1/8 Buggy: Do droop screws damage the chassis?
 

Do droop screws damage the chassis on 1/8 buggy? How can I protect it?

The droop screws do wear into the chassis. However, by the time the droops screws have done a significant amount of damage it is usually time to replace the chassis due to wear on the front and rear of it as well. I do not know of a way to keep the droop screws from digging into the chassis..other than not using them that is..

Over time, droop screws will indeed wear into the chassis and cause the droop setting to become difficult to set consistently, especially when one side will droop more than the other due to wear.

Many pros choose to forego the droop screws in favor of using internal shock limiters, just like we use in 1/10 racing. This keeps the setup much more consistent and is much more fool-proof.

The car I run (AE RC8.2E) has droop screws with heads on them, with the heads facing the chassis. With the larger surface area contacting the chassis, the wear factor is much, much lower.

Mugen and associated have droop screws you can run upside down so the pan head contacts the chassis

http://www.amain.com/Mugen-Seiki-Rebound-Stop-Adjusting-Screw/p143651

I've seen drivers epoxy a very thin metal plate/washer/shim just where the droop screw will touch the chassis.

Maintly if your using the droop screws that have no button heads do dig in a lot for sure . It will take quite a while for the ones with button heads to wear though the chassis .

I have the same car. The droop screws are hex comet screws. I winder if there was some sort of rubber cap I could put on it.

Another way is to use a dremel to round the part of the screw that makes contact with the chassis.

Wow great idea, I have to check when I get home to actually see if the droops screw is the type to wear into the chassis. I was basing it off my rc8be but I now have .2e.

the bigger the contact patch between drop screw and chassis the less the wear

I use M4 upside down

You can also use the specially designed Losi droop pad screws (but you need to drill and tap the chassis): http://www.amain.com/Losi-4-40x4mm-D...crew-12/p34957

Combine rounded ends with the droop pad screws and you will never have a wear issue.

I think this is overall the best option. No tapping needed.

Use the droop screws to fine tune how much droop front and rear you want.. (i.e. develop your setupi). Once you find that setup, take them out and put in internal limiters that give you the same desired droop.