or supercharged L202 brushless buggy rather than L959 brushed-motor buggy.  If using L959, try to use upgraded motor driver and motor with heatsink mounted to avoid thermal issues/hesitation.  Recommend adjustable hex spacers to move rears as far out as possible and improve stability, but this is not required.

crappy stockers vs fopower 6030-700

Damn, they're huge!

Needs a little tightening...

...as compared to stockers

Bad-ass

Holy @#%#%!!

Looking sick

Fat paws, but possibly set a little to far in

fopower tires almost as fat as L969 truggy tires!

L969 truck rears (top), fopower (middle), stock L959 (bottom)

Fopowers are midway between stock L969 and stock L959

fopower as fat as L969 truck tires, but not as wide

The foam inserts

fopower vs. Traxxas 2478R Tracer Wheels plus Anaconda tires

fopower knobby, Traxxas smoother

fopower bigger, Traxxas wider

PC suddenly and mysteriously hangs on BIOS splash screen or black screen

In my case the unit was working fine one day, the next day it would hang on the "Gigabyte Ultradurable" BIOS splash screen.

Chances are you have a broken USB device plugged in.  The BIOS attempts to enumerate the bus, gets an error code, and just sort of stops there.  Why there is no error message is beyond me.

It seems to continuously retry, since if you unplug the offending USB device, it will continue as if nothing had ever happened.  You don't even need to reboot.  So, start unplugging USB devices one by one until it magically restarts, and you've found the culprit.  In my case it was a bad receiver for a Mele air mouse.

50/50 chance that Windows complained at least once about the offending device when you first installed it.  So start with the one that originally gave you driver errors just a short while ago.