I've been bummed out for several months.

[khouse]

I really don't know where to post this. But since some of you guys use the K-Groove I'll post it here.

Last year I just started building and racing as some of you know. I raced in three races. The first race I got smoked pretty good. Then I decided I would rail ride and I came up with the groove in the axle thing. Then I made my own wheels and really set up my modified car up real good. I bought an Otterbox with the pluck out foam. I was able to pack 3 cars in the box fitting perfectly with protection all around them. So I sent them to a race. I find out that my fastest car got trashed. One of my wheels was broke when it showed up at the race and I was bummed. The two slowest cars made it just fine. So I got my cars back. I then made more wheels and sent the cars to another race. Well my fastest car again showed up with a broken wheel. I took extra care on this one car to insure the wheels wouldn't get broke. This time when the cars were sent back to me it was a mess. It now had 3 wheels broke! We spend a ton of time on these cars and I was through with proxy racing. Is this a common practice? I'm now building a super modified car that I'll race locally where I can carry my own car in. I'm just a little scared to send my cars off again. What's your experience?

[roosclan]

Sadly, the USPS seems to be pretty rough on the cars. From what I've read, broken things is a fairly common occurrence.

[khouse]

I think I'll just send one car to the races in the box.

[miller2706]

You should consider buying a pelican case and custom cutting the foam inside so your cars fit perfectly. Ive shipped my cars this way and never had a problem.. Or, spend the money and buy The Toob, sounds like everyone has good luck with that.

[khouse]

I thought it was a Otterbox but it is indeed a Pelican case #1200 with the pluck and fit foam insert.

[shadetreeracing]

Feb 22, 2009 23:31:12 GMT -6 @miller2706 said:

You should consider buying a pelican case and custom cutting the foam inside so your cars fit perfectly. Ive shipped my cars this way and never had a problem.. Or, spend the money and buy The To ob, sounds like everyone has good luck with that.

I have 2 toobs & had cars get damage when it got to the race ; had to modify them to help hold my low profile cars

[Sappington R]

KHouse- it's great to see you back on the board. Sorry to hear that you had a bad experience. I'm not sure what league you raced in so I can't really speak for their return packing, however, I've NEVER had a problem with Warren at PWDR.

This is what works for me:

Wrap each car in bubble wrap. Place in an individual box a little larger than the car (make sure that there is no room for the car to move.

Put the box in a larger box and pack it with bubble wrap. So you have multiple boxes inside one larger box. I've sent up to five cars in a medium size box going reqular USPS.

I've used the tube and tried other ways, but always seem to go back to this because it works good for me.

The thing I like about wrapping each car in it's own box is that it is simple and easy to do when I'm in a hurry.

BTW: Thanks for your contribution and innovative K-Groove.

There are guys using it and calling it a K-Groove and don't even know why they call it that!

Sapp

[Ricerocket]

I have a pelican-like case that I can customize the foam to match the car. I also take a picture of the cars IN the case so that they know how to re-pack them. Haven't had a problem since doing this. Might sound goofy, but it seems to work.

Also, not to sound like a total noob, but what is a K-Groove?

[slkrnsntracing]

Kenny,

I saw that you had some trouble shipping your cars, so I thought I would post how I ship my cars. I've had cars damaged that I sent to PWD and WIRL. Some were damaged on the way, and some were damaged on the way home.

One thing I think I can guarantee you is that neither league is doing it intentionally. They have nothing to gain from it.

The boxes come from Michael's and they cost about 3.00 each, and the other wood is pieces of balsa or whatever that I picked up at Lowe's. I try to make the car fit as tight as possible and then I use a piece of foam or whatever to keep it down. The boxes have latches on them, but I put rubber bands around the boxes too.

This way didn't stop all of the damage, but it worked a lot better.

Hope this helps.

Phil

[khouse]

Thanks you all! I feel better now that I hear you have had trashed cars. I'm sure USPS dropped my box out of an airplane. I'm moving forward now.

News flash! I have a new way to rail ride. It's still a 3 wheel rail rider without steering the dominate wheel into the rail. If it works out at a local race you'll see it on the proxy races. I hope it's fast! Plus I found some wheel lube that is almost half the viscosity of Krytox. Maybe it's good - I don't know yet but it's slick... By the way. Is there a way for me to get notified when a reply is posted here?

[Derby Worx Pro Team]

Feb 24, 2009 22:47:08 GMT -6 khouse said:

By the way. Is there a way for me to get notified when a reply is posted here?

Under Your profile (click button at the top, next to logout) there is a thing called "BOOKMARKS" that you have to modify to either send you an email or PM (private message) when you bookmark a particular thread. Within the thread that you want to view the responses or you create, there is a button at the top of the thread on the left hand side within the yellow background of the title of the thread in which to click to "BOOKMARK".

[khouse]

Thanks much!