On RC model car tires, a critical value is the off-set. By adjusting it, you can change the vehicle’s driving behavior, making it more stable and agile.
What is wheel off-set?
Off-set is the distance from the hub mounting surface to the centerline of the wheel. Different wheel off-set have a significant impact on vehicle control.
Players typically buy tires with specific off-set based on their model car’s needs to enhance performance.
Differentiating and Impact of wheel off-set?
The off-set is divided into three types: zero, positive, and negative.
A zero off-set wheel means the hub mounting surface coincides with the centerline of the wheel.
This doesn’t imply it’s the most original value because many RC model cars come from the factory with wheels that are not zero off-set.
They often have positive off-set wheels. Therefore, you can still use a tire designed for a zero off-set wheel to adjust the handling of your car.
Negative off-set
Negative off-set refers to the hub mounting surface moving away from the wheel’s centerline,
closer to the car’s side rather than the outer side. It widens the vehicle’s track width.
for example,a wheel with a -5 off-set will increase one side’s width by 5mm, and both sides together will increase by a total of 10mm.
The larger this value, the wider the track width, lowering the vehicle’s center of gravity, significantly improving stability, but increasing the turning radius.
Positive off-set
Positive off-set,on the other hand, is the opposite of negative off-set.
For a wheel with a +5 off-set, its hub mounting surface is closer to the outer side of the tire concerning the wheel’s centerline. Installing wheels with positive off-set narrows the vehicle’s track width.
This provides higher agility during turns, achieving a smaller turning radius. However, due to the higher center of gravity, the risk of tipping increases.
How to measure?
First, you need to prepare a caliper. If you don’t have one, it’s okay; below, I’ll continue introducing a method using a regular ruler.
Taking this buggy tire as an example, we first measure the wheel’s width.
You can see that the width here is 29mm. Dividing it by 2 gives the median width of the wheel. 29➗2=14.5
Next, we measure the depth of the hub mounting surface
Which is 24mm. Here, the thickness of the ruler we’re using as a spacer is 1mm,so we use 24-1=23mm.
Then, we subtract the median width from the depth of the hub mounting surface.
23-14.5=8.5mm.
The off-set of this buggy tire is positive 8.5mm.
So, compared to a zero off-set wheel, this wheel reduces the width of one side by 8.5mm, and the overall track width becomes narrower by 17mm. This means it has a more agile steering.
Next, we introduce the method of measuring with a ruler.
First, measure the width of the wheel, which is 26mm.
26➗2=13.
Then, find a chopstick or any stick where you can make a mark, like this to mark its depth.
Measure the marked depth, which is 10mm, subtract the ruler’s thickness (1mm), and you get 9mm. Subtract half of the wheel width from this depth,
9-13=-4
The off-set of this wheel is -4mm.
Consequently, installing tires on this wheel will make it 4mm wider than a zero off-set wheel.
The overall track width will be wider by 8mm, providing your RC model car with a lower center, reducing the probability of tipping, making it more stable.
Alright, that’s all the information. If you or anyone you know has a need to purchase RC model car tires, feel free to check out our website. It’s a straightforward website that won’t cause you any trouble. Wishing you a wonderful day!
