Best Upgrades

[JosephS]

General non specific.

#1 - Shocks
#2 - Tires
#3 - Everything else

Electronics make a huge difference though so they should be important on the upgrade list.

Are you speaking for both bashing and racing or just racing. I have found replacing worn old tires to be pretty awesome.
For shocks, what are you referring to? going from small bore to big bore, switching brands? What wow'd you?

[JosephS]

Sorry, but the question about polls made me think of this scene, different spelling. Not for tiny ears.

That movie had me actually laughing out loud when I saw it. I forgot it existed. I can't believe it's been over a decade since it was in theaters. Thanks for the clip.

[JosephS]

Not the category in your list, but best upgrade for a shelfer is alloy screws, titanium turnbuckles etc and any other parts that replace steel.

Means no surface rust whilst it sits there.

For me, I race (a bit) and a good high end radio is a must. Followed by high quality, comfortable, good quality tools. MIP are amazing.

I completely forgot that shelfers exist. That is an awesome category for this forum.
Does bluing steel reduce the surface rust?

Would you consider bronze bushing for a shelf bound car to avoid bearing rust, or is that much more minimal?

[juicedcoupe]

I don't know where your "shelves" are, but there shouldn't be rusting.

All of my rc stuff is kept in climate controlled conditions, same as my tools and fishing equipment. I have too much money tied up in all that to allow the elements to damage them. And I live in a humid, coastal area.


But if rust and corrosion are an issue for you, consider the Corrosion Block and Corrosion X sprays. I use them on my boats and fishing equipment.

[LowClassCC]

I don't know where your "shelves" are, but there shouldn't be rusting.

All of my rc stuff is kept in climate controlled conditions, same as my tools and fishing equipment. I have too much money tied up in all that to allow the elements to damage them. And I live in a humid, coastal area.


But if rust and corrosion are an issue for you, consider the Corrosion Block and Corrosion X sprays. I use them on my boats and fishing equipment.

If he is near me like I believe he is, Rust is a way of life due to humidity. I can buy a brand new tool and have it in my toolbox out in the garage and within a year it will be rusty. i keep my tools soaked in wd40 the best I can. Screws on r/c cars in my climate controlled house rusted on builds that have never ran and were built with all new hardware.

I am in the process of replacing all my steel screws with stainless on my shelf cars and titanium on my runners. Sadly this gets very expensive and until I get them all changed out I will just work on trying to keep them cleaned off and oiled.

[RC10th]

General non specific.

#1 - Shocks
#2 - Tires
#3 - Everything else

Electronics make a huge difference though so they should be important on the upgrade list.

Are you speaking for both bashing and racing or just racing.

Both really, aside from electronics 90% of how well a car performs comes down to the shocks and tires. It sort of then becomes car specific as the AE cars come with great shocks and really don't need replacing. There are a few things you can do to further improve them like big bore springs on the standard bore shocks for racing, or going big bore to increase the plushness if bashing, but neither are really needed. However, if you have a Traxxas Bandit or Rustler etc replacing the stock plastic shocks would be a good upgrade.

Tires are probably more critical to racing but good tires do make a difference.


The "everything else" after that is fairly dependent on what your doing, racing or bashing...... or ........ going for eye candy

[JosephS]

I am in the process of replacing all my steel screws with stainless on my shelf cars and titanium on my runners. Sadly this gets very expensive and until I get them all changed out I will just work on trying to keep them cleaned off and oiled.

I got lost down a rabbit hole a bit earlier researching fasteners and I am still not sure what about them. Looking at the material properties I am still a bit confused.

It seems that in terms of raw strength steel is king. When it comes to stainless vs titanium which is stronger?

[LowClassCC]

I am in the process of replacing all my steel screws with stainless on my shelf cars and titanium on my runners. Sadly this gets very expensive and until I get them all changed out I will just work on trying to keep them cleaned off and oiled.

I got lost down a rabbit hole a bit earlier researching fasteners and I am still not sure what about them. Looking at the material properties I am still a bit confused.

It seems that in terms of raw strength steel is king. When it comes to stainless vs titanium which is stronger?

Aluminum - don't rust, bends and sheers of easy. In most cases I try to limit to shelf cars.

Stainless - don't rust, bends easy, don't seen to sheer off as bad. Heavier than alloy but bends too easy for a runner/racer.

