One easy way to reduce friction between the car body and the wheels is to give the car body a slick, glassy finish on that area. I do this by adding a couple of coats of clear nail polish around each axle hole and then polishing it with my polishing compound.
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Mike from Phoenix wrote in with an observation on how scales work, and how to use this to your advantage. I noticed at my son’s pinewood derby this morning that his car weighed in at 5.1 ounces (the scale they used read out to one decimal place). I was a bit surprised and did a little […]
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Comments
3 comments so far ↓
Hypertech Pine // Feb 12, 2009 at 9:45 am
Paint is generally much softer then say epoxy.
Also a little lemon pledge at the contact point also works wonders. Obviously conning and polishing the hubs will reduce total friction surface available. Canting the nails up when properly aligned will pretty much eliminate contact all together.
Reed C // Mar 29, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Canting the axles creates friction in the bore of the wheel and on the hub, unless you’re going for a rail rider don’t cant.
Rubbing graphite on the body where the wheels go gives shine and slickens!
Michael Blue // Jan 28, 2010 at 1:54 pm
You can buy graphite stickers and graphite spray paint, either placed at the hub location on the body will help a lot. Even without “rail riding”, minute camber/caster adjustments can ensure the wheels never touch the body…It just takes a lot of patience and testing to get it just right.
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