Tamiya mini cooper
Tech Rookie
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 11
Pit Shimizu make a 60D and a 55D tire. Tamiya alone makes at least 4 different spring sets for the Mini. What kind of track?????? Shocks were rebuilt, but what kind and how????? Also, this or a similar question has been answered many times in the last month.
I'm guessing PS 60D tires, Tamiya Mini springs, outdoor asphalt track. Also #456 and 454 PS tires with the insert that came with the tire. The only time I had a problem like yours with Pit Shimizu tires is when I got them mixed up and put the hards, #456, on the rear and the med, #454, on the fronts. Also the foam inserts that come with the tire are too soft. If you got the tires mixed up there is no way to distinguish which is which-----I know from embarrassing experience. Unless you can find a durometer.
You could run a set of PS #452 in the rear and use your present tires in front if you got them mixed up. I generally use the 452 in the rear unless temperatures are in the 100+ range. The 454 is usually too hard of a cpd for a rear tire.
Grip rolling is, contrary to popular belief, not fixed by going to a harder spring. Softer springing, especially in front, is more helpful.
I'm guessing PS 60D tires, Tamiya Mini springs, outdoor asphalt track. Also #456 and 454 PS tires with the insert that came with the tire. The only time I had a problem like yours with Pit Shimizu tires is when I got them mixed up and put the hards, #456, on the rear and the med, #454, on the fronts. Also the foam inserts that come with the tire are too soft. If you got the tires mixed up there is no way to distinguish which is which-----I know from embarrassing experience. Unless you can find a durometer.
You could run a set of PS #452 in the rear and use your present tires in front if you got them mixed up. I generally use the 452 in the rear unless temperatures are in the 100+ range. The 454 is usually too hard of a cpd for a rear tire.
Grip rolling is, contrary to popular belief, not fixed by going to a harder spring. Softer springing, especially in front, is more helpful.

Running on a short, twisty high grip carpet track. TRF Dampers (#54000 I think), blue dot up front, yellow dot at rear. I basically stripped them down, made sure they were assembled correctly, then reassembled with fresh oil. Dragon 4000. I must not have used enough oil last time because they were rebounding a lot better after I did that.
Last night I swapped out the "rockcrawler" servo for a Savox SC-1252MG which made a huge difference. More responsive steering, no grip roll but understeering a lot more, and seemed to struggle with grip up front which seemed contradictory to me.
Anyway, long story short I never did find out why it would spin with the new tyres on the rear so kept racing with the old medium tyres on the rear.
Before the last race I noticed the fronts were heavily worn on the inside, so I used the mediums I couldn't use up back on the front. This made such a big difference that through a bit of good luck and sensible driving I managed to snag a win

I'll go back through this thread to try and sort out some of the issues I've been having. Seems to be a steep learning curve but I think I'm getting there race meet to race meet.
Tech Regular
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 290
From: Australia
Huh, thanks for the info. In my case, my gears only last a couple of months.
Probably last longer now that I have better traction on my track and dont need to brake as hard.
Speaking of track, someone asked me how I made the curbs. I'm off today and was working on it this morning so here are some pictures.
This is a standard gray colored cord tunnel (cord duct) sold at HomeDepot.
I made triangular slits and applied a lot of heat using a standard heat gun
to make the duct stay in this shape. No adhesive used, I just reformed it.
I marked the floor with masking tape to try out the curb radius running
a few of my cars, make adjustments as needed.

Mounted the curb to the floor after a couple of test drives using double sided
carpet mounting tape. Only need to use a few slits of tape.
Then used some white and red duct tape..

I'm going to be working on the one on the lower right next..

Probably last longer now that I have better traction on my track and dont need to brake as hard.Speaking of track, someone asked me how I made the curbs. I'm off today and was working on it this morning so here are some pictures.
This is a standard gray colored cord tunnel (cord duct) sold at HomeDepot.
I made triangular slits and applied a lot of heat using a standard heat gun
to make the duct stay in this shape. No adhesive used, I just reformed it.
I marked the floor with masking tape to try out the curb radius running
a few of my cars, make adjustments as needed.

