Shock Tuning Tutorial! (RC Basics #8) - How to tune your RC shocks, springs, oils, pistons

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In this video we go through the different components of an RC shock, explain what they do, and how to tune your shocks for the best performance! Shock oils, shock springs, shock pistons explained!
#RCBasics #Shocktuning

[@ck2503]

Quick, concise, well spoken - Not much else I could ask for when coming into this as noob.

[@kingmal5284]

Extremely comprehensive walk through. I definitely have a deeper understanding on shocks, how they work, and ways to tune them. Excellent video.

[@sauliluolajan-mikkola620]

A single X-ring is quite a bit better than two O-rings. O-rings make sort of a funnel towards the contact point with the shock shaft, and they must have a tighter fit to ensure a good seal. This causes the initial movement to have more friction because there’s static friction and a tight fit at the same time. Stacking two of them doesn’t change this fundamental principle. An X-ring is more like two lip seals facing away from each other. The movement of the shock shaft causes the lip to slightly deform and press against the contact area. Much like a sprag clutch, but elastic. The movement starts and static friction is overcome before the seal has tightened up. So the seal is better and the starts of movements are smoother.

[@appgamer3106]

Very informative and to the point. Easy to understand and well explained. Great job, thank you.

[@pjbennett8931]

Your tutorial videos are super helpful Thankyou mate

[@SnoriRC]

Great vid razor. Did your MT8 piston mod and made huge difference. 👍🏼

[@bigtrev71]

Thanks for the info. Actually working on some shocks now for my Rally. Appreciate it.

[@dyland3968]

Great video with lots of info! Thx

[@Oscarin1467]

Really good info thanks.

[@daig1984]

Great explanation, thank you 😅

[@glacialphoenix5921]

loved the shock video

[@arq.andresfelipemoralesvar9593]

Great video! I’m a beginner on RC world and I find your tutorials so so useful. Thanks for having the time to share your knowledge. If you were so kind to answer my question I’d be very grateful. For my hyper go 1/16 shocks how often should I replace the shock oils and what type of oil should I use? (I run my car 5 times a week on off-road mostly. Thanks again and best regards.

[@GreatLakesRC]

Very informative 👍 I always learn something from these type of videos!

[@RazorRC]

Glad to hear it! I’m trying to do more of these types of videos.

[@BenFreedmanRacing]

From my automotive perspective this explanation is solid

[@ToolsAreToys]

great vid, thanks. I want to know, generally speaking, when do you want slow shocks, when do you want fast ones?

[@AsurasWrath164]

You probably should have used the opportunity to clear up some myths. I dont know how many ppl( youtubers even running a channel several years) still think that you can change the stiffness of the spring by compressing it with clips or threaded retainers, when in reality you only affect ride height. Only difference being progressive springs. I even get into arguments and ppl tell me im wrong and im only left shaking my head.

[@sauliluolajan-mikkola620]

True point. As long as the suspension setup has any sag, the weight of the vehicle determines how far it will compress the springs. The tension of the springs when the vehicle is at rest remains the same regardless of the preload setting. If you have a soft suspension and add spacers or turn the adjustment nuts down, you have the exact same softness but more ride height. Due to the changes in suspension geometry, a taller ride height could actually soften the suspension because the A arm and shock axis are further from 90 degrees in relation to each other.

[@islandrc-duke1972]

great tutorial

[@gamercat7004]

I'm always struggling with shocks. I've been in the hobby for 2 years I always get the springy bounce on my RCs and the thing I get frustrated on.

