Mini-Z, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer, MR-03, MR-02, MA-010, Forums, News, Pictures, Parts, and Shop - Mini-ZRacer.com
Forums, Mini-Z, MiniZ, Kyosho Mini-Z, Kyosho MiniZ, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer
Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Mini-Z Parts, MiniZ Hop-Ups, MiniZ Parts, Kyosho Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Kyosho Mini-Z Parts, Kyosho MiniZ Hop-Ups, Kyosho MiniZ Parts, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer Hop-Ups, Racer Kyosho Mini-Z Parts
Old 2013.01.10, 09:35 AM   #1
RonJon Wheels
Registered User
 
RonJon Wheels's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 15
Straight line performance?

Hello everybody, I am new to the whole Mini Z craze, coming from Xmods, I am impressed at the quality, but not the drive.

I purchased an MR02EX MidMotor from Atomicmods.com (ironically, the day after I ordered, their phone lines don't work anymore). Its the Honda HSV GT car. For the love of me, I can't get it to drive straight, it just spins out.

I also have the MR01 Nissan Fairlady Z RTR AM. Besides the crappy interference and jitters, it drives straight and has amazing grip with narrow tires, maybe from the RearMotor position. So I swapped the rear of thr MR01 (RM) onto the 2.4GHz MR02 (MM). It drives amazing with the narrow tires out back, like an arrow, but when I swap the 11mm 20 degree it spins like crazy. It defies logic, wider 20 degree tire spins out more than the same degree narrow tires? Maybe its the flatness of the wide tire vs the mild rounded narrow tire?

So now I have an AWD 2.4GHz MA015 on its way. Once a few bodies I ordered arrive, I'll start to re-arrange the tires and wheels and get the right stance.

Being a new member, pm and search isn't working for me. So here are a few question I would like to ask:

1. What is the best tire combo / wheel combo to have straight line control without spinning out? I'm driving on pretty shiny floor that is 80' long by 20' wide. I dust it with a 60" dust mop before driving.

2. Where is the best place to order Team Atlas wheels?

3. can the Firelap 2.4GHz transmitter work with the Mini Z?

4. Lastly (for now) can i swap the front end of the MR015 (narrow stance) onto the MR02 which came with the wide stance suspension arms? ANy disadvantages to going narrow front wide rear on the MR02? Is it still an MR02 after the front clip swap?

I'll post pics pretty soon. Thanks in advance!

Rondy
RonJonWheels.com

Last edited by RonJon Wheels; 2013.01.10 at 09:44 AM.
RonJon Wheels is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2013.01.10, 09:43 AM   #2
Slubben
Practice Is For Wimps
 
Slubben's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Northern NJ
Posts: 1,643
It depends on the surface you are running on. But a good base line would be to start with front tires that are of a harder compound than the rear. For example Kyosho 30 degree tires in the front and 20 degree years in the rear. This will effectively make your car push which seems to be what you are looking to do. Also since your new car is 2.4GHZ it is more responsive to your commands then your old AM car so you'll just have to get used to that aspect of the new technology.
__________________
PBR Racing Team Driver #1

Don't Make Me Cut You!

I Was Born With The God Given Ability To Be Mediocre
______________________________________________

MAJ'S HOBBY SHOP
Mini-Z RACING EVERY Fri at 7 PM.
Slubben is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2013.01.10, 09:50 AM   #3
RonJon Wheels
Registered User
 
RonJon Wheels's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 15
idk, the AM seems completely useless to be driving straight, then all the sudden it pulls to the right too fast to correct. I'm gonna either upgrade to 2.4, use the parts elsewhere or sell it as a rtr on ebay.

Can the Auto Scale tires that come with the bodies be used for drifting on the MA015 or are they just for display?

Here's a shot, more artistic shots coming once I get the new bodies and wheels.


Last edited by RonJon Wheels; 2013.01.10 at 09:56 AM.
RonJon Wheels is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2013.01.10, 11:17 PM   #4
color01
Moderator
 
color01's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Los Angeles (Pasadena), CA, USA
Posts: 2,809
Quote:
Originally Posted by RonJon Wheels View Post
Hello everybody, I am new to the whole Mini Z craze, coming from Xmods, I am impressed at the quality, but not the drive.

I purchased an MR02EX MidMotor from Atomicmods.com (ironically, the day after I ordered, their phone lines don't work anymore). Its the Honda HSV GT car. For the love of me, I can't get it to drive straight, it just spins out.

