Question about tires for the F1 - does anybody have recommendations for off the shelf products? I have a bowden setup on printer and can’t do ninjaflex so I am looking for alternatives.
I should set up a farm for just Tires 
@Daniel_Noree posted some pictures of increasing grip with glue on the tires. This way you actually don’t necessarly need flexible tires.
I’ll have another look on HK tomorrow. I’ll order tires and design rims for them so this issue can be sorted out.
Ok, can we assume they are all the same size? If so i could just by any and design working rims for them. So what gives the best grip? Supersoft?
I also have a bowden setup.
I originally did the first sets of wheels and tires for my F1 car in regular black PLA. They required a 12 ton press and some grease to slide the wheels into the tires. Amazingly only one tire broke under the pressure—pretty surprised for PLA printed with 20% infill. So if you are a car guy and if you have a press available, then that is an option. The tires had enough traction to drive. Just wear eye protection.
The second route I took was to retrofit the car with off the shelf RC car parts (https://plus.google.com/107968044253435139681/posts/3Gp3Hv1oYoV). I used parts from the Tamiya F104 F1 rc race car. The major hurdle for using their wheels and tires (either rubber or foam) is that the axle needs to be a 6mm shaft with a hex design for the rear wheels. You could modify the original 3d printed shaft to accept this design, or at the very least modify it to move to a 6mm and then you can bolt on the RC car metal differential hex parts. The option I chose was to use the entire shaft kit, which replaced the rear axle.
Originally I wanted to keep the printed motor mounts, so I had to modify it to accept a 6x19x4 bearing. I was able to modify the mounts to accept the smaller bore bearing, and the 6mm shaft of the F1 rc car but the metal gears from the kit were too far apart. I wanted to keep the metal gears, so I had to replace the motor mounts with the F104 motor mounts. However, if you made printed gears then they would have meshed, and you could keep the original motor mounts with the the F104 6mm axle, and you would be able to bolt up F104 wheels in either foam or rubber. If you like this option I can send you the file for the modified motor mounts that accept the 6mm bore bearings.
For the front, you can either modify by drilling and tapping the originally 3d printed spindles to use these these front axles https://www.tqrcracing.com/shop/product_view.asp?p_id=9142, or replace the printed front spindles with carbon reinforced uprights http://www.tqrcracing.com/shop/product_view.asp?p_id=916. Both require 5x10x4 bearings (4 in total) to allow the F104 or any wheel to fit.
With these modifications you can use off the shelf wheels and tires on your Open F1/RC car.
Also tires can range in price. Foam tires are relatively cheap… Rubber ones cost about $30 for the entire wheel and tire set. You also have to glue them together with glue that smells similar to super glue.
@brett_turnage I’ll buy tires only and modify other parts as needed. My question to you is, what tires gives the best grip on asphalt and similar surfaces?
Daniel, I learned through my journey with this car that there is no standard size of tires. They vary depending on the platform. For instance the Tamiya F103 has smaller diameter tires than the Tamiya F104. I assume other manufacturers sizes also vary. So whichever tires you get make sure to mention the manufacturer or car specs because they are usually specific to the model of car.
@Daniel_Noree Soft compound is best for smooth flat surfaces. There will me more tire changes, but they will work. I think I also saw a rubber tire with thread, http://www.tqrcracing.com/shop/product_view.asp?p_id=758.
These would be like rain tires, would work best on bumpy surfaces like a street.
@Daniel_Noree I agree soft would be better for smoother surfaces and thanks for looking into this