After seeing the m05 kamei golf, I had to have one (I drive a mk1)
So I went ahead and ordered one on impulse.

While "patiently" waiting for it, I've been trying to do some research on what needs improving, and what upgrades to do to it.

I already got 3 racing aluminum oil shocks, bearings, a futaba s3010 servo, and a 2.4ghz radio/receiver ordered, and contemplating an ezrun 13t brushless motor, but I'll probably hold off and just run the tin can for a while.

What else are common hop ups? Is there anything I should get before assembling the chassis just to make life easier, like a new differential?

also, what differences were there between the m05, m05 pro, and m05ra?

stock diff is fine. i packed mine full of putty so its locked. works great. first get a good set of shocks. i bought the tamiya works set for the mini. (i also bought the mk1 rabbit as im a vw head). get the aluminum steering set and the aluminum uprights. and a bearing set most importantly of all. go look on this site here:http://www.tqrcracing.com/shop/produ...&p_keyword=m05

they will have everything you need to hop it up. but, if your going to race in any of the tamiya championship races your gonna need to stay all tamiya hop ups. but check the site i suggested out. fast shipping too. good guys in socal.

sorry didnt read all of your post. just scanned and trying to help. lol. you have a good start.

Bearings 100%, don't even bother putting the car together until you get some.
Oil shocks also a definite.

Everything else, personally i'd just upgrade when you need it.
All the optional parts are pretty easily installed after, even the diff.
If your just starting out racing, you probably won't notice much improvement until you get better racing. Practice will improve your lap times more than any optional part will.

The differences between the 3 M05's is the pro comes with a few shiny bits, bearings and better shocks and the Ra is designed for light off road rally use so higher ground clearence

Get a set of four s-grip treaded tires and four a-type slick tires.

That's going to give you optimal tire tuning for various surfaces.

The 3racing diff with 2 million oil is another option. Personally, I like locking the front right up and run with 2' toe out.

Thanks
How would the different degrees of uprights affect it? I see 1, 2, and 3 degrees

Thanks, yeah I've read pretty much everywhere that the shocks and bearings are a vital upgrade.

Do those shiny bits actually do anything better than their non shiny alternatives? I'm assuming aluminum vs plastic?

and is there a way to get the additional ground clearance with the normal m05? my actual golf is set up for rallyx, so it would be kind of cool to do some with my mini one as well

Thanks, will do
Are tires easy to switch out, or should I get a different set of wheels for each tires?
I've never on road raced, my only rc experience is drifting, where the tires are hard plastic and kind of a pain to swap out.

for the rear its the amount of toe in. more toe in better straight line stability with a little speed loss. less toe out better turn entry more straight speed. give one take another. 2 degrees would be my vote. mines stock so far in the rear and handles fine.

I am not sure where you read that shocks are a necessary upgrade. If you can still find the rc-mini web from Australia (they are shutting it down soon if not already), you will see there extensive testing and reviewing by racers at the top of their game who will tell you nothing is needed to upgrade a mini. Shocks the least of everything.

But for my personal view, if there was anything I had to change it would be the shocks, and since Tamiya's only strong point in upgrade stuff is that they have one of the best shocks on the market today (compared to other OEM top manufacturers), I would say you made a bad choice and just missed that opportunity.

Also, from my experience, most third party "upgrades" for Tamiya cars in general are inferior (if not downright dubious) quality. There are differences of course, but some of the best stuff still comes from Japanese third party companies. Very little of it is worth the money, though.

Oh, and I did spend a lot of money on shiny Tamiya (mini) stuff, and yes, it does look nice.

Tires are glued to the rims, so if you don't want to throw away every tire after testing it once and the pain of removing tire glue form rims, I would say you need a set of rims for each tire.

Tamiya cars are renown for what is endearingly called "tamiya slop" and they work just fine that way, especially minis. If you come from a TC background (I assume not), you might find it unsettling, but you just have to go with it. Or spend hours on end trying to get rid of it and shimming everything and trying to find the perfect slop free balljoints and cups and play free bearings. You will spend a fortune in the process too.

As for ground clearance, minis require the lowest possible, otherwise they like to tip over very often just to annoy the heck out of you. This doesn't affect their performace though, because it seems they go on the roof just as fast as on their wheels.

just about everywhere, I've read that the shocks are rubbish and should be replaced with oil shocks. And I've also only read good things about 3 racing shocks, which is why I chose them. I think they were a few bucks cheaper than tamiya's.
my only experience with rc cars is with a used tt01D that already had some upgrades when I bought it, so I don't really know much about shimming or anything.

Yep, those shocks are a shocker but as I said, people have found it makes no difference to driving a mini. If you were driving a top TC, yes. And for a few bucks, I would say you bought something that is in a completely different league than the brilliant Tamiya shocks (item 54000) which are a pleasure to have. But hey, it's your money.

You'll learn very quickly what shimming is, but the point is that trying to take out the slop will eventually lead you to find most of the slop is in bearings, and unless you buy some really fancy stuff like that sold by Xray, you won't take that out. And like I said, Xray bearings (or similar quality) will cost you more than your car. Tamiya had their own line of bearings in the past (really nice smooth bearings) but they cost a lot (like everything Tamiya) and their lifespan was not on par with cost. Conclusion? Well, most racers will tell you forget about it and learn to live with the slop.

double post

I think the general consensus re: shocks is that with some effort, the friction shocks can be made to work OK however the oil shocks are superior and give you adjustability with both dampening and ride height (an important tuning tool).

Some mini guys (like me) get the cars in the ball park and that's good enough, but the successful guys do tune their minis and play around with different oil weights, spring hardness, ride heights etc. Every little adjustment gives you small benefits which do add up.

Shimming generally makes the minis very twitchy...slop is fine and accepted.

Cheers,

Steve

oh, you're talking about the TRF shocks
I thought you meant the cva shocks (53619)
the trf ones were about twice the price of the 3racing ones I got. I don't doubt that they're better, but I think these will be fine for me based on what others have said about them.

The CVA shocks are about as much as the mini needs. TRF shocks are completely bonkers for a mini, but boy are they sweet.

Mini Bible - Be quick, they're going offline soon

thanks! I'll definitely give it a thorough read through
Are they really gone soon?

And another question, any speciality tools I'll need to put it together? Any hardware I should stock up on?
I have a pretty extensive tool collection, but I just want to make sure I have everything ready to go when it finally gets here.