Most people should know this one, but, just in case :)
Steering too much - In RC cars, as in real life, steering more than the peak slip angle of the tyre will result in an increased turning circle. The tyres on a mini-z have quite a narrow peak slip angle, and steering past that angle will result in a wider corner, and more understeer.
The easy way to tell if you\'re steering too much is to listen for a skipping sound as you turn. That sound is the front outer tyre being pushed sideways, causing it to skip, thus losing grip. You can often see it vibrating up/down if youre on the outside of the corner.
Turning so you\'re on the edge of the skipping (ie, any more and it will skip) is using the maximum lateral grip of the tyre, and is the fastest way to corner. This will yield faster laptimes and allow you to push the car to its limits.
Also, it feels really great to see it being pushed to the edge of grip lap after lap *insert warm fuzzy feeling here*
your peak grip angle will increase as you wear in your tires.
Only slightly, if at all.
The skipping will reduce because the shoulders of the tyres will be rounder from wear, which wont increase the peak slip angle. You will also experience slightly softer steering response (turn in).
that\'s a good point.
but don\'t you think that skipping tires even after wear-in means that the front tires are not suitable for the surface you\'re running on? my worn-in tires settings give me no skipping at any turn angle and at any speed, thus more traction. if you choose some tires that dont\' skip at any angle, it\'ll make the car easier to drive but pushes more. but if it can push smoothly, then you know that you can apply drift techniques. if your tires skip at +angles, then it probably won\'t be able to handle a drift when you countersteer and such. so i guess what this really comes down to is the two driving techniques. drift and grip racing in which case your turn angle guideline is totally correct since your tires are meant to be very grippy and therefore would skip on excessive lateral grip :D
btw: what surface are you running on?
Concrete and carpet are the surfaces i drive on (also linoleum and polished wood for a bit of fun).
Skipping of the wheels is merely an indicator that youve exceeded the peak slip angle. If you have worn in your tyres (the shoulders will be rounded) the tyres wont bite in and skip, but you still will experience understeer past the limit. Often it\'s associated with a scrubbing sound, but on fresh mini-z tyres its more visible because of the small size of the car.