Improve traction on ABS tire
 

Hi,
I am newbie to drifting. I am more familiar with monster truck (LST and Hellfire) and got myself a pair of RS4 last fall. Just finished rebuilding an old electric last week-end and wants to start drifting more seriously now that winter is almost over.

My friend and I just buid some ABS tire out of regular 2" ABS pipe. Real easy with a radial saw, dremel and belt sander... 1 hour work for 24 tires.:)

Anyway, we tried them out last night on the street with my electric Kyosho FT-2 (13t). The ABS tires lacked traction badly. Sure it is easy to drift but acceleration is very slow because of the low traction. We tried putting some electric tape around the tires but it only worked for a minute until the tape got all dusty.

I need a little help there getting better traction out of the car. I am sure there are solutions out there to improve traction a little. Where shold I start?
Change the springs to softer ones (or is it stiffer spring)?
Increase the ride hight with spacers?
Change camber (???)
How do I improve the tracion on ABS tire?
Any other set-up other than lock the differential?

I don't want to lock the differentials as we are also using these cars with regular tires (not drifting) and don't want to change the differential all the time.

I tried last fall a set of HPI superdrift type A tires on my RS4 18ss. They woked good but worn out pretty fast. This is why I went to ABS.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

RE: Improve traction on ABS tire
 

I found that when i set the camber to 0 so the tires were flat with the ground they had more traction. Just make it so the whole tire is touching the ground. ABS really doesn't have that much traction anyway, one of the reasons i don't like the ones i have now. It is pretty hard to correct yourself.

RE: Improve traction on ABS tire
 

ABS is very slippery thats the whole idea. makes it more scale
only solution is go buy rubber drift tires that will wear out quicker

RE: Improve traction on ABS tire
 

after your ABS gets worn and used a bit, it'll be grippier. and zero camber helps too

RE: Improve traction on ABS tire
 

wow!!!!

wrap some electrical tape around the ABS. That'll add some traction. And there's about 15 different tire choices BEFORE rubber. Yokomo, HPI, and I think Shimitzu all make hard plastic compound tires. they're a bit more expensive than abs, but they offer more traction. For SOME reason, I highly doubt your camber is that adverse. Maybe it's just me.

Also I'm sure you'll never hear this around HERE, but if you run rubber tires, you need to run 19t or higher motor... preferably brushless.
gl with all that.

RE: Improve traction on ABS tire
 

Thanks for the replies.
I made the rear suspention softer. The camber was already at 0. It helps a little, unless it is the tires getting worn or the experience getting in.

I will try tonight to add a few groves to the ABS tires to see if that helps also. I plan on making them in an X patern using a dremel tool.

RE: Improve traction on ABS tire
 

if u want slippery try pvc pip then u will realy appreacitate abs lol