Ride Height

What is Ride Height?

Ride Height is the distance measured from the bottom of the chassis to the ground. This adjustment should always be made with the car in race ready condition, meaning all electrics installed, including the motor and battery. Basically, Ride Height changes the speed of how the car reacts while changing directions. It will be really noticeable in chicanes, or S-turns, where changing directions is crucial.

For high bite tracks, use a lower Ride Height. For low traction surfaces, raise the car up slightly. This will cause the car to roll more, allowing for more traction. Raising the car up will also help in bumpy situations.

How do you change Ride Height?

Ride Height is easily changed on all cars. Some cars have pre-load clips, others threaded shocks. To change the Ride Height, first place the vehicle on a flat surface. Make sure you have some sort of gauge to keep accurate measurements (simply making the shock collars or pre-load clips even on each side of the car will not work). Team Associated sells a cool Ride Height gauge for a couple bucks, and can be invaluable in this situation. Slide the gauge under the car until one of the steps comes in contact with the bottom of the chassis. This is the Ride Height of this part of the car. Add/remove pre-load clips, or adjust the shock collars, until the desired Ride Height is achieved.

Contrary to what you might have heard, Ride Height DOES NOT affect spring stiffness. Simply adding more pre-load does not make a spring stiffer, it basically takes away spring 'throw'. Your car might bounce more but it's not because the spring is stiffer, it's because the spring, well, can't spring!!!

Another useful tip. This works well on the TC3, but I'm sure it will work the same on other cars as well. Flip your car over. You will see scratch marks on the edges of the chassis. You might even notice more scratches on one side than the other. DO NOT TAKE RIDE HEIGHT MEASUREMENTS HERE!!! You will get an inaccurate reading. Instead, slide the gauge under the chassis where the Droop screws are located (on a TC3). This part of the car rarely comes in contact with the track, and will always be flat and un-scathed.