Shimming off-road buggies
 

On my on-road cars I have long been in the habit of shimming the parts to minimise the slop. To me it seems to make the cars feel a bit sharper on the track.

Is there any reason why I shouldn't do this on an off-road car?

Does free play help to make the car a bit more forgiving over the various bumps and ruts? Or is it better to shim it out anyway?

Good question - I normally shim on all cars, but don't shim 'perfectly' on off-road buggies - leave a little slop.

M.

Approximatley shim! ;)

Is it neccessary though?

I actually shim it up too, but just because I don't like the sound of a rattling car in my hands, but I know very good drivers who's cars are battered and sloppy as hell, and they get round ok.

Is it necessary is a hard question most will generally find a happy medium somewhere between no slop and too much.

if the car has too much slop it will be random or vague especially in corners and jumps. Too tight and it is nervous and twitchy

i generally find a car is nicer to drive from the 2nd meeting after a rebuild once all the ball-cups etc have bedded in nicely

I would say that a well broken in car has an easier to drive feel. Fresh out of the box a kit seems to be a little difficult to handle (twitchy), and when the car is nearing a rebuild its just rubbish (sluggish).

I would agree with that, generally I dont rebuild before big meetings but rather for the meeting before that so the car gets run a little before the meeting. In saying that the meetings over here arnt particularily big :p