The other day I reported that I had a mysterious cut in my tire, which I discovered after trying the CRV setting again on my controller. It causes cars to be tremendously fast, and I prefer the speed limited option for my small track.
I had come to the conclusion through advice that I needed to cut my motor shaft so the tire wouldn't rub. I was talking to guys on SCI about it, when one of them happened to mention gluing tires, which I had somehow completely overlooked.
I can't even tell you how much of an improvement it is.
When a car's tires aren't glued to the wheels, the wheels can spin independently inside them, which makes a car lose acceleration. Also, in high revs, the tire expands, and that's what caused the cut that I got in my tire [it was pretty superficial and eventually went away after a bit of racing].
To glue the tires, I used a standard, all-purpose craft glue. I put a few drops on a toothpick, then [with the tire off] I spread the glue thinly around the thick middle of the wheel. Then I re-attached the tire, rolled it a bit on a hard surface, and let it sit for awhile. The tube suggests that it's totally dry in 10 minutes, but I gave it overnight.
The next day I sanded the tires and ran the cars for a few hundred laps each. ALL of the cars improved in acceleration, didn't chatter in the slightest, and were much more responsive. The Alfa probably improved the most, as it was suddenly very grippy and VERY fast.
I encourage anybody reading this to glue the tires to the wheels on your slot cars. It's a very easy improvement and will really help lap times.
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