07-04-2005, 12:22 PM
Quote:The buggy seemed to bottom out way to easy. I want to get some different tires, these street tires get very little traction, even in the street
There are a couple things to keep in mind.
A 1/8 scale buggy weighs in around 7.5-9 lbs generally, the RC Raven dual rate springs have a Max spring rate of 7 lbs. This doesn't leave much area for dampening from the shocks.
Stiffer suspension may keep the car from bottoming out easier, which will help keep the chassis from getting scratched a little, but it also puts ALL the load from a landing on the arms. When you allow the buggy/truck/car to actually bottom out, it allows the chassis to absorb a lot of the impact from a rough landing. The Aluminum chassis will take a lot more stress than the plastic arms.
Also, with running a softer suspension, you allow the shocks to do what they are intended to do, Absorb bumps, which will result in better traction. If the suspension is too stiff, when you run over a small bump (on a track) or a pebble, or crack in the road (on street), the force of the bump causes the wheels to leave the ground, resulting in loss of traction, with a softer suspension, the shocks absorb that impact, and keep the tires on the groound better.
Also, under hard acceleration (Full throttle start) the torque of the motor will push the rear of the buggy down, causing the rear to stick better, giving better acceleration. This is easier to see on a truck rather than a car/buggy, but it holds true for them all. To see this, take the wifes or kids pede (Not the brushless one), put STIFF springs on the back, and accelerate hard... the front wants to pull up. Now try with softer spings in the back. This time, the rear of the truck squats, putting more traction to the back, resulting in a better launch..