MATCH YOUR PADDLES TO YOUR HP

When your rear paddle count or paddle height is too low for your horsepower, the tires can’t grab enough sand to put the power down. Instead of launching, the car bogs, the rear washes out, and you lose forward push off the line and out of corners.

Under load the engine climbs into the rev limiter without translating RPM into speed. You’ll feel the car “freewheel” — spinning, smoking the sand, but not moving forward proportionally to the throttle.

Both under- and over-paddling punish the CVT in different ways. Under-paddled setups let the belt see long, high-RPM slip events as the tires spin without loading the engine — clutch faces heat, the belt glazes, and you lose the snap out of the hole.

Over-paddled setups load the engine so hard the clutch can’t shift out cleanly — the belt stays in low ratio too long, the clutches run hot, and belt life drops fast. Either way, a mismatched tire throws off the whole clutch calibration that was tuned for a specific tire weight and rollout.

Too much paddle for your horsepower and the car can’t pull through it. The engine bogs down low, the CVT is forced to stay in low gear too long, and you burn speed and fuel fighting the tire instead of riding it.

On a lower-HP car, an over-paddled rear feels sluggish and “loaded up” — it won’t rev freely and struggles to hold momentum in the flats where the extra bite buys you nothing.

The goal isn’t the biggest paddle — it’s the smallest paddle that fully hooks up at your power level. That’s where acceleration, clutch health, and ride quality all peak together.

If you’re spinning hard and not moving, step up a paddle count. If you’re bogging and the car feels loaded, step down. The “right” tire changes as your build grows — re-evaluate every time you add power.

A taller, wider tire carries more rotational mass and unsprung weight. That extra weight takes power to spin up and loads the CVT more — but it also floats over the sand instead of digging in, smoothing out the choppy whoops and keeping you on top instead of trenching.

Bigger tires ride smoother and hook more consistently in soft sand, but they hurt acceleration and clutch response. Smaller tires accelerate harder and rev freer, but dig and dance more in the soft stuff. It’s a trade between flotation and snap — pick the size that matches where and how you ride.

The truth is simple: the lighter the wheel, the better — for sand especially. A light wheel lets the engine and CVT spin the tire up faster, which is exactly what you want duning. Beadlocks add weight and rotating mass, so you only want them when you actually need them.

You need beadlocks when you run low tire pressure and the bead risks unseating — which is a real concern in short-course or aggressive racing where side loads can peel a tire off a standard wheel. For most dune riding, a quality non-beadlock wheel at a sane pressure holds fine and rides lighter.

Sand tires typically run around 10–14 psi depending on the setup — high enough that the bead stays seated on a standard wheel in normal dune use, low enough to keep a good contact patch. If you drop much below that to chase float, that’s where beadlocks earn their weight.

Tire pressure is your biggest free tuning tool. Sand tires typically run around 10–14 psi depending on the setup — start there and creep up or down a pound at a time to dial float vs. stability and steering load.

Keep the wheels light whenever you can — a light wheel spins up faster and is easier on the CVT. Reach for beadlocks only if you’re racing hard or dropping pressure low enough to risk unseating the bead. Stick with 15" wheels and the right offset to widen your stance for stability. Directional fronts (Mohawk) carve; smooth buffs float and steer light on big-power cars.

Sand condition changes everything — the same tire that hooks in Glamis dry sand may trench in wet/heavy sand. Paddle count, pressure, and even rear setup can shift with conditions. Break in new paddles gently and rotate if you ride dunes that wear one side harder.