Lovetrain Hobbies traction tires?

[mike_lawyer]

I have a BLI M1b that has thrown a traction tire.  I was searching the web and came across replacement traction tires from Lovetrain Hobbies.  Anyone have any experience using those traction tires?  How do they compare with stock manufacturer traction tires?

In my experience, the BLI parts department can take a long time to respond, so I was looking at alternatives.

[Mark5]

No personal experience with these, but some info here: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=44426.0

[mike_lawyer]

Yeah, I have seen references to them in other threads, but have not seen first hand experience using them.

[Mark5]

@mmagliaro

Traction tires:
Use Kato Mikado tires on anything where they fit, GS-4 tires on larger drivers.  There is also a new supplier
http://www.lovetrainhobbies.com/Model-railroad-N-scale-traction-tires-large-medium-small-steam-diesel-lovetrain.html

I have some of these and they look very promising, but I have not tried them on any engines yet.

[Doug G.]

I have many of them I used to replace tires on my vintage locos and they are fine.

Doug

[strummer]

I'll second what Doug said; I hate traction tires, but sometimes...you gotta do what you gotta do.

Have used them on Arnold in N and Roco in HO and they are AOK.

Mark in Oregon

[mmagliaro]

I have used them.  They are not as stretchy or pliable as the OEM Kato tires, but they work well and they have a large selection of diameters, thicknesses and widths.
My advice is to order a few sizes near what you need so you can experiment and see what works best for you.

[ATSF_Ron]

Ditto what Max said. I’ve replaced Key SP 2-&-0 and Bachmann 2-8-0 tires. Both have been great. Fast shipping too, if it matters.