tyre additive (foams on carpet)

[tonymong]

hi all,

well i had my first outing with an RC car in over 8 years and i cant remmeber why i left !!! its brill isnt it !! lol

but i have a question... where and roughly how much additive do you guys use on your tyres??

on carpet using foams ???

yes i know its a set up issue and it so depends on track cond, tyre choice, set up choice etc etc

but as a general rule??? i always used to use full covering on the rear and 1 3rd inside edge on the front.... it didnt go well !!!

many thanx

tony

[chris_dono]

when racing 12th, we tend to use cs high grip or speedtech at nationals.

To start with, do the rears fully 20 min before your run, and the front 10-15 mins before, then wipe it all off 5 minutes before the run, this seems to work well unless you have really high grip such as at a national meeting

[tonymong]

sorry you put full addititve on the front of your 1/12th???

still trying to get a grip of this ( no pun intended lol ) ive used a front spool for the first time and ... well didnt like it !!! think i may be better off puttin half on front but out side edge to give the out side wheel the bite not the inside edge which would give the inside wheel the bite

if you get my meaning ??

lol

many thanx

tony

[chris_dono]

start with 1/2 the inside, and adjust from there

depends on the compound of tyre that you run, but 1/2 additive on the front is a good starting point

[terry.sc]

Originally Posted by tonymong

still trying to get a grip of this ( no pun intended lol ) ive used a front spool for the first time and ... well didnt like it !!! think i may be better off puttin half on front but out side edge to give the out side wheel the bite not the inside edge which would give the inside wheel the bite

If you have the spool in there get rid of it, it's useless for foams on carpet as it's really just a band aid for too much power and too little grip, not something you'll suffer with on foams. Stick to a front diff or one way if you don't have to brake.

The additive wants to be on the inside edge of the tyre, so when you steer in a corner the heavily loaded outside front tyre puts the treated side on the carpet. Putting additive on the outside would just mean the additive treated section will be lifted off the track on the outside tyre giving less steering in the corner while more steering in a straight line.
Full width additive on the rear, vary the front width to balance the chassis. My GT10 runs full width front additive, my F1 runs about 4mm additive and my tourer runs half width additive, you need to try different amounts to see what works best for you.

Tourers usually additive on for at least 20 minutes, all done at the same time. Wipe off just before your race and get them as dry as you can, leaving black streaks on the carpet when you set off just dumps your freshly treated layer of foam onto the carpet.

Tyre choice makes most of the difference, what shore rating are the tyres you are using? Most drivers tend to like a 2 to 5 shore harder front tyre to make it more stable, such as F37/R35 shore, F35/R30 shore, etc depending on what works best on your carpet, others prefer the same compound all round and run a stiffer front end instead. Talking of suspension you will usually run a lot stiffer, you will have to experiment with suspension settings as if you go too stiff you'll find the car stays level until it digs in and flips.

Tyre hardness will also effect the grip and balance, too hard and you won't get enough grip, too soft and they will dig in and the handling won't be precise as it moves around on the tyres. In theory you can just ask what tyres the fast guys are using and get the same, but at my club the drivers use everything from 42 shore down to 30 shore, all down to individual drivers preferences and suspension setup. The most common setups are 37 shore fronts with 35 shore rears with additive and 35 or 30 shore fronts with 30 shore rears used without additive.

Finally make sure you are using a carpet additive and you are using an additive compatible with everyone else, use the wrong additive and the additive in the carpet will react with your own and will give you less grip than using no additive. Ask what the other drivers are using and use the same. Interestingly at my club most of the touring cars use LRP Blue Factor, running the F1s we had problems getting them to handle until we tried Nosram Carpet Traction. Being from the same company the additives work together but for us the Nosram gives more grip which is welcomed for the F1s but not needed for the tourers. It's always worth trying something slightly different to see if it works better.