Mounted the curb to the floor after a couple of test drives using double sided
carpet mounting tape. Only need to use a few slits of tape.
Then used some white and red duct tape..

I'm going to be working on the one on the lower right next..

Thanks. It's small, just over 30ft x 10, will widen another 5ft later on when (if?) I can reduce storage space adjacent to the track.
It's like a auto-x course for my m-chassis, very technical at wot keeps me on my toes.
I tried to stay away from straight board walls/barriers and try to mimic a mini road course.
It's a decent size for my Mini-Z's I found out later.
It was originally an offroad track for my GF01, WR02, crawlers with ramps and stuff. Wasn't expecting to run m-chassis so much in my basement.
It's like a auto-x course for my m-chassis, very technical at wot keeps me on my toes. I tried to stay away from straight board walls/barriers and try to mimic a mini road course.
It's a decent size for my Mini-Z's I found out later.
It was originally an offroad track for my GF01, WR02, crawlers with ramps and stuff. Wasn't expecting to run m-chassis so much in my basement.
Tech Elite

Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,367
Sorry, I should have been more specific 
Running on a short, twisty high grip carpet track. TRF Dampers (#54000 I think), blue dot up front, yellow dot at rear. I basically stripped them down, made sure they were assembled correctly, then reassembled with fresh oil. Dragon 4000. I must not have used enough oil last time because they were rebounding a lot better after I did that.
Last night I swapped out the "rockcrawler" servo for a Savox SC-1252MG which made a huge difference. More responsive steering, no grip roll but understeering a lot more, and seemed to struggle with grip up front which seemed contradictory to me.
Anyway, long story short I never did find out why it would spin with the new tyres on the rear so kept racing with the old medium tyres on the rear.
Before the last race I noticed the fronts were heavily worn on the inside, so I used the mediums I couldn't use up back on the front. This made such a big difference that through a bit of good luck and sensible driving I managed to snag a win
I'll go back through this thread to try and sort out some of the issues I've been having. Seems to be a steep learning curve but I think I'm getting there race meet to race meet.

Running on a short, twisty high grip carpet track. TRF Dampers (#54000 I think), blue dot up front, yellow dot at rear. I basically stripped them down, made sure they were assembled correctly, then reassembled with fresh oil. Dragon 4000. I must not have used enough oil last time because they were rebounding a lot better after I did that.
Last night I swapped out the "rockcrawler" servo for a Savox SC-1252MG which made a huge difference. More responsive steering, no grip roll but understeering a lot more, and seemed to struggle with grip up front which seemed contradictory to me.
Anyway, long story short I never did find out why it would spin with the new tyres on the rear so kept racing with the old medium tyres on the rear.
Before the last race I noticed the fronts were heavily worn on the inside, so I used the mediums I couldn't use up back on the front. This made such a big difference that through a bit of good luck and sensible driving I managed to snag a win

I'll go back through this thread to try and sort out some of the issues I've been having. Seems to be a steep learning curve but I think I'm getting there race meet to race meet.

Wish I could help out more, but carpet's not my strong surface cause I've only done maybe 30 races on it and have never run Pit Shimizus on it. I take that back, I did run a battery or two with a set of the 55Ds, but had to cyano the sidewalls of the fronts to counteract the grip roll. I suspect if you're using the 60Ds you'll have to cyano the sidewalls and maybe a mm or 2 of the tread. Lots of carpet guys here, but it seems as if not many race.
You might play with zero rebound shocks cause they are more consistent. Drop me a PM if you don't know how to set them up.
Tech Rookie
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 11
It was a pleasure reading your post. It really sounds as if you have a handle on things-----maybe not the set up, but how to find one. What I like is you figured out that you need to get the tires in the ball park before you start doing a whole lot with the rest of it.
Wish I could help out more, but carpet's not my strong surface cause I've only done maybe 30 races on it and have never run Pit Shimizus on it. I take that back, I did run a battery or two with a set of the 55Ds, but had to cyano the sidewalls of the fronts to counteract the grip roll. I suspect if you're using the 60Ds you'll have to cyano the sidewalls and maybe a mm or 2 of the tread. Lots of carpet guys here, but it seems as if not many race.
You might play with zero rebound shocks cause they are more consistent. Drop me a PM if you don't know how to set them up.
Wish I could help out more, but carpet's not my strong surface cause I've only done maybe 30 races on it and have never run Pit Shimizus on it. I take that back, I did run a battery or two with a set of the 55Ds, but had to cyano the sidewalls of the fronts to counteract the grip roll. I suspect if you're using the 60Ds you'll have to cyano the sidewalls and maybe a mm or 2 of the tread. Lots of carpet guys here, but it seems as if not many race.
You might play with zero rebound shocks cause they are more consistent. Drop me a PM if you don't know how to set them up.

