Using RC Car Manuals

How to use the instruction manual for your RC car

As a rule of thumb, any RC car will always include an owner's manual. If a printed manual is not included, a manual will be available to view or download online, on the car manufacturers website. For the examples in this article we use Traxxas manuals, but the general layout will be the same for most manufacturers.

While we all want to take a closer look at the car or kit itself as soon as we get a new RC car, it is important to read the manual before use, as it can prevent expensive mistakes, and more importantly, show the safe way to use your new car.

If you bought a kit that needs to be assembled, the manual is of course where you will find the building instructions.

All manuals usually start with a a section about safety.

It is VERY important to read and understand this!

As a beginner in this great hobby, there are a lot of terms which might be new to you and difficult to understand. For this, the manual is also a great source of information. In the image above you can see names for most parts and components that make up the car in question. 

In a Traxxas manual there are also further pages with more RC car specific terminology, making it a great reference if you are confused about some terminology.

Is your car steering left when you turn right? This is simply solved by reversing the steering channel - shown in four simple steps on this page of the manual, together with more useful information about the radio system.

Is the throttle not working as it should? After checking for obvious physical problems like broken parts or loose cables, you should do a re-calibration of your ESC. Simple instructions for doing this yourself can also be found in the manual, together with many more useful tips.

The last pages of the Traxxas manual contains very useful information about running your car in various conditions, and some basic setup and gearing tips that will help you get the most from your Traxxas car.

Always keep the manual close when you are running your car, as many problems that occur can be solved by looking for help in the manual, which in turn means you will be back running your car asap!

If you break something, and need spare parts, then this guide is for you.