I also have the MR01 Nissan Fairlady Z RTR AM. Besides the crappy interference and jitters, it drives straight and has amazing grip with narrow tires, maybe from the RearMotor position. So I swapped the rear of thr MR01 (RM) onto the 2.4GHz MR02 (MM). It drives amazing with the narrow tires out back, like an arrow, but when I swap the 11mm 20 degree it spins like crazy. It defies logic, wider 20 degree tire spins out more than the same degree narrow tires? Maybe its the flatness of the wide tire vs the mild rounded narrow tire?

So now I have an AWD 2.4GHz MA015 on its way. Once a few bodies I ordered arrive, I'll start to re-arrange the tires and wheels and get the right stance.

Being a new member, pm and search isn't working for me. So here are a few question I would like to ask:

1. What is the best tire combo / wheel combo to have straight line control without spinning out? I'm driving on pretty shiny floor that is 80' long by 20' wide. I dust it with a 60" dust mop before driving.

2. Where is the best place to order Team Atlas wheels?

3. can the Firelap 2.4GHz transmitter work with the Mini Z?

4. Lastly (for now) can i swap the front end of the MR015 (narrow stance) onto the MR02 which came with the wide stance suspension arms? ANy disadvantages to going narrow front wide rear on the MR02? Is it still an MR02 after the front clip swap?

I'll post pics pretty soon. Thanks in advance!

Rondy
RonJonWheels.com
Welcome to the forums Rondy, I've seen your stuff on various Honda forums and it's a real pleasure to have you here.

For RWD Mini-Z's, on slick floors, the tire combo to have is soft foam tires in the back (GQ, GRP are good brands), add traction compound (WD40 works), and then put something hard and rubber in the front (Kyosho's Autoscale tires work -- slick, 50deg, narrow).

Unfortunately I think it's against forum rules to link to other retailers here, but you will be looking at ordering from eBay or from online Japanese retailers for Team Atlas wheels. Alternatively, you can contact mini-z (Mr. Administrator) here and ask him to put in a special order for you, but that's not always possible given that we don't have direct support from Team Atlas. (As an aside, mini-z can order you a lot of stuff from brands that do support, such as Atomic, PN Racing, Reflex Racing, etc.)

As far as I am told, the Firelap 2.4GHz system does not use the same signal system as genuine Mini-Z 2.4GHz ASF. Personally I also think that the steering precision/repeatability is worse on the Firelap board, and I race my Mini-Z's so the Firelap behavior is annoying.

All RWD Mini-Z rear ends (MR01, MR02, MR015, MR03) are technically "narrow" with exception of the LM-chassis cars (MR02LM, etc.) and the front end is wide on the MR02 (all variants) and the MR03W only. The tub chassis is too integrated for you to directly swap the 015 front end to the 02, however PN and Atomic produce a narrow tower bar kit for the MR02 that allows you to have the narrow, MR015-width front end.

For slick floors I would recommend you keep the car as wide and long as possible actually, giving you more time to make corrections if need be. Heavier also works, that's the reason RM feels better initially on slick floors (more weight on the rear). Also the reason why narrow rubber tires worked better than wide rubber, the Mini-Z doesn't have enough weight to heat up the tires so you need to put some pressure into the contact patch to make it work. Wide tire, light car = not enough load to heat up the tire = no grip.

The most stable car/body combo I've driven on slick floors is the 94RM Ferrari 575GTC, which is (IIRC) +3mm offset in front (narrow tire, wide MR02 track width) and +3.5mm offset in back (wide tire, standard MR01/02/03 track width), and of course rear motor. The body was heavy too so there was a ton of weight on the rear wheels, thus plenty of time to catch minor slides (being RM, major slides would continue into a spin -- no drifting for the 575).


Hope I didn't use too much jargon, best of luck tuning your car to work at home and let us know if you need any clarifications.
__________________
Brian Ma

Greyscale RC

PN Racing | My TinyRC Blog
color01 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2013.01.11, 09:59 AM   #5
RonJon Wheels
Registered User
 
RonJon Wheels's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 15
Wow, thank you very much for the advice.

I'm learning that logic doesn't apply with mini z's. I'll take your advice and put the car together step by step, with little bit of trial an error along the way. I got a killer deal on 10 pairs of tires in 20 degree, narrow and wide with a tread pattern. So I guess the foam tires would be next. I also have 3 bodies on their way over now, the Testerossa, the Enzo and the 599xx. Mybe a few coins on the rear would help too.

