Originally Posted by iblumberg

I have a Team TC4 that started life as an RTR. I have replaced various parts with stronger bits, like the outdrives and the arm mounts. I also replaced the cheap RTR shocks with Tamiya TRFs. All of this has been good, but now I'm trying to tune the chassis and I have hit a point where I need help.

I run stock on low to medium traction asphault. I have noticed that the car has a problem with turn-in when running above about 1/2 throttle. Rather than turn in, the car pushes and runs quite wide.

I started with the box stock suspension set up. I did adjust the camber to try to get even tire wear. I have not changed the toe settings. All of the ball studs are in their factory positions. I am running the yellow Tamiya springs on all 4 of the TRF shocks. I believe these are medium stiff.

In an attempt to correct the front end push, I have done the following:

1. Raised the roll center to the "high" position front and back as described in the instruction manual. Front spacers under the arm mounts are 3 & 3. Rear spacers under the arm mounts are 6 & 6. This is straight from the manual.

2. I softened the front shocks by switching from the 2 hole pistion to the three hold piston.

After doing these two things, I reset the droop to the stock suggested setting of 5 and set the ride height all around to 5 mm.

I tested this set up and found that for left turns, the car now turns in quite sharply even at high speeds. The front end no longer pushes even when I initiate turns at high speeds. Instead, the back end slides out and comes around if I turn too sharply and too quickly at high speed. This behavior is fine with me as it is fairly easy to control; just don't yank the wheel all the way left at high speed, use some finess and it works well. This is the sort of improvement I was seeking.

Sadly and strangely, when turning right, the car seems no better than before the above changes. It still pushes and runs wide when initiating turns at any speed above 1/2 throttle.

I am using an IB3800 battery pack (6 cells) that seems quite heavy (particularly compared to the combined weight of the servo, receiver, and motor on the other side of the car). As a result, there is more pre-load on the shocks on the left side of the car than on the right to offset the uneven weight distribution and maintain a 5 mm ride height.

I have no idea where to go from here with this asymetric behavior.

All suggestions are welcome.

TIA,
Ira