B4 Buggy Has a Slippery Rear End

Question:
RC Doc-
I’ve been driving my Team Associated B4.2 Buggy for a while, self-teaching myself mechanics and such. What I can’t figure out is how to keep the back end from spinning out and fishtailing through the corners. I assume it has something to do with adjusting the cambers in the rear, maybe increase the negative pitch? I’ve never made that adjustment before so I wanted to ask you first. For the record, if I drive it perfectly I can keep it from fishtailing but I can’t sustain perfect cornering. There’s got to be some sort of adjustment. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Tom

Answer:
Hi Tom,
Your problem is not an uncommon one, however there could be alot more factors than just tweaking the camber on the car. These factors include track surface, tire choice, motor choice, your slipper setting or the overall setup on the car. Let’s take a quick look at all of these…

Track surface and tire choice pretty much go hand in hand. Your first assessment is to make sure you have the right tires; if you don’t all the tuning in the world isn’t going to help your cause if you can’t put the power down. So, verify your tire choice first.

Depending on your motor, you can also check your slipper setting to make sure it is properly set. We have a graet tutorial on the site on How To Easily Set Your Slipper Clutch. This can also help put the power to the ground and prevent tire slip.

Once you’ve checked all of these, the next step will be tuning. Yes, you are correct that setting some negative camber (no more than around -2°) will help the car hold some corner speed, but you’ll lose a little straight line acceleration. Other tuning adjustments to try would be softer rear springs, different camber link locations or shock locations or even additional rear toe. It’s a try-and-test situation; not everything is going to help depending on the track surface. If you’re unsure about what to try, you can check our Online Tuning Section!

Good luck!
The Doc