How do you clean your RC?

[SrC]

If you run in the wet, I get it. Many do. The risk to electrics is primary. And accepting that risk is ok also.
I have in the far past done the same. Just that to clean your rig properly without causing more damage, requires a major commitment, time wise. There are no shortcuts. Many will hose their rigs down and put it out like clothes on a line to dry. So wrong to do. Even though it will look immaculate and ready for the next time to trash it, then repeat the hosing again. Just bad to do. Will cost you in BB's and much in rusted parts alone.
I see many do it this way. ( worst case way of cleaning IMO.) These are not scale cars you can wash with a hose constantly.
Even compressed air makes it seem like you are drying it , but are just forcing water into the critical areas you don't see even when it "looks dry".
I highly suggest anyone running in the wet to use Stainless Steel BB's.

I run my Crawlers in the wet and through streams and snow blizzards. It's much fun. But I take precaustions in WP'ing all my electrics, Rx, servo etc. SS BB's. And even then they crap out from the wet. But Crawler motors and electrics are very cheap to replace and have no chassis to collect water unlike Basher rigs.

Anybody with experience with the WD40 Dry Lube with PTFE? Looks like a good dry lube, not sure if it also gets water out of components as well.

Dry Lube is just a lube. Great as lube as intended. Any dry lube is fine. Just Not for BB's IMHO. Oil or Grease is for BB's.
Lube is Not a Water Displacer.

 

[jkflow]

I'm using that WD40 PTFE stuff in a pinch, doesn't do anything on an RC tbh. I use it now to lube garden ornaments.
Doesn't remove water if that is what you want. It does cure some squeaks on the driveshaft in a pinch but lasts maybe 1min when in use.

 

[L3phturn]

Does anybody actually care about the 'out of the box look'?
I'm more concerned about keeping rust away - how do you if you don't use wd40? Or you just never run the car around water/mud so don't need to/don't need to wash it down after running?

I live in Ottawa Canada so I have to run in the snow/wet for a good chunk of the year. That means snow, slush, water, mud, and dirt. I don't spray WD-40 on it to make it look shiny, I do it because the water beads up and slides off of the truck when I am using WD-40 and it lets me just blow it out with compressed air and get it good and clean. A brush and a rag are all I need otherwise. If I am going to really wash it I will take it apart to do so.

 

[jkflow]

WD40 is just that I. e. (W) ater (D)isplacement, it does not lubricate and does not protect and sucks for loosening rusty bolts. It will get into cracks (epoxy/ESC) and expose any latent defects in the potting material and fry your electronics, if there is one.
Other spray solutions do not have have this penetration ability and I leave it to other dirty minds to make jokes

 

[SrC]

^^^This.
WD40 breaks down all the lube that exists inside BB's and other lubed areas of the rig. It is a Solvent and NOT a lubricant. No better than using water as a lubricant. It gums up with age in areas you cant get to, short of a major tear down.
If you absolutely feel the need to use something, using a 100% Pure Silicone spray is way better. But sparingly away from BB's. Silicone is more inert and much more Dielectric on or near Electronic components. But still more of a mess to deal with than using nothing at all. It attracts dust and dirt also.

 

[M240i_bandit]

I live in Ottawa Canada so I have to run in the snow/wet for a good chunk of the year. That means snow, slush, water, mud, and dirt. I don't spray WD-40 on it to make it look shiny, I do it because the water beads up and slides off of the truck when I am using WD-40 and it lets me just blow it out with compressed air and get it good and clean. A brush and a rag are all I need otherwise. If I am going to really wash it I will take it apart to do so.

That's good to know - thanks for the info

^^^This.
WD40 breaks down all the lube that exists inside BB's and other lubed areas of the rig. It is a Solvent and NOT a lubricant. No better than using water as a lubricant. It gums up with age in areas you cant get to, short of a major tear down.
If you absolutely feel the need to use something, using a 100% Pure Silicone spray is way better. But sparingly away from BB's. Silicone is more inert and much more Dielectric on or near Electronic components. But still more of a mess to deal with than using nothing at all. It attracts dust and dirt also.

But silicone spray doesn't stop rust from running in wet conditions/around water...

 

[SrC]

But silicone spray doesn't stop rust from running in wet conditions/around water...

^^^On the contrary. Silicone spray does prevent rust. And safe around electrics.
It is water resistant. Seals out moisture. I don't know where you heard that it does not?
But please don't take my word for it.
Just Google it. Prove me wrong. I am open.

 

[Woodley99]

^^^On the contrary. Silicone spray does prevent rust. And safe around electrics.
It is water resistant. Seals out moisture. I don't know where you heard that it does not?
But please don't take my word for it.
Just Google it. Prove me wrong. I am open.

Plus one to that, says right on the can

 

[SrC]

^^^What I use around the house. WD Silicone spray. So you know, it doesn't really dry per se. Just says it does. If it really dried like a dry lube for instance it would collect a lot less soot and dust. But it is good stuff.
I think the fact that plain WD40 is actually a product by itself, many don't understand that the Brand WD40 makes many other specific use products.
This being one of them. WD40 is on the can in big writing, so many just grab what they see and it is all just WD40 to them.. I have friends and neighbors that think like that. Come by asking to borrow WD40. Not a clue. One neighbor was kind enough to buy me a can after lending him some WD40 Specialist ""Gel Lubricant spray", He returned the favor and gave me a new can of plain old WD40 picked up at Home depot to replace what I gave him.. Not thinking much about it. I just thanked him. And laughed to myself. It's because of the way WD40 company markets their stuff very hard everywhere.