Then I realise it just needed new tyres up front, and rack up a win lol


Tech Elite

Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,367
My main problems have been assuming parts I bought 2nd hand are setup correctly and that I often make upgrades/set up changes in bulk...like when the car was spinning at the rear I changed the rear tyres, softness of the springs, rear shock position, adjusted the rear stabilizer and rolled off some steering harshness on the Tx, thinking that will fix it. Then it runs worse, and I have to go "backwards" undoing everything I did just to get it running as poorly as it was before I changed anything 
Then I realise it just needed new tyres up front, and rack up a win lol



Then I realise it just needed new tyres up front, and rack up a win lol



Last week did a full shock rebuild on my M05 swift body...pulled the dampers out, refilled with oil, hard springs up front, medium on rear, put new shimizu tyres on, hard up front medium on rear.
Hit the track and as soon as I turn a corner the car spins 180 on itself. Tried all kinds of shock adjustments including winding them fully down to eliminate as much play as possible. Same problem. Put hard springs on the rear as well as front, problem started to subside a little but too much turn it still spun.
Then went back to my old rear tyres (also medium) and the problem pretty much went away, except it was grip rolling. I adjusted the Tx settings and swapped grip rolling for slow cornering. I'm now wondering if the medium tyres really are medium...
Can't figure out what else might be the problem and have another meet tonight on the same setup, so expecting more of the same tonight...Finicky things lol.
Hit the track and as soon as I turn a corner the car spins 180 on itself. Tried all kinds of shock adjustments including winding them fully down to eliminate as much play as possible. Same problem. Put hard springs on the rear as well as front, problem started to subside a little but too much turn it still spun.
Then went back to my old rear tyres (also medium) and the problem pretty much went away, except it was grip rolling. I adjusted the Tx settings and swapped grip rolling for slow cornering. I'm now wondering if the medium tyres really are medium...
Can't figure out what else might be the problem and have another meet tonight on the same setup, so expecting more of the same tonight...Finicky things lol.
Sorry, I should have been more specific 
Running on a short, twisty high grip carpet track. TRF Dampers (#54000 I think), blue dot up front, yellow dot at rear. I basically stripped them down, made sure they were assembled correctly, then reassembled with fresh oil. Dragon 4000. I must not have used enough oil last time because they were rebounding a lot better after I did that.
Last night I swapped out the "rockcrawler" servo for a Savox SC-1252MG which made a huge difference. More responsive steering, no grip roll but understeering a lot more, and seemed to struggle with grip up front which seemed contradictory to me.
Anyway, long story short I never did find out why it would spin with the new tyres on the rear so kept racing with the old medium tyres on the rear.
Before the last race I noticed the fronts were heavily worn on the inside, so I used the mediums I couldn't use up back on the front. This made such a big difference that through a bit of good luck and sensible driving I managed to snag a win
I'll go back through this thread to try and sort out some of the issues I've been having. Seems to be a steep learning curve but I think I'm getting there race meet to race meet.

Running on a short, twisty high grip carpet track. TRF Dampers (#54000 I think), blue dot up front, yellow dot at rear. I basically stripped them down, made sure they were assembled correctly, then reassembled with fresh oil. Dragon 4000. I must not have used enough oil last time because they were rebounding a lot better after I did that.
Last night I swapped out the "rockcrawler" servo for a Savox SC-1252MG which made a huge difference. More responsive steering, no grip roll but understeering a lot more, and seemed to struggle with grip up front which seemed contradictory to me.
Anyway, long story short I never did find out why it would spin with the new tyres on the rear so kept racing with the old medium tyres on the rear.
Before the last race I noticed the fronts were heavily worn on the inside, so I used the mediums I couldn't use up back on the front. This made such a big difference that through a bit of good luck and sensible driving I managed to snag a win

I'll go back through this thread to try and sort out some of the issues I've been having. Seems to be a steep learning curve but I think I'm getting there race meet to race meet.

