Noise

[Nikko85 3851]

Does anyone else very much judge cars by how noisy they are?

I drove the pumpkin today, and the gearbox was almost silent, and I've got to say it made driving much more pleasant.

Anyone else feel that noise is quite a large factor in how much they enjoy a chassis? 

[Pylon80 3686]

Absolutely. I always thought the TT-02 was not that bad in itself but the noise coming from using 2 bevel gears was unavoidable and makes it sound cheap and can be downright unpleasant. The M-05 (with new gears that is...) in comparison "feels" smoother and much higher grade while it might not really perform significantly better in practice. