Here’s How To Increase The Steering Radius Of Your RC Car

Want to take tighter turns with your RC? Then you need to increase the turning radius of your RC car. 

To increase the radius of your RC car first, you need to ensure that all the steering-related RC accessories are working correctly. And then, you can apply the tweaks like adjusting the endpoints and dual rates, switching to a longer servo horn, and upgrading to a higher torque servo.

Read on to learn in detail how you can increase the radius of your RC car and other related information.

How To Improve Steering Radius  For An RC Car
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Initial Checks To Be Done Before Increasing The Radius Of An RC Car

Before starting any fixes, it is essential first to ensure that the transmitter (controller) is steering the car appropriately. If it does, good! But if not, you could be having some different issues related to the steering on your RC. 

An initial inspection is to be done to ensure all the basic things are set up. Only then would it be more worthwhile to apply any tweaks.

#1. Checking The Basic Steering Function

  • First, turn on your RC and the transmitter.
  • Take the body off your RC car so you can better inspect if there are any issues.
  • Use the controller to try to rotate the RC car left and right. Check if the wheels are steering properly from left to right.
  • If your car isn’t steering correctly, you can do the needed settings and complete the setup. You can also visit my guide on what to do when your RC car doesn’t turn.

#2. Checking If The Steering Trims Are Properly Setup

  • Next, check if the steering trims are all set up.
  • Setting the steering trims is one thing that can often be overlooked, even if you are the most experienced RC driver. Steering trim allows the radio to make sure the car is tracking straight, and it is essential on straights and in speed runs. 
  • In almost all radios these days, you’ll find some kind of knob or switch to adjust the way your RC vehicle is supposed to track. 
  • A simple knob or switch adjustment can ensure a better driving experience. 

#3. Checking If The Servo Arm Is Properly Setup

  • In case you didn’t know, servos are small motors primarily used for steering and operating the throttle on RC devices. On your RC car, you will find at least two servos, of which one will be for steering, and the other one will be for the throttle.
  • It is important to check if the servo and its mechanical parts are working properly to ensure better turning.
  • Check your steering servo. Take the servo arm off and ensure it remains perpendicular to the servo.
  • Generally, you should find servo arms to be perpendicular to the servo in most cases. 
  • However, there are a few in which the servo arm is supposed to be offset. So for this step, follow the guidelines in your manual and check the position of these parts accordingly.

In case your servo horn is not perpendicular to the servo, here’s what you can do: You can pull out the servo horn and turn it a bit to see if it comes into the center.

However, if it doesn’t become perpendicular, you can use your radio to make the necessary adjustments. I highly recommend you to watch this video to help you with the process:

#4. Checking If The Servo Horn And Servo Arm Are Parallel

It is important to ensure the servo horn and the servo arm are parallel. This allows the servo to give the steering arm an even throw in both directions.

Please check out my article if you find that your RC car steers but won’t move?

#5. Checking If The Cranks Are Centered

It is also essential to ensure that the cranks are centered. Once you check everything and all the RC parts work normally, we can move on to the fixes. 

Here’s How To Increase The Radius Of Your RC Car:

#1. Endpoints And Dual Rate Adjustments

To set the dual-rate adjustments, you can start with setting it at a hundred (on your controller). This ensures you can get the full hundred per cent left movement and hundred per cent right movement in your RC car.

Once you set the dual rate, you can move on to setting the end point adjustments. And depending on the radio you have, you can set the endpoints accordingly.

#2. Switching To A Longer Servo Horn

If you have gone through all the steps and still have not received the desired radius in your RC car, you can consider changing to a different servo horn.

If you switch over to a long servo horn, you may get the extra steering you want.

These from DILWE are ideal (Amazon link), they are super strong and have various attachment points to help achieve the desired servo throw.

Make sure it is compatible with your servo before purchasing.

On the other hand, you can see a selection to suit your needs here, on Amazon

#3. Switching To A Higher-Torque Servo

Another factor why you aren’t getting the desired steering is that your servo may not be powerful enough. Usually, the entry-level servos don’t have a lot of torque. 

So, in this case, upgrading to a higher-torque servo will help you achieve the required steering speed and torque.

How Much Steering Angle Is Needed For RC RWD Drifting?

In general, you would need at least 80 degrees of steering angle and a gyro for an RC RWD Drift. The term RWD stands for Rear-Wheel Drive, and it is one of the setups drivers use for running RC drift.

50/50, CS, and RWD are the terms that people use to describe the different setups for the RC drifting they do. 

In a 50/50 setup, the front and the rear wheels spin at the same speed. It is the most basic form used in RC drifting. 

Check out my article: What turn motor is best for RC drifting?

However, in the CS setup, the driver needs to have the rear spin faster than the front.

On the other hand, in the RWD setup, instead of depending on the front wheel, the driver is supposed to rely on the rear wheels for powering the car. 

Check out this post: 9 Ways To Make Your RC Car Drift Better

Generally speaking, whether you are skilled in RC, or at a basic level, then in most cases, you can move to the CS or the RWD setup without having any real difficulty. 

Final Thoughts

In short, it is important to first perform the initial checks like inspecting the basic steering function, steering trim setup, servo arm, servo horn, and cranks setup. 

Once the initial and overall checks are performed, you can one by one apply the tweaks I shared with you in the post. I hope, after applying them, you can see some improvement in the steering and radius of your RC car.

Interested in reading more of my RC car guides like this? Check out these ones:

Paul Good

This awesome hobby has something for everyone, whether you like to build your RC from scratch and keep modifying till you've got it to just how you want it, to track racing. You might be out with a boat, or perfecting your skills with a plane. Are you taking some cool pics with your drone? I'm sure my site will help you on your journey.

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