THURSDAY TESTIMONIALS: The Paddle tire sanding tool from Assault RC

0 Feb. 26, 2019, 1:33 p.m.

Main Photo: THURSDAY TESTIMONIALS: The Paddle tire sanding tool from Assault RC

By Mike Garrison
LiveRC.com

Whether it's wheel nuts, wings, tools, tracks, trinkets and/or anything in between, the LiveRC staff gives their testimonial and review of each every Thursday morning!

Assault RC "The Paddle" Tire Sanding Tool
ARC71021, $34.99
www.assaultrc.com

Brent Densford, owner of BeachRC Hobbies and Raceway in Myrtle Beach, is also the founder of the brand Assault RC. Assault offers a wide variety of products ranging from colored ball stud washer sets, bearing oil, and tire sauce to car stands, tire groovers, and tool holders. For this week’s product review I decided to test out “The Paddle” Tire Sanding Tool.

The Paddle is just that…a paddle. The Paddle is designed for on-road, off-road and oval racers need to break in tires fast and thorough at the track. Each side of the paddle offers a different grit sandpaper – one for quickly taking rubber off, and the other for smoothing rubber out. The unique part about The Paddle is its width. The Paddle is considerably wider than other similar products on the market, and allows for full coverage of nearly any 1/10-scale tire (as well as 1/8-scale tire). The sanding pads are replaceable, and the tool is finished off with a stealthy black finish and anodized Assault RC logo laser engraved.

Pros:

The “rougher” side works extremely well for quickly sanding down tires and removing rubber.
The “smoother” side works extremely well for light scrub-in or to smooth rubber after using the rougher side.
Sandpaper pads hold up good and are replaceable when they do wear out.
Wide paddle design allows for an even sanding surface which covers most 1/10-scale tires entirely without having to move from side to side.
Lightweight, thin, and looks cool.

Cons:

Larger paddle design makes it a little harder to fit in toolbox trays (obviously this depends on the size of your toolbox).

Final Word:

Breaking in and sanding tires has become the norm in most cases for 1/10-scale off-road and dirt oval racing. There are many ways to do so, but if you need a way to quickly sand tires, smooth out rubber, or scuff your new set – I highly recommend The Paddle from Assault RC. The coarse grit side of the paddle QUICKLY removes rubber, whereas the finer grit side cleans up and/or provides a lighter scuff on the tire. The Paddle does cost slightly more than other tire sanding tools on the market, however, the fact that it covers the width of the entire tire and provides an even sanding across is worth it to me. The tool is very lightweight, but the larger footprint can be a bit tricky to fit in smaller toolboxes. I really like the idea of replacement pads, rather than having to purchase an entirely new sanding tool when this one wears out. Overall, I give The Paddle Tire Sanding Tool from Assault RC a 5/5 on the beacon rating.