Can you fill this in -
Chassis Length - S / M / L
Body -
FRONT
Spring -
Oil and Piston - 40wt (Change to zero rebound)
Ride Height -
Diff style and setup -
Top Arm hole -
Toe -
Tire - Med Pit
Sauce -
Sway Bar -
REAR
Spring -
Oil and Piston - 40wt (Change to zero rebound)
Ride Height -
Camber -
Toe -
Top Arm hole -
Tire - Med Pit
Sauce -
Sway Bar -
Here is my usual setup for Low/Med/High grip carpet (Sauce amount varies due to how much grip is available!) -
Chassis Length - M
Body - Civic
FRONT
Spring - Red
Oil and Piston - 40wt Zero Rebound 3 hole
Ride Height - 5mm
Diff style and setup - 3 racing 500,000wt
Toe - 2 deg out
Top Arm hole - Top
Tire - S grip, Hard insert, Ca on the last 1mm on outside of tread.
Sauce - Full
Sway Bar - None
REAR
Spring - Blue
Oil and Piston - 40wt Zero Rebound 3 hole
Ride Height - 5mm
Camber - 1.5 deg
Toe - 2 deg
Top Arm hole - Low
Tire - S grip, Hard insert
Sauce - Full
Sway Bar - Hard
With this setup, My car can get up on two wheels whenever it likes, but it wont flip, due to the 1mm of CA glue on the outside tread (Keep this clean and redo the CA if it starts to come off). I don't care if it comes up on two wheels, as IMHO I have maximum grip at my disposal. With a different line etc, I can control the two wheeling. And with that amount of grip, I can turn and shoot to the next corner very well. And the rear is seriously planted.
Now of course this is with tire sauce, but I would try that setup whether or not your running sauce. The sway bar in the back could also help you with the flipping. It not only limits the body roll, but adds grip to the rear. But it doesn't work on the front. Give that a shot and get back to us
HTH
Lots of things wrong with the bulk approach. Don't learn much cause you never know what each individual thing does. If there is something most "racers" agree on it's "change one thing at a time". Too many things work against each other. Once you have an extensive file on this does this and that does that, you can do more things cause you'll be able to stack things that go in the same direction


Great advice, from rc, to any other form of motorsport, its the same rule. Don't change more than one thing if you want to learn what that one thing will effect. But damn its fun, when your past the learning stage, to do 5 setup changes on a Legends car, and the car goes from 3 tenths down, to a rocket..... Best feeling in the world
Someone else asked for my track layout. It is no secret, here is a rough sketch.
What you've seen in the pictures is from the Pit Area north. The plumbing is a pit that our unfinished basement has which can accommodate a bathroom, but we never decided to put one in so there is clear visibility from the stand area to the northwest end of the track.
This is about 1/2 of our full sized basement.
What you've seen in the pictures is from the Pit Area north. The plumbing is a pit that our unfinished basement has which can accommodate a bathroom, but we never decided to put one in so there is clear visibility from the stand area to the northwest end of the track.
This is about 1/2 of our full sized basement.
Tech Regular
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 281
From: ontario canada
Someone else asked for my track layout. It is no secret, here is a rough sketch.
What you've seen in the pictures is from the Pit Area north. The plumbing is a pit that our unfinished basement has which can accommodate a bathroom, but we never decided to put one in so there is clear visibility from the stand area to the northwest end of the track.
This is about 1/2 of our full sized basement.

What you've seen in the pictures is from the Pit Area north. The plumbing is a pit that our unfinished basement has which can accommodate a bathroom, but we never decided to put one in so there is clear visibility from the stand area to the northwest end of the track.
This is about 1/2 of our full sized basement.




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