So you might have seen my previous articles on rc cars and want to learn more about them. This is the place to read up on how to work on them, maintain them, fix them, and what car to buy.
What is an RC Car?
To start off RC stands for Remote controlled or Radio controlled. What is the difference between the two? A remote is a controller with a wire attached to the car and is almost always a low quality or toy grade vehicle and slow. A radio controlled vehicle uses radio signals to communicate to the car. An RC car is a car scaled down to a smaller size, usually unrealistic but sometimes is very scaled, meaning it looks realistic or drives realistically.
How do they work?
So an RC car works like this: you have a motor that connects to the drivetrain and creates torque. Another part is the ESC "Electronic speed controller", the heart of the car it gets power from a battery and sends it to other electronics. Next is the receiver, it is like the brain. It gets the signals from the remote and tells the ESC where to send power and how much. Another part is the steering servo. It steers the wheels. You can get all kinds of all of these parts. You might be wondering what different kinds of those parts there are so for motors there are different KV (Kilo volt) ratings KV stands for RPM per volt there is also turn ratings too which can be converted but it's almost impossible to actually get within 500 KV of that rating.
Motors
Now that you know that the types of motors are brushed and brushless to put it simply brushed has brushes that contact a part in the motor to create power. The nice part is it is really really smooth and has no cogging and the price is much cheaper than the next type. Next is brushless motors. They are the "good ones" as a lot of people will say it, which makes sense because they have more torque, rpm, speed and can be 100% waterproof. They have some slight downsides being the price which is much more expensive and cogging. What is cogging you might ask? Well, it is when the ESC doesn't know what direction to spin the motor or under high pressure they can cog. There is a fix for this. In a sensored motor, the ESC knows where the motor is positioned so no cogging or very little, but they are even more expensive. Some of these for a 1/10 scale vehicle can run you upwards or 250$ usd for a sensored system but they are the best of the best.
Electronic speed controllers
So these are very important parts to the car and cost the most. Usually there are brushed brushless and brushless sensored versions of these too but they control the motor and rpm of the motor. There are some technical things with esc's like punch, throttle curve, drag brake, brake force, some have a BEC (Battery Eliminator Circuit) and much more for tuning. ESC's have another rating 45a, 60a, 80a, 100a, 120a, etc this stands for how many amps it can handle for a long amount of time but there is also burst which is the max it can take before hitting a safety shut off or if they don't have a cut off explode. Obviously, you want to get one with a lipo/ li ion cut off and one that can handle a high amount of amps.
Batteries
There are 3 common types of batteries Lipo (lithium polymer) Li ion (Lithium ion) and NIMH (Nickel metal hydride). First is nimh they are okay batteries, usually something that will come with a car to get you started they have a lot of cells with 1.2 volts per cell but a low discharge rate (this means not much torque or acceleration) and it drops voltage during the run so it will get slower as you drive. All batteries drop voltage during running but nimh loses more speed and acceleration when this happens. Next is li ion they have 3.7 volts per cell but much less than the nimh they are a big step up in acceleration and top speed than the nimh type. Lipos they are the best batteries to use but are the most dangerous explosive wise when not taken care of they have 3.7 volts per cell usually and they have the most punch most top speed and the lowest loss in speed and power over a run they have many different cell counts for rc use 1 to 6 cell usually but then it gets better there are hv (high voltage) lipos that supply slightly more speed and power. Lipos in general also usually have the most run time and can be charged pretty fast. Lipos do cost the most of the three usually though performance has a cost usually. I do not recommend you charge any battery above what the manufacturer says it can be charged at and let them cool down if warm after a run.