[@billplaisance6387]

Thanks for your quick rundown but, I’m still confused on when you would want lighter or thicker shock fluid to how soft or how hard of your springs. I have a Traxxas Maxx and due to not jumping it real high, I tend to keep it on the ground so what’s the best way to keep the shocks soft enough so that they absorb and flow over the bumps but not bottom out or drag the chassis from hard accelerations, braking or small jumps? For the longest time I had the V2 stock springs but with stock shock fluid, it drug the ground and bottomed out a lot but, it also handled good on rough terrain. Increasing the shock fluid weight to 70 rear, 50 front, it didn’t bottom out/chassis slap from fairly short jumps but the suspension wasn’t able to flow with the rough terrain and was too bouncy. I’m kind of thinking I need far more stiffer springs but maybe a 50W shock fluid all the way around. Is this what I want for better handling and traction without so much spring preload to maintain proper ride height with less bottoming out and undercarriage dragging?

[@extec101]

you need the shock pistons with the smaller holes and go back to 35w or 400cst oil in that way the shocks can be soft over small bumps but gets quit stiff when landing from bigger jumps. traxxas use faily thin oil and big holes in the pistons that makes the cars plush and following rough terrain but is "horrible" on jumps.

[@johansonsfamilie7316]

So if you want better absorpsion on a big jump you have to do heavier shock oil in your shoocks?

[@extec101]

no not every time its the way to go to thicker oil but sometimes thin oil and also take a look on the hole size in the pistons is the way to go, for example on small bumps it might be better to use smaller holes and thin oil and that also makes the car better on landing after bigger jumps. but its a degree also when the holes gets to small and the car starts to behave bad, as well it is with to big holes that dont give damping on low pistonspeeds of the shocks the car is going to bounce up and down like its no oil in the shocks eaven if real thick oils is used and the shocks work sort of good on the fast part of the track where bumps is hit by the car at high speeds but on landing from big jumps the chock piston just blow thru the oil and dont give much of a damping. in that case big holes and thick oil gives two problems at low speeds and landing after jumps. in an example with smaller holes it does give some "pack" in the shocks relatively early over small bumps and bigger jumps in that way that the car dont ocilating/porposing up and down as with to big holes. small holes can be good for better landings of jumps compared to bigger holes that can be to big and dont give friction in the oil and the car is bouncing up and down porposing in light bumps at slow speed and dont absorb the big landings after a jump.

[@alennovak8446]

Mine shock are different, i have spring inside my shock, do i need oil than? So i have one spring outside and one inside the shock

[@JustRCCrazy]

No offense here, brother, and I'm sure it's been said before. I hope you got on a pill to clear up your thumbnails since you made this video back in June. Great videos, by the way.

[@willyjameson]

Silicone oil usually has a higher rate than weight. Is that the number for diff weight ?

[@RazorRC]

Silicone oil has a wt and cst number. Wt is a fake number that doesn’t actually mean anything, cst is a real unit of viscosity. Diff oil is always in cst.

[@Eduardo_Espinoza]

can you tune rebound and bump separately?

[@RazorRC]

not normally, you would need aftermarket pistons

[@stevenzacharakis]

Hi there thanks for the explanation. Say a piston has 8x 1mm holes And a piston with 4x 2mm holes. Wouldnt this he the same level of compression?

[@RazorRC]

No, first off you have to calculate the area of the circles. 8x1 would be 8 pi, the other 16 pi. And like I said, oil flows differently at high speed than at low speed through different size holes, even if the area is the same.

[@kbearpro]

Would have been nice to know when replacing the shock oil how much oil to put in the shock.

[@kaizersozzay9259]

Ummm fill it up

[@wiwmusic1]

What about speed and acceleration ? How does higher speed affect oil and springs? Thank you..

[@RazorRC]

Higher speeds usually need thicker oil and stiffer springs.

[@BASSstarlet]

First :P

[@AsurasWrath164]

🤦

[@user-cx1dt1er4e]

Obviously, this guy doesn’t want to use that medicine to fix his nails. I have problems like that too but I start using the 3-D medicine that the nail doctor gave me and it cleared it up. They all went away. Looks great. Advise this young man to do the same before that fungus grows underneath the skin and into the bottom of the bone and the tip of your finger then you’re out of luck shit out luck