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Pushing Performance Limits [ Maximizing Cheap RC Cars ]

By Josh •  Updated: 02/20/21 •  7 min read
FAQ

Top tier RC cars can be pretty expensive. Not everyone has the luxury to invest loads of money on a good quality RC car. But, you’re a RC enthusiast. So, what can you do? Well, there are actually some tweaking that you can do for pushing performance limits of your cheap RC cars.

For maximizing the performance and power of an RC car, you should first change the battery.  Afterward, you should lose some unnecessary weight of that car. Then, change the gear ratio of your RC car. Finally, upgrade the motor. If you have the budget, upgrade the tires of that car too.

I’ve mentioned some basic ways you could upgrade a cheap RC car, and now I’d like to provide some valuable insights into this topic.

In this article, I will extensively discuss how to upgrade a cheap RC car. For a better understanding of this topic, it would be wise to read through the whole article.

How to Maximize the Performance of an RC Car?

One of the best aspects of RC cars is, they can be modified quite easily. If you own a cheap model, you can turn that regular RC car into a racing one. The steps for that awesome transformation are pretty easy and straightforward.

Step One: Reduce RC Cars Weight

The first thing you should do is change the parts of that RC car to lighter and smaller alternatives. Parts that are made with materials like aluminum, graphite, and carbon are usually much lighter than regular ones.

The weight difference might seem minimal at first glance, but a small difference in weight can make the car run much faster.

It is one of the cheapest ways to upgrade the speed of your RC car. You should find various light parts of such cars on amazon and eBay. But, keep in mind that some models of RC cars do not allow to change the parts.

And you will lose the validity of the warranty card. But I will still recommend you to perform this step as it can be done easily. All you will need is a set of a screwdriver.

Although I won’t recommend you to change or swipe small and sensitive parts of that car as they won’t deliver any significant speed boost and a small mishap can make your car un-drivable.

Step Two: Upgrade the Tires of Your RC Car

It might seem odd, but changing the tires of your RC car can provide a significant difference in the speed of that vehicle. A professional runner will not win a race wearing flip-flops; no matter how skilled they are.

Just like that, you will be needing an appropriate set of tires for maximizing the performance and speed of the RC car.

Before purchasing a new set of tires, you must first give a good look at the surface where you will drive the vehicle.

You will need to use different types of tires for different tracks. Using the wrong set of tires will significantly decrease the speed of your car.

Step Three: Adjust the Ratio of the RC Tire’s Gear

Changing the ratio of your RC car’s gear is an easy and cheap way to make your car much faster. Usually, an RC car has two individual gears. The front gear is called pinion and the other one is called the spur.

Now, changing the Pinion in different ways will improve your car differently. If you are interested in increasing the top speed of your car, then you should get a pinion that has more teeth.

Keep in mind that such a change will increase your car’s top speed, it won’t affect the acceleration in any way.

But, if you are looking for improving the acceleration of your vehicle, then you should use a pinion that is lighter and smaller and should contain fewer teeth. How you want to change the performance of the RC car is completely up to you.

Now, if you are planning to take part in an RC car race, you should consider changing the spur of your vehicle as well.

Such change will result in a small improvement in the acceleration of the vehicle, but keep in mind that it won’t be as noticeable as changing the pinion.

But in a race, even a small difference can result in a significant outcome.

Step Four: Change the Motor of the RC car

The motor of an RC car plays a significant role in the speed of that vehicle. If you are looking for a high speed, use a brushed DC motor, but keep in mind that it has poor efficiency.

If you are looking for a long-lasting and efficient motor, buy a brushless one. Although it will cost you much more than a regular motor, such equipment requires almost no maintenance. In the long run, it will serve you better.

Step Five: Change the Battery of the Car

Every battery won’t serve you equally. For ensuring the best performance of your RC car, you should definitely change the batteries. If you are using an NIMH battery, try to upgrade to a pack of LiPo batteries.

The change in the speed of the car will be significant and noticeable. If you increase the capacity of the battery, you will observe an even bigger change in speed.

There are a few downsides to using LiPo batteries. First of all, it will make the RC car harder to handle. If you are not experienced, I will definitely recommend you to stick with the NIMH.

Secondly, LiPo batteries are much more expensive and a bit heavier. So, choose the batteries of your car wisely.

How to Make a RC Car Faster for Free?

After doing all that, there’s an easy and free way for maximizing the speed of your RC car. If you use a round magnet all around the motor of your vehicle, it will run significantly faster.

The magnet will pull out a higher amount of electrons from the battery and thus the motor will make the wheels of the car rotate faster.

There is a big downside to using this motor modification. The battery will lose its lifespan much faster and if you use a very powerful magnet, it might break the motor completely.

You want to perform this modification only if you are an expert.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, you can easily increase the speed and maximize the performance of your RC car by following some simple steps. In this article, I have extensively talked about how to upgrade a cheap RC car.

Hopefully, after reading the whole article, you will be able to run your vehicle much faster. Until next time, bye.

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