Radios and receivers
These also are quite expensive depending on what you want. Cars now mainly run 2.4G (gigahertz) , a radio signal that can go really far and has quick response to the car. Radios and receivers also have some cool features sometimes such as gyros pretty much they sense where the car is when it's going straight but when the rear end slips or gets out of control it can change steering to keep you going straight some also control the motor like if it is really bad it slows down so it can keep going straight. Another cool thing is real time telemetry. Some cars have speed, rpm, heat and GPS sensors. Some high end radios have screens with "apps" that you can go into to set endpoints epa and some other things that are interesting. But most rtr (Ready to run) radios have just enough to get you started like end points epa and gyros sometimes.
Maintenance
This is very important to know because some people (including myself) don't clean your car you don't necessarily have to but I highly recommend at least drying metal parts like bearings or any steel so they don't rust because it looks bad and can mess up performance especially the bearings. Another thing is just every once in a while check if your car has anything loose. Do your bearings have a little too much play? Does something have more slop than it should? If any of these things are issues you have to check what the problem is and get a replacement part if needed. Another thing is shocks you will have to replace the oil after running for a while doesn't matter as much for bashers and will usually take a while until you have to replace it but it can make a massive difference in tuning the same goes for the differential to replace the grease or oil when low. maintenance does have a lot to do with where you drive and what car too.
What car is for me?
Now that you know what a car is and how it works you might ask what car should I get? I want to start by saying it doesn't matter, get the car you think is best and don't get taken away from a different type of vehicle because I can say it took me 3 years before I got a crawler and is now one of my favorite cars to drive. In my opinion, get the car that puts the biggest smile on your face. Have fun, don't get pushed around because "Your car isn't good enough" just do what you want.
Types of vehicles
Buggy
These are some of the best handling low slung vehicles many people design these to race off road go as fast as possible and usually are the best driving to just have some fun with without flipping or rolling but can be held back on rocky or harsh terrain.
Monster truck
These are the best for going fast off road they are usually really tall with some big tires. For off road these can be quite fast and torquey but have big shocks and can be driven about anywhere but do have a tendency to roll, flip or wheelie more than other cars.
Stadium truck
These are really fun truck they are in between monster trucks and buggies they usually are the best for all road fun with wider tires that are larger than buggy but lower profile than monster trucks and they usually handle really well about anywhere and are great for getting high speeds like 70 to 80 mph
Short course truck (SCT)
These are pretty fun to just run around they are definitely really fun to race and drive about anywhere the fun part is they have more body roll than the other cars which make the driving experience more realistic some do have a issue or parcuting the body is so large it catches air and can cause unexpected flipping or wheelies the also don't have as much air control as the monster truck or stadium truck but are really fun all around trucks.
On Road Sedan
These are super fun to drive in parking lots or open space as long as it isn't super rough or off road they are pretty much the best for hitting ridiculous speeds like 160 to 190mph like an arrma limitless for a touring style 1/10 scale car more like 70 to 100 mph range. They can also be turned into 4wd drift cars although it is not considered drifting. It is still really fun to do because you usually just need to swap to hard rubber or plastic wheels.
Rally Cars
depending on the type of rally car and the size they are a ton of fun they have a lot of body roll and handle pretty similar to the real thing and usually the body is an suv type and really large meaning your car is really well protected. I think they are the most fun on loose dirt with some jumps but depending on the size just about any off-roading is possible within reason at least.
Crawlers/Trail trucks
If you are looking to get over stuff or pull stuff with a ton of torque or even just looking for a car for beginners or scale stuff this is where to look you can get a very wide variety of bodies, tires, wheels, shocks, and scale accessories. These trucks are designed to get over large obstacles fairly slowly and usually have a top speed of less than 10mph unless it has a high kv brushless system or high gearing/2 speed transmission. They also tend to be over built and extremely durable like the scx10iii or the Traxxas TRX4 the down sides are they are sometimes really expensive they are slow and can be boring but I can say from experience just try one out a lot of people don't like them until they are able to drive them.
After reading this you should look into what might be best for you looking into the hobby.
I can't tell you what car is best for you. I recommend watching videos and reviews to see what is best for you. I hope you have fun with your new hobby if you choose to try it out.