 

[Woodley99]

At Walmart the other day I picked up some WD40 contact cleaner, quick drying for electric parts. I would love to see someone's face picking that up thinking it's reg WD40

 

[slick2500]

Wow I'm lazy compared to you all, all I do is just use an air compressor after a run, then just wipe down any areas still dirty with a wet rag.. I don't really run off road, pretty much all on road stuff so I don't get mud or dirt on the cars, but an unbelievable amount of road grime.. Its crazy how you can do one speedrun on a clean car, and it comes back two minutes later with a coat of road grime and dust all over it

Someone in a different thread years ago said they hit it up with an air compressor then just wiped it down with baby wipes.

If there was anyone here on AF known as the "Never run in the wet Guy" I am the poster child for that.
I think its fun, But from years past have learned to never run my stuff in the wet. Just not worth it to me. A bit of mud and a splash here and there is normal. Fine. But I am not anal about a perfectly clean rig. Parts functioning ,like BB's and moving parts are more important to me.
I do my thorough cleaning when I do a complete tear down and rebuild. That's it.
After a bash I will use compressed air and a paint brush. I may wipe down with a cloth and Simple Green if it needs more than this. I never spray direct on my rig anything or at any time.
Most here on AF know I am like this.. Just me.
Many want their rigs to be like new. I think it is a waste of time. These are bashers.
Running in the wet and mud ruins electrics BTW. Again, just me. I never run a hose on my rigs. yet many do that also.

I learned my lesson on driving in the wet the hard way. I would drive my Summit in the snow, mud, creaks whatever I didn't care, until I decided to tear it apart after 2 years.

Everything metal looked like this and had to be replaced.

So long story short I don't like to get my vehicles wet anymore. Everything just lasts longer.

 

[SrC]

^^^ For some of us, experience, better judgement, and mostly our wallets dictate over the years.

 

[M240i_bandit]

^^^On the contrary. Silicone spray does prevent rust. And safe around electrics.
It is water resistant. Seals out moisture. I don't know where you heard that it does not?
But please don't take my word for it.
Just Google it. Prove me wrong. I am open.

Because I used it last week after cleaning and a day later the screws were covered in rust It's the exact same one in that pic above

Maybe it only protects from rust if you coat the truck before getting it wet. For something that is already wet and sprayed after it 100% doesn't protect from rust - but then it doesn't displace water so you'd expect that I guess...

 

[SrC]

Spray before it gets wet. That's how it works, IMHO. It is a rust preventive. A barrier to water. Does nothing after it's wet.
And you really need good coverage for it to work. Let it set. Preferably done after a bash and its clean. Ready for the next one. I guess another spray just before may also help. But wont harm electrics in any way. The main idea.

 

[M240i_bandit]

Spray before it gets wet. That's how it works, IMHO. It is a rust preventive. A barrier to water. Does nothing after it's wet.
And you really need good coverage for it to work. Let it set. Preferably done after a bash and its clean. Ready for the next one. I guess another spray just before may also help. But wont harm electrics in any way. The main idea.

Yeah but that doesn't really help post cleaning as I'm assuming it'll come off when scrubbing out the mud? - post running rust isn't really an issue for me because the second I get it home I'll clean it

Only one way to find out I guess I'll give it a go next time I run. Once my a arms show up....

 

[FatCatRC]

Spray before it gets wet. That's how it works, IMHO. It is a rust preventive. A barrier to water. Does nothing after it's wet.
And you really need good coverage for it to work. Let it set. Preferably done after a bash and its clean. Ready for the next one. I guess another spray just before may also help. But wont harm electrics in any way. The main idea.

I use my wd silicone spray after I run and coat the piss out of all the shafts(insert joke here) screws and inside all 4 cvd's and it prevents the rust build up. But I'm ocd about my rigs and have spent tonz on them so they don't sit long before they get full tear downs including bearing repacks. I've done it so much now that I can do a rig fully torn down to screws, parts and 3 diffs in a matter of 2 hours(being very generous I can do it in less than an hr if needed) depending on stripped screws and how many smoke breaks lmao. I can get it back together in about the same after cleaning everything. Cleaning is another story I can take hours and clean and polish each part or pull it apart leaving the front and rear assemblies together and clean them as a whole. If I do bearings add another hour to that. I don't mind tear downs though, I find loose crap and things that need attention and I'm single with no kids or a life lmao so I can spend hours on these things and not care. I want to actually run this year though, no more messing around with fpv all the time I'm still going to do it and am looking forward to trying my new upgrades and parts from my bro Lovestricken but I'm not not running them just cuz the cams don't work etc like last year.

 

[jkflow]

At the end of the day they are easy to work on. New folks are intimidated but once you get used to it it's about 15min per arm(side) and 30 min per diff. Excluding cleaning diffs, I just have spares to swap in.

 

[ABQ_Steve]

I do something very similar to WoodiE - and have been doing so for as long I've been into R/C (16+ yrs)

1. Spray R/C down with a 50/50 mix of simple green and water - use a small brush to scrub or let sit if needed
2. Rinse down with light stream of water (or in the shower during winter)
3. Air blast dry with compressed air
4. Silicone lube all bearing and friction surfaces
5. WD40 on a paint brush to 'clean' up plastic if needed

What exactly do you mean by dry air. I have used the cans of air I use on my computer. Is that different?

 

[jkflow]

Probably just an interpretation issue, just use compressed air or air in a can but that gets expensive fast.
Many of us have something like this for many reasons besides RC cleaning:
https://www.amazon.com/CRAFTSMAN-CM...395088&s=power-hand-tools&sr=1-2&ts_id=552660

 

[Warby]

I use a leaf blower. Does the same thing.