I was thinking the opposite, I was thinking with the narrower rim the tire would become taller but in turn the tire would be narrower giving less contact with the sand. So I will have to try a smaller diameter tire on a wider wheel. I may be over thinking this a bit... But this is the reason behind my questioning. I see trucks out running around with 35 12.5 and 37 12.5 tires that have been shaved and made into paddles and they seem to cruise around alright. I know they have way more power than my buggy. But my buggy is also thousands of pounds lighter than the trucks. So with the weight to power ratio that they have, i should be able to run my standard tire size shaved and made into paddles as well. But this just crossed my mind and it seems that everyone has the same input to give me
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Couple things going on here.
YOU want the tire to spin with your 1914, get a wider wheel (will help the tire float, decrease the diameter, and reduce the "crown" of the tire trying to dig) if you want to continue to use this paddle for budget reasons right now. A wider wheel is almost mandatory for you though.
The "scoop" you have on your paddle is for a very aggressive high horsepower car. The scoops that have been shaved off would have been a lot better for your car, and would have allowed more slip and a better duning experience for you guys.
The reason you see the trucks running around on "shaved" race tires is because nobody really makes a paddle that is 35-39" tall and only 12.5" wide. The desert trucks are built around a narrow tire/ wheel, and when you try to add 2" of width with a paddle, they hit bumpstops, chassis, fiberglass etc.... They are running what fits, and if they were looking for a better performance paddle, they would need to be 12" wider. It is a HUGE!!!! strain on the drivetrain components when guys like BJ, Robby and the like go to the dunes on the race tire paddles with a 5-6,000lb truck. Not optimum at all, and they get around "alright" but not awesome. You actually have a close power to weight ratio if you calculate it out. (assuming you are about +-1600lbs and 110HP 14.5:1, a TT is +-6,000lbs and 5-600 to the ground 11:1)