Balance your wheels!

[Grimmson]

Im surprised at how little this is talking about in the rc community. Almost every tire/rim combo ive ordered has been way out of balance. I've seen a few threads on it but people don't seem to understand how important and easy it is to balance your wheels.
If you dont balance your wheels you will have a serious imbalance in your drivetrain that will shake everything in the drivetrain and destroy it in no time.
The solution is simple. If you have a good set of barrings and a 2wd car just put a tire on the front Axl and give it a little spin. The heavy side of the wheel will rest at the bottom. I used a hot glue gun and inject a little glue on the opposite end through the spokes. Give it a spin and test it again. Do this till the wheel is balanced. It might seem like an excessive procedure but its actually essential. Imbalanced wheels will destroy your drivetrain very quickly

 

[KyleRC]

I did this with my stock slash 2wd when I raced before the local track closed. Even though it added weight I shaved off at least 3/4 of a second which is huge. Unbalanced tires are just another inconsistency that makes anything harder and less reliable to drive. Traxxas tires are horrible but work great when balanced.

 

[Grimmson]

that's awesome! The few threads I've read are from racers who swear by it. But it goes way beyond shaving time off your laps. I held my car up with my hand before I balanced the wheels and gave it maybe 50% throttle before the vibration from the imbalanced wheels felt like it would do serious damage to the car. I really think they should put a warning on the packaging to let people know that its a vital procedure. The manufacturer can't really do this from the factory because it would cost too much and the foam insert will always mess up the balance. But people should know that they need to balance tires if they don't want to destroy there car.