1/32 Scale Carrera Track Traction Problems

[Apexdreamer50]

Hello everyone, fairly new to slot racing and the new digital systems. I fly RC planes and helicopters but just needed something new to get into. I've also raced nitro and electric Rc cars so I have a knowledge of soldering, building, engineering and so forth however these little cars are something completely different these days.

I purchased the Carrera digital DTM set and added enough track for a decent size track of 4' x 16' with 2 semi long straights and 1 slightly longer straight. I am running magnets in all my cars. I replaced the stock rear tires on my cars to Quick Slicks in order to possibly get some more rear grip. My issue continues with getting power to the ground in order to get any acceleration. It doesn't matter which car I drive, I still get a right to left fishtail down my straights until its time to slowdown for the next corner. I've watched plenty of slot car reviews or races and really don't see too much of this fishtailing that I'm routinely getting.

So, is this some kind of set up issue of the car? Should I be using a different rear tire? Are the wheels spinning within the tire? Should I glue the tires to the wheel? What can I do to make my corner exit smoother and straighter? What can I do to get the power of the car to the track?

My last question is still related to tires but might open a can of worms. What ever happened to foam tires on slot cars? They seemed to have great traction compared to the silicone or rubber.

Thanks for any help anyone can send my way!

[chappyman66]

Smooth driving makes all the difference. Although I knew it, when I got the timing set up and could see how much time I lost waving the rear end through the esses, I learned the old lesson that slower is faster. Smooth power application is huge.

If you are swinging down the straight, check your tires for dust.... especially if you get a couple good corners before the sliding starts.

[RichD]

I see that you have switched to silicone tires, when those get coated with dust they lose most of their grip. You will need to clean the tires from time to time, the quick way to do that is to roll them on sticky tape. I tack some tape to a piece of wood like so:



It is best to wipe the track down with a microfiber cloth before you run your cars. Running the cars and cleaning the tires will eventually get up the last traces of dust where the tires roll and little cleaning will be needed after that.

[arroldn]

Switch to urethane or lightly sand the stock rubber tires and you wont have to worry about the dust. I run a urethane proxy here and seldom clean my Scaley track. The time I did I had to run over 1000 laps to get the grip back. Lightly dust it maybe once or twice a year.

[mattb]

Using a painters tack cloth is an easy way to remove dust from your track.....Just wipe lightly, no need for hard wiping,,,,,,Easy to keep silicone tires clean by having a wet cloth with alcohol and water on it,,,,,, and rolling the car over it.....Once the track is clean and the tires are clean it will be fine for the rest of that racing session........Most of the guys here do run urethane and have good luck,,,, but as said above,,,,,don't clean that urethane buildup off the track.......Don't mix urethane and silicone tires on the same surface.....

.I did buy some Quick slicks several years ago for a 1/32 rtr car and was disapointed with the traction level.......I was used to Indy Grips that my friend George Lowe made and the QS were nowhere near as good..

[Apexdreamer50]

Thank you for all the replies, I really appreciate it. I've trued the tires down in order to be completely flat and get the entire tire on the track. Now I've been told that a tire classified as soft is not generally a soft tire and does not increase traction. Is this true? In Rc car racing a soft tire increases traction and this is why I was going by the soft tire theory.

Another question regarding tires and traction on a slot car, should the front tires also be replaced and be the same traction level as the rear? Or, if possible should the front tires ride height not even be on the track and just ride on the guide?

Thanks again for all the help

[arroldn]

My suggestion if you are not running these cars in competition is to leave the front tires as is. Now if you plan to run in competition you want your front tires to have as little grip as possible. Thus switching to zero grip tires from NSR, Slot.it, SuperTires, etc. The least expensive way would be to coat the front tires with SuperGlue or Nail Polish. I use Nail Polish. Sally's Hard As Nails is what I use. You want the tires to touch the track this balances the car out in the turns.

[jaws]

When one of the guys ordered Quick Slick tires from Slot Car Corner for our Carrera tracks, he was advised to try the Firm compound. We run silicone tires on our tracks. I tried the soft compound when they first came out versus the extra firm compound. The extra firm was 2 or 3 tenths better on my Carrera track. I have been using the Firm compound with good results, no fishtailing with clean tires on the track. We run without magnets, so the traction with magnets would even be better. We run the Carrera DTM cars with the original tires on the front. Some people may use "nail polish " on front tires to make them harder, for less traction. My track is in the basement, so it stays pretty clean for me. I may swipe it down with a dry microfiber cloth, if I have not ran on it in a while. I will normally run a few laps and clean the tires. I may run 10 more laps and check the tires again, cleaning them. After a few cleanings the track is ready for any car. We run without magnets, so the track would be ready for a car with magnets also.

Jim

[chappyman66]

I echo Jim.....the Firm /Xtra Firm were faster than the soft QS tires. Not exactly sure why, but it was real enough that I go with it.

As far as fronts....I leave them as-is for our club.

[RichD]

Foam tires with traction compound on them is the way to go on a commercial track, on home tracks foam tires are seldom used because the traction compound makes a mess. Foam and rubber tire will eventually harden up and have to be replaced. Aftermarket rubber tires like NSR makes have good grip on a track that has been rubbered in. We have found that there can be batch to batch variations within the came make and type of rubber tires which make them less than ideal for club racing if you are looking for a level playing field. Urethane and especially silicone tires will last much longer. Most of the time you will get the best results if you do not mix different types of tires, but rubber and urethane tires play well together.

[Apexdreamer50]

I placed an order for some silicone Quick Slicks in different levels of firmness. I'll try them out and see if I'm able to achieve some better traction. I also built my first Revoslot kit over the weekend and installed a Carrera chip in it as well. It seems the chip is installed correctly as the car will run the track, change lanes when prompted to do so, and recognizes the lap counter. I have not tuned the car yet and will need to find some good Revoslot tuning videos or articles. Right now the chassis has limited grip of course and sounds like an empty aluminum trailer going down the road, this thing is loud and clangs around the track. Not very smooth at all. Maybe I was better off going with the Slot it kits / cars I was looking into instead of this Revoslot, I just thought the aluminum chassis was pretty slick and liked the tunability.

Thanks again for call the help and advice, I sure need it apparently. I thought the transition into this hobby would be smoother for me.