Titanium - don't rust, Lighter than ss or steel. Doesn't bend like stainless, aluminum, or steel. I like this for racing. Also works good for shelf cars for hinge pins and tie rods since it don't rust.

Steel - Rusts, strong but can bend but not as easy as stainless. Heavier than Titanium. I also race with this because it is strong and cheap.


I try to make a point of changing out all the hinge pins and tie rods for titanium. When it comes to titanium screws and nuts I normally do not run them due to cost. I would like to but that is one thing that is on the back burner for me. My over all choice would be to switch out all the hardware for titanium if I could. I feel titanium is stronger and lighter than steel. Now I could be wrong and If I am I hope someone here will give some better incite.

[JosephS]

I feel titanium is stronger and lighter than steel. Now I could be wrong and If I am I hope someone here will give some better incite.

So this is where I got lost. I have seen it that titanium has a far better weight to strength ratio, but in absolute terms steel is better in ductile and tensile strength, it's just far heavier. However stainless steel is weaker than regular steel and the temper can matter as much as the alloy for all metals.

I buy into this, so I have been looking for steel turnbuckles and hinge pins. However I could be convinced otherwise since I have seen bent steel turnbuckles but not bent titanium.

[juicedcoupe]

The grade and quality matter in all materials, especially aluminum.

[Jimc91]

Upgrades for me are parts that fix weaknesses in original original design or parts that improve durability and performance. Reducing friction is a plus and worth consideration.

For the recently finished New Kyosho Pegasus I “upgraded” the factory plastic ball cups to German Graupner metal ball cups, though the front upper and lower suspension still remain plastic I have found them very durable over past ten years bashing around yard. The motor was upgraded 240ST with respect to limits on the transaxle. A close up of the Graupner metal cups is attached. I put a 360ST motor on my original 40 year old
Pegasus. Even the 40 year old gearbox has worn well though plastic gearbox case was replaced a few years ago due to crash.

Tires and wheels are new upgrades from Ultima cars from online source and in testing produced a quicker turn in on hard surface, albeit slightly wider and possible compound difference(?). Ball bearings in gearbox and wheels seemed to add a slight increase in performance and tightened up factory play.

[JosephS]

For the recently finished New Kyosho Pegasus I “upgraded” the factory plastic ball cups to German Graupner metal ball cups, though the front upper and lower suspension still remain plastic I have found them very durable over past ten years bashing around yard. The motor was upgraded 240ST with respect to limits on the transaxle. A close up of the Graupner metal cups is attached.

Ball cups are a source of questions for me. I thought that one of the purposes of ball cups were to pop out if hit to hard. I've kept to using ball cups for my cars which are all vintage in that assumption. It seems that many people swap out to captured balls, even for bashing. Do you notice a difference in driving the car? Is the suspension smoother , or is it simply to have a more durable joint.

[juicedcoupe]

Ball cups are a source of questions for me. I thought that one of the purposes of ball cups were to pop out if hit to hard. I've kept to using ball cups for my cars which are all vintage in that assumption. It seems that many people swap out to captured balls, even for bashing. Do you notice a difference in driving the car? Is the suspension smoother , or is it simply to have a more durable joint.

These cars use ball cups and studs for front suspension joints, instead of using separate caster and steering blocks. Unfortunately, the plastic ones are very prone to popping out, even on mild bumps. Basically, the lower ball joint has all of the front weight on it.

[klavy69]

Is there a way to do polls here?

when you made this thread just under the text box you are typing in there is a 3 tab menu type thingey that will give you options, attachments, and poll creation. Can't say I ever made one but looks easy enough to figure out once you click on the poll creation tab.

For the pretty much non racer I can't add to the list but to emphasize R/C tools. I upgraded as I could. AE tools pretty much fill my order but have been told that I'd never turn back away from an MIP once I used it.

When I used to run more Steering servo was the go-to first thing I changed and I put the MIP ball bearing rc10gt steering assy in just about every 10th scale I could. Mostly because the track I ran on was sugar clay and if it was wet made steering bad by sticking and if dry got into the steering making it unresponsive.

Todd

[juicedcoupe]

For the pretty much non racer I can't add to the list but to emphasize R/C tools. I upgraded as I could. AE tools pretty much fill my order but have been told that I'd never turn back away from an MIP once I used it.

I have some, and they are definitely nice. However, I wouldn't say that they are better than my Wera drivers.

As far as 1/16 and 0.050 drivers go, Wera would be my first choice. They are definitely a step above my (also nice) Wiha bits.