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Muchmore CTX-W Platinum II Tyre Warmers Review

My old tyre warmers had eventually expired after more than a decade of service so I have been looking around for a suitable replacement...


My old tyre warmers had eventually expired after more than a decade of service so I have been looking around for a suitable replacement. Thanks to the rise of popularity of TC's there are a lot of different ones to choose from out there with a wide range of price points.

In the end and after looking at all the options out there, after looking at the individual features of each of them I opted for the Muchmore CTX-W platinum II tyre warmers.

They soon arrived from Tonisport and I eagerly opened the box.



In the box

Nicely packaged in the distinctive Muchmore colours
The box contains the following:
  • The main unit
  • Foam strips for the stand
  • 4 Large Tyre warmer cups (Suitable for Sorex and other popular sizes)
  • Cables
  • Instructions

I soon emptied the contents of the box and took a closer look.

The main control unit feels sturdy and has a great matt black finish. The foam strips were soon stuck on the top of the unit as the device also acts as a stand as well as a Tyre warmer to ensure that your pit area is able to stay tidy.
The control unit couples up as a car stand.
The unit has connectors for the front and rear tyre sets, on each side. One of the features that also appealed to me is that you can run the warmers of a 11.1v 3 cell lipo. To do this you need to open the side of the units.
Yes that's a classic Tamiya plug in there
When you open it up you can see that there is a large space for the nimhs or Lipo to fit in. There are two foam spacers to help you fit the battery into the unit.
These are to help you fit the official Muchmore lipo or nimh into the unit.
Muchmore sells their own 11.1v lipo to fit into the unit. I had a spare 4200 zippy lipo that I had knocking about so I just used that. I made an deans to Tamiya connector and plugged it in, and then fitted it into the space. It was a tight fit but I used a little foam sheet between the lipo and the internal circuit board.

The Unit has a low voltage alarm which you need to set for the lipo, it also allows you to charge the battery without removing it from the unit. Although there is not a balance port for this, but this should not be an issue for the use that it is intended for.

Next it was time to look at attaching the cups
The cups ensure that the tyre is heated evenly all over
The cups are alumite (similar to anodised) aluminium and have a sensor cable that allows the temperature to be monitored. They are available in several sizes as an option part but the kit one is the right size to fit Sorex tires and other similar sized alternatives (Sweeps, Rides etc)

You then plug in the warmers at the side for the front and rear.
The Tyre coker input is for a separately available add-on
As you can see there is also an attachment for a separate tyre warmer tray. These just heat up all four tyres at the same rate.

Menus

With the battery attached and the warmers connected I switched on the unit ready to get to grips with it.

The menus on the LCD display are really easy to read, although it did take me a few goes to quickly get used to navigate around. You do this by pressing the four face buttons.

The main options are:
  1. User set-up mode (Hold the left button down for 3 seconds to get this)
  2. Quick warm
  3. CTX 2 Step 
  4. CTX 3 Step
  5. Lap timer 

User set-up mode was my first port of call. Here you can change the temp display from Celsius to Fahrenheit,  You can set the minimum temperature that the warmers will go to, the Beep tone, back light time (I changed this to 5 seconds as I will run it mainly of lipo), LCD contrast and finally Low voltage alarm. I changed this to the recommended 8.4V lipo setting.

Quick warm is nice and easy, you can just select the option and the heaters will get to work. Here you can adjust the temperature to anything that you want. The temperature range is 20-80 degrees and you and adjust the front and rear values independently.

If you want to boost the temperature you can hold the up arrow once you get to 80 degrees to boost the tyres to 100.

When you set-off any of the warmer cycles you will see each of the independent tyre temperatures, with an arrow showing that the heat will be increased on each unique tyre until they reach their desired limit.

The warmers are really quick to react, and I was impressed at how quick they took the tyres to the temperatures I required.

CTX 2 step and 3 Step programs allow you to do more involved warming to add a second additive or top-up the original additive. Personally I cannot see myself doing this too often, but it is good to know that it is there.

The lap-timer allows you to set up a race event and manually count the laps of your buddy as they race around.. I think that will get as much use as my transmitters similar feature.. as in never.


At the track

Needless to say the warmers work a treat for me when I am at the track. I usually cannot get to my local club when it opens it's doors to set-up, so I usually get there when most pit space is already taken so I have to perch at the end of a table. This ensures that I like to have all of my equipment ready to roll and my pit area nice and tidy.


Knowing this did help my purchase decision and I can run the warmers without any external power pace being needed. Combined with the fact that I have pre-charged lipo's for the car, ensures that I have a nice clutter free pit environment so I can focus on my racing, or at least chatting with friends.

The warmers perform faultlessly, they quickly heat up and I had no issue with the battery lasting a nights racing.


Tyre warmer guide

There are a lot of techniques on how to prepare your tyres. I keep it simple with the following steps
  1. You want to clean your tyres and then put on the additive,
  2. Fit some kitchen roll, fold it into strips and wrap them loosely around each tyre and then fit the cups over them. Note it is better to not use kitchen roll if they are a tight fit, as it actually can take the additive off the tyres.
  3. Try to heat the tyres for 15-20 mins to ensure that they are fully heated.

Regarding the temperatures here is a guide-line I use for tracks with normal temps between 15-40c
  • Sorex 36 - heat to 60c
  • Sorex 32 - heat to 55c
  • Sorex 28 - heat to 45c

Overall.

I have always been a big fan of Muchmore products, and their Tyre warmers (or Tire if you are not from the UK) have always had a very good reputation. They are priced at the top end of the market however the sturdy alloy units and clear display assure you that the item is made to a high level of quality.

I'm really happy with them and I cannot envisage ever needing any more features from a unit like this.

Now I just need to work out how can I fit my F1 tyres into the cups? ;)
Tyre Warmers 5621176263528637650

Post a Comment

  1. Hi ! Do you know how much warming time you get from your lipo ? I'm trying to decide between buying a 12v power supply or a 3s lipo to run mines.
    Thanks !

    ReplyDelete
  2. can anyone help me with the electrical drawings of a much more ctx-w pro

    ReplyDelete

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