This test pitted stock tires against three budget upgrades on a Viper VSPEC to see how much speed you can find for under $10. We tested rear tire compound, front tire size, and every combo in between, on our routed track at 16 volts. We tested the following tires: S1 424 Rear Tires (SKU 12212), Razor 342 Front Tires (SKU 12626), S2 424 Rear Tires (SKU 22741).
S1 vs. S2: softer isn’t always faster.
The S1 is our softest compound. It’s very sticky, but on our track the car felt sluggish, ran hot, and tried to wheelie out of the corners. The S2 is firmer (closer to a medium), ran cooler, and was faster every time.
Front tires matter.
Lowering the front end with the Razor 342s helped the car turn in better and feel less edgy. Paired with the S2 rears, they made the fastest setup of the test.
Watch your heat.
Lower tires put the magnet closer to the rail, which adds down force and makes the motor work harder. After a big tire change, run 10–20 laps and check the temperature. If the car slows down or smells hot, stop before you burn it up.
For an upgrade under $10, the fastest combination was the Razor 342 front tire with the S2 424 rear, and the car stayed cool. It will still crash in any corner if you push it, and I’m not holding it at full throttle, so there may be even more time left.
This was mainly a look at how we test. If I were preparing this setup for a race, I’d run one-minute heats, record the number of laps, where the car stops, and the fastest lap, then change one thing, repeat, and return to a known starting point to confirm the data is consistent.
Compared to the true stock baseline, the S1s were about a tenth quicker, the S2s about a tenth and a half quicker, and the front tire change made everything quicker.
If you have questions or want any of the parts from this test, check out viperscaleracing.com. If there are other part-for-part tests you’d like to see, let us know. The VSPEC makes a great test mule since we have hundreds of thousands of laps on the stock car and know exactly what it runs.
