grim

An inquiring mind would like to know, is it normal to smash up and break your car weekly [due to poor driving skills]?

As a concerned girlfriend being told that he wants an $850 little car, I must say I am surprised if people spend this much on something that requires more maintenance then a ford (weekly).

I am fine with this hobby, but would like to know how often you must go to the lhs to get replacement parts? Weekly? Daily? Hourly?

The Black Kat

If you keep it off the boards you just need to mantain it a bit...for that you'll need

A Comm Lathe -$100 (one time cost, an investment)
Motor Brushes -$3.50 (will need these every 3 or 4 rebuilds if running Stock)
Tires -$35 -for rubber (Will last about a month & a half if raced once every weekend)

Parts typically broken (Arms, knuckles and uprights) usually cost around $5 and are only needed when one is broken....I haven't broken a single part in 6 months...

Diff Rebuild - Diff Balls & D-Rings -about $5-10 roughly

R/C Anonymous

iTrader: (1)

since ive had my Warpspeed chassis and foam tires i havent broke yet that i can recall which has been almost two months

used to race and practice 4 days a week

Phatkat

iTrader: (14)

My girl wondered the same. Depends on what you do with your car. I break my T Maxx a LOT. But I drive the hell out of it. I hardly ever break my XXXT, mostly due to accident avoidance skills. I broke my XXXS fairly regularly, but it also a more fragile car than the Maxx or XXXT. If the same part is breaking often, then try upgrading to graphite(carbon fiber), or aluminum. They are more expensive at first, but last MUCH longer than stock plastic. My Maxx doesn't break as much as it used to, because the most often broken parts are now replaced with aluminum. My XXXT is all graphite & titanium. If driving skills are sub-par, or you drive your car harder than normal, then graphite, titanium and aluminum are godsends.

NismoSkyline17

I work in a lhs and it all depends on how bad a driver the person is. I sold a truck to a guy to have him come back to buy a second one cuz he totaled his and sold him all the parts to replace on his, only hours after he left the store with it. And some people I have not seen buying parts at all. It depends on how you treat the car. I personally rarely broke parts, but I was the one that always had spares.

JimmyMac

iTrader: (2)

Depends on driving skill and car. Some cars are just tough as nails and hard to break. Others break with just a tap. We race every Saturday here. We do 3 qualifiers and the mains. So that's like 4 runs plus practice if you do so. I've seen a person break every run. I've also seen people that might break once a week. I personally might break once a couple months. Like I said, depends on skill. For a newbie or unskilled driver, yes.. you can break every week.

The Black Kat

My advice....Get as much practice as you possibly can with a small group of people who are somewhat experienced

Thats why I'm a good carpet driver yet a cruddy outdoor wheelman

JimmyMac

iTrader: (2)

Haha, I'm opposite (except 1/12th)... I'm a good asphalt racer, but cruddy carpet! lol

The Black Kat

LOL.....We should put our skills together and maybe as a conbined force become IFMAR Champion

The thing is you cannot run on the street for any guage of how your car will handle on the track because the street WILL have more grip than the track...There is more rubber buildup on the street from actual cars then there is on the lot....

You know somethings f^$#d when....The carpet track 65 miles away is easier to get to than the two parking lot races within a 30 mile radius

BTW: Grim, do you plan on getting into this? I'd kill for a girlfriend who was into R/C....Hell, I'd kill just to find someone who'd like me for who I am

R/C Anonymous

iTrader: (1)

i guess im the lucky one...my girlfriend buys my r/c stuff and begs me for her to come with and watch

Johnnytc3

iTrader: (1)

how much for the girlfriend??

Ike

iTrader: (8)

It's totally depends on the driver. I've had my car break once since getting back into the hobby and that's because my car stopped on the straight due to the set screw in my pinion so I got hammered by another car. My father with the same kind of car will break at least once a week, and often 2 out of 3 races.

R/C Anonymous

iTrader: (1)

shes going on ebay next week....no "buy-it-now" feature....sorry

grim

Thanks for all the replies!

His Grand Am is pretty bashed up, so I am not surprised that he runs into alot with his R/C as well. I think many of his problems is that he has a cheap car with cheap parts, assuming a $200 car is cheap. Maybe if if I get him one of the better cars it may help. Any recommendations? What is a good set of spare parts to get him from the start?

Thinking to Self: If I get him a nice car, maybe he will understand my hobby also requires expensive equipment as well (reef aquariums).

grim

Wait, I just noticed his signature: "If they make it I can break it"

(I am not grim, just using his ID for a bit)

Umm, wonder why I am concerned? It is not like my signature for reef forums is "If it lives, I can kill it"

lol