Recently we have been doing some testing with various pistons. The other half of JQ Products, Ari Jyvä who is mainly in charge of anything to do with websites, graphics, and that sort of stuff, also has another very important area to cover. That is,  to try weird things no one else thinks of trying. Well, lately we have been studying suspension, and I have discussed the topic with various suspension technicians in motocross and rally racing. We have tried to start to get a better understanding of what direction we should be going in to improve our cars handling. Because as we know, the shock absorbers are critical in making a car work well.

As the first small step in our quest for superior suspension, Ari started testing pistons with the goal of making THECar more stable, add traction, and have the wheels work more independently, working over bumps with the chassis as level as possible. He found one piston that seemed to work well, and at the Nordic Championships the JQ team tried various springs and oils to find what would work best. The idea was simple, make the suspension soft, yet have enough pack so it wouldn't bottom out on jumps, and slow down the rebound, in an attempt to keep the chassis lower when entering corners, and when driving over smaller bumps. Here is what we ended up with:

10 hole piston, 4 blue holes drilled to 1.2mm, 6 remaining holes 1mm.

It is a conical piston, mounted with the flat side down.

As for oils , we settled on oils that range from 400 to 600. At the nordics we ran 500 front, 550 rear, in about 20 degree weather. We also ran 550 front and rear. Then at home in Finland, in slightly cooler weather I started off with the same, and just kept going softer and softer, and faster and faster, which made me feel like we should have tried even thinner oil at the Nordics. So as a good starting point, I would suggest 450 front, 500 rear, and go from there.

The stock springs were ok, and possibly will produce the fastest laptimes, but the Kyosho Orange springs made THECar even smoother and easier to drive. Probably mainly due to the longer rear spring. So you may want to try them. But remember to also use the Kyosho lower spring retainer.

Conclusion:

10 hole conical pistons, mounted flat side down.

6 holes 1mm, 4 holes 1.2mm

450 front 500 rear

Kyosho Orange springs

Please try this and give us your feedback. You can also try drilling 2 of the 1.2 holes into 1.4mm holes either just on the rear, or front and rear, or even just on the front. Let us know how it goes.

You can get these pistons from our Team Sponsor GHEA here. Please make sure to mention " Custom made GHEA3095, JQ Products 10 holes conical piston, 6 x 1mm + 4 x 1.2mm".