Now I'm waiting for the MA015 2.4 to arrive. Then the motor is going to be upgraded next!
RonJon Wheels is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2013.01.12, 12:53 AM   #6
color01
Moderator
 
color01's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Los Angeles (Pasadena), CA, USA
Posts: 2,809
1:1 car logic doesn't apply, that is true. The cars scale down counter-intuitively, but treat Mini-Z like a RWD classic Mini and it'll make more sense lol. Pick tires that heat up fast, resist dust, and don't go too wide for the weight of the car, and the car will generally work.
__________________
Brian Ma

Greyscale RC

PN Racing | My TinyRC Blog
color01 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2013.01.12, 12:08 PM   #7
RonJon Wheels
Registered User
 
RonJon Wheels's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by color01 View Post
1:1 car logic doesn't apply, that is true. The cars scale down counter-intuitively, but treat Mini-Z like a RWD classic Mini and it'll make more sense lol. Pick tires that heat up fast, resist dust, and don't go too wide for the weight of the car, and the car will generally work.
Yeah, that seems to be my huge problem. I ordered wide treaded 20 degree tires and narrow treaded 20 degree tires. If I have to, I can swap the fronts with the Auto Scale slicks to degrease traction up front. I just hope the rear tires I got will work. Because these wide rear slick tires (20 or 30 degree) I got with my MR02EX ready set will not grip for the love of me. Here's a shot of what I got:






Here's where i'm driving:


and my cars with swapped rears:






RonJon Wheels is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2013.01.18, 06:09 AM   #8
targetingxmod
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Portugal
Posts: 212
you seen like me... coming out from modified xmods to miniz's...

my first miniz that i bought in 2011 was a mr01!

it was a PITA to runstraight. but now on the end it's better or equal to a mr03!

look at my thread about it.

first thing you should know.... xmods you can put 4x4 on them... in mr01,mr015,mr02,mr03 they are 2wd, and they are made for track's, either in RCP or carpet. In 2wd you need 10º or less in your rear tires. That's what i use even on my carpet track. That way i got always grip and 2wd miniz show there race pedigree. Awesome.

If i put any of those mr's in my tile floor what they do is chassing their tails, even with 10º tires on rear!

You need a track for miniz's!

I made an 10metersx4meters from industrial carpet in my garage, and never looked back to tile/wood/concrete floor for my miniz/Zmods!

Only the miniz awd are less forgiving for tile floor or wood... but even better on track!

hope that helps... that's what hapeen to me!
targetingxmod is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
does your awd track/run straight? herman Mini-Z AWD MA-010, MA-015 7 2010.04.13 03:46 AM
The Racing Line marc Tracks and GTGs 14 2008.09.30 07:19 PM
Straight Line fiupntballr Setups 23 2004.05.01 09:17 PM
Straight line Steering Problems rmelancon Beginner Questions 30 2002.09.10 04:15 PM
My Z can't run in straight line InitialDeez Setups 28 2002.04.19 10:00 PM


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:56 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2011 Mini-ZRacer.com
Mini Inferno Sale - Up to $85 Instant Savings!
Micro-T Hop-Ups
RC18R, M18, Micro RS4, Mini-LST, TamTech-Gear, Minizilla, RC18T, RC18B, RC18MT
shop.tinyrc.com Products

more»
Tiny RC Community News
[03/22/17] MZR was on vacation, didn't... : All kidding aside, the host experienced a bit of a server meltdown last week and efforts to restore the site to a new server took longer than anticipated. The current server is temporary until - more»
[11/25/15] Did You Hear? Our Black... : Hey Racers,
We're getting started a bit early with our Black Friday sale this year.  Generally we're not supporters of retailers opening early on Thanksgiving, but in our case, we're - more»
[06/30/15] shop.tinyrc.com: Have You... : Hey All! Just a quick reminder to everyone that we post all of our shop.tinyrc.com Newletters here on the MZR Forum. If for some reason you miss them in your email inbox, you can always see the - more»
Mini-Z, Mini-Z Racer, MR-02, MA-010
M18, M18T, RC18T, Mini-LST, Mini-T, Micro RS4, XRay, 1/18, 18th scale
XMODS, XMOD, Micro Flight, ZipZaps, ZipZaps SE, Bit Char-G, MicroSizers, TTTT, Plantraco Desktop Rover, SuperSlicks, Digi Q
Mini Inferno, Mini Inferno ST, half EIGHT, 1/16, 16th scale
Epoch, Indoor Racer, 1/43, 43rd scale
E-Savage, eSavage, eZilla, e-Zilla, HPI
Robots, Bots, Bipeds, Wheeled, Manoi, Roomba, NXT, Lego, Hacking
Crawling, Crawlers, Micro, RC, Losi Mini-Rock Crawler, Duratrax Cliff Climber
Kyosho Minium, Caliber 120, Minium Forums
Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Mini-Z Parts, Mini Inferno Hop-Ups, Mini Inferno Parts, M18 Hop-Ups, M18 Parts