To paint or not to paint?

[Welsh Racing]

Let me know if this has been covered, but i would like to know everyone's opinion about whether or not to paint the small area on the body where the wheel hubs would rub the car or to leave it bare and sanded really smooth. Of my 4 fastest cars, only 1 will slide all the way to the end of the stop section on my Bestrack and hit whatever i put there. That same car is the only 1 that is painted on the bottom (except for the small area where the WIRL logo is) and it is also the slowest of the 4. This tells me that the paint is much smoother on the rubber strips so it got me thinking about the wheel hubs. Thanks for the input.

[Da Pine Racing]

It doesn't hurt to paint the body where the wheel hubs may contact it but ideally, the better set up is for the wheels to track ever so slightly on the outside of the axle against the nail head.

[Welsh Racing]

Da Pine, Do you achieve this by canting the axles?

[sporty]

Now I think there is not a issue of applying paint on the area where the wheels may come in contact with the side.

Most do not allow long enough cure time of the paint before the race.


See most can spray paint, unless it has a hardening agent in it, it can take as long as 6 to 8 weeks for the paint to cure and become hard !!


Automotive paint from a professional auto body shop, most add hardening agents into the paint, to cure and set up faster, aside from baking it also for several hours.


Now I have tried baking the paint (canned paint) I ended up with a soft gooey mess ! So I just paint 6 to 8 weeks before the car is going to be used and let it set !


some use epoxy and laquer / shlack, I feel no coverage is not ideal, pinewood is soft and if the paint of what ever is being used is hard and had time to cure then thats the better way to go.

Sporty

[DerbyDoc.com]

sporty said:

Now I think there is not a issue of applying paint on the area where the wheels may come in contact with the side.

Most do not allow long enough cure time of the paint before the race.


See most can spray paint, unless it has a hardening agent in it, it can take as long as 6 to 8 weeks for the paint to cure and become hard !!


Automotive paint from a professional auto body shop, most add hardening agents into the paint, to cure and set up faster, aside from baking it also for several hours.


Now I have tried baking the paint (canned paint) I ended up with a soft gooey mess ! So I just paint 6 to 8 weeks before the car is going to be used and let it set !


some use epoxy and laquer / shlack, I feel no coverage is not ideal, pinewood is soft and if the paint of what ever is being used is hard and had time to cure then thats the better way to go.

Sporty

Try some clear nail polish. Insert some old axles into the slots and use the nail polish for that area of the car. Once it dries, its hard, and you can rub and polish graphite into it for a super slick area where the hub contacts the body.

[Da Pine Racing]

slowjoe said:

Da Pine, Do you achieve this by canting the axles?

Hey Welsh, I have messed around only a little with canting and found that the same holds true for both a level and/or canted set of rear axles that an ever so slight toe out is needed, just outside of perfect, to get the wheels to track to the axle head.

I read somewhere in a thread, a 2' to 3' roll for the wheels to move from against the body to the nail head is ideal.

If rail riding, the front/down wheel will try to push to the head from the pressure. A lot of variables there too.

Painting the side contact area is a good thing, it can't hurt and rubbing graphite even better unless your running oil, the 2 don't mix to well from what I've heard