Radio Control Car Shock Setup Guide

Setting your suspension is critical to controlling the handling of your car. it's not to difficult to get right, but it does take a bit of practise and a lot of time. Most people setup their car they way they think it should be rather than adjusting it to match their driving style, this is a bit mistake.

The aim of the game is to keep your tires on the track all of the time, everything else is a bonus. There are a lot of settings to consider when setting up your shocks. Here are the important ones and the effects they'll have:

Springs

Springs control the amount of force needed to compress the suspension.

Stiffer Springs
  • Racing setups use stiffer springs
  • The car will be more responsive
  • The track needs to be flat, if it's got some bumpy section you might need to soften them a little, if your car boucnes you'll lose contact with the road.

Softer Springs
  • The car will have more traction
  • Better for rough surfaces
  • the car will be less twitchy and smoother around corners
  • The car might feel slightly unresponsive

The great things about suspension is you can adjust them independently, this lets is play with the handling of the car, this is only a basic guide as the true secret to suspension is weight transfer. Getting the weight to move from the rear of the car to the front smoothly and evenly will give you an awesome setup.

Front Suspension

Stiffer
  • Less traction of the front will cause under steer
  • More stability under braking
  • Less stability while exiting a corner

Softer
  • More traction at the front will cause over steer
  • Too soft and there can be excessive roll during the corner
  • Less stability entering a corner
  • More stability exiting a corner

Rear Suspension

Stiffer
  • Less traction at the rear
  • stability exiting a corner will be slightly improved
  • Small loss of traction during acceleration

Softer
  • More traction at the rear
  • Car will accelerate smoothly over bumpy surfaces

Next... Dampers

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