XRAY - Model racing cars

Instead of cutting your tire foams try these.

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_inf ... s_id/11324

Been useing them in my Kyosho buggy for a while now. They help and one side has a little adhesive to help keep them in place.

So you replace the foams not the bladders?

FYI to all those reading this:

Just cut some tire foams as suggested and can tell you 100% with out a doubt there is a significant difference in how they feel. It got rid of that dead spot I was feeling. This dead spot was slightly felt on a newly rebuilt shock and once I ran the them for a day it was much more noticable. Now all the shocks are silky smooth and rebound much smoother. The over all feel of the shock is much different and you can tell this by cycling one shock that you have done this with and one that isnt.

Any how a tip for you guys is to use the lexan curved scissors to cut the foam. What I did is started with a piece of foam nearly identical to a sugar cube then turned the curved part of the scissors downward and worked on the corners of the foam to bring it to a dome shape that fit almost perfect into the baldders.

I then pressed them into the bladder and pushed the 2 into the shock cap. I took a Q-tip end that I pulled most the cotton off of and used that to press the bladder sides down into the cap.

Great tip we learned here and I suggest it now that I have tried it. My shocks feel much different then before.

As for the bladders, I think Rocco is on to something since I could tell a big difference in both size and elasticity of a new set vs a 2 gallon old set. The old ones were swollen bigger and their feel was much more stretched then the new ones which were smaller and tighter.

I doubt I will change them every race but atleast every gallon from here out. I am not sure about the foams because I figured they would be fine but Richmond is saying to change them which makes me think they will wear out. No big deal if you cut your own and it was easy to do, once you get 1 they all get easier to make.

The foams will take the brunt of the shocks and will eventally lose its resilience. I change the foams after the race-weekend is over just to be sure that the shocks performance is always on point.

Your welcome whitey, now go and pay it forward to the next Xray driver in your track

Thanks a bunch Richmond.

Guys at my track dont listen to an Xray driver, lol. Their stupid Losi and Kyosho cars dont coem close to out XB8EC.

I really think that this mod made our EC shocks perfect but an Xray release of some big bores would be nice. Rocco said that the test set Wheeler has are same size as Losi shocks, so they are bigger.

I didn't say to share it to other brand racers...just the Xray guys!

True!

One thing I thought to mention is that with the foam the rebound on the shock is stronger so that should be nice in helping the shock rebound faster but not having to use thinner oil. You can bleed them in such a way that they rebound at almost 1/2" so that should help balance the spring and oil nicely.

Front 2 bleed evenly on the first shot but the back 2 gave me a bit or trouble and took a few times each to get them nearly perfect to each other.

Richmond one more question:

So you dont replace the bladders all the time and just the foams?

I only change them when I can see a drastic change in motion. It's not that hard to spot. The foams really help on the truggy when you use the light blue springs. It's like night and day.

On the EC, when using the mugen greys, it becomes more responsive but still easier to drive.