RC Car Set Up Guide
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
car or truck.
The following tips are basic rules that apply to all cars. Just remember that
no two cars will react the same to a particular adjustment. Furthermore, all
tracks are different, and each driver's style is different.
The Basics:
Make sure all parts move freely. For example, look at the shocks and
ensure that all suspension arms move freely. Next, remove the steering
linkage and check to ensure that the steering is not binding. Also, check
the drive train. If it is binding, there could be dirt in the pulleys, belt could
be too tight, or the bearings could have dirt on them, causing a lot of
friction.
touching the electronics or any wires.
Preparation is very important. Use a new or slightly used set of
tires. Put them on the car and use a very flat surface. I recommend
you use the following tools and accessories to properly set up your
car:
1. Camber gauge
2. Ride height gauge
3. X-Acto
4. Spring spacers
Place the car on a flat surface without the body. Adjust the ride
height by adding spring spacers to your shocks. The ride height
should be between a range of 4 to 6mm. Remember, different cars
may require different ride heights in order to properly work.
Next, adjust both front and rear ride heights so that they are at the
same level. You'll probably want to raise it up a little, since the car's
suspension will settle on a flat surface. There should be some down
travel when you lift up on the front. Same thing applies to the rear.
If there is no down travel, re-check the shock lengths and ride height
and try it again.
Camber Adjustment:
Never run with positive camber, and don't run over 3 degrees of
negative camber. It's usually best to run approximately 1 degree.
Place the car on the surface and let the suspension settle by tapping
on the front of the car several times. Do the same thing for the rear.
Next, put the car's chassis at eye level. While looking at the rear of
the car, place the x-acto in the center of the chassis while lifting up.
If both wheels leave the ground at the same time, perform the same
check on the front of the car. However, if the left wheel lifts first, you
can lengthen the left shock, or shorten the right shock. Keep doing
this until both wheels leave the ground at the same time.
Then check the front if you haven't already done so. Do the same
steps for the front. Then re-check the rear to ensure that none of
the adjustments to the front affected the rear.
Now that you've set the tweak and the camber and ride height
you're almost done. You may want to put the body on to ensure it
doesn't touch the ground, other than that, you're done!
Steering:
Steering response is very important. Dual Rate Is what I recommend
you use on your radio. If it has too much steering, just decrease the
Dual Rate! If the car has too little steering, turn up the Dual Rate.
The key here is to find the proper balance, and that is discovering
the point at which the car steers into the turn and exits out of the
turn the way that you want it to. If the car has an over-steer going
into a turn, and under-steers exiting out of a turn, just place a
couple of small shims on the front shocks.
If your car does just the opposite (under-steers going into turns
and over-steers exiting out of the turn, raise the rear ride height by
putting a small shim in each of the rear shocks. You'll immediately
notice the result of this by more bite in the rear coming out of the
turn, and more bite in the front going into the turn.
The Race track:
I would say that tires are the most important equation when it
comes to racing. Of course there is another thing that's just as
important and that is Practice.
Bottom line, you're gonna have to spend some time actually putting
the car through its paces. If it's already been tweaked, re-tweak it.
Try different tires also.
make it around the track without crashing. You must stay on the
track, otherwise, none of the setup changes will work.
• As a novice, Your No. 1 goal is consistency in lap times and not
just to go fast. You must start slow to do this. It will be hard to do,
but you must do it. Use a lap counter and get a friend to check your
time for the laps until they're consistent. Be sure to keep a log of
your lap times. This way you can check your progress.
• When lap times are consistent, concentrate on the type of tires
you're using. Check to see what type the winning racers are using.
This may take some time, but try different tires, and make
sure you annotate these changes in your log. Then just practice,
practice, practice.
• How are your lap times? Are they better or worse, or about the
same? This way if your lap times improve, you can better determine
what caused them to improve, ie.., your driving skills or the tires.
Keep this in mind when logging your times.
• The next step is to adjust the tuning. Remember to change only
one thing at a time, and to always check your lap times after each
change.
• Annotate each change in your log. After you've made some
progress, you may want to make up a new setup sheet with those
changes. Fill it out thoroughly. Put it in a safe place; it can be used
again later if you race on a track with similar conditions.
For more setup information and other great tips check out Radio
Control Car Action magazine.
places to buy them.
Informative articles on RC cars and R/C trucks, and best RC Hobby
shops and parts.
©2004 RC-car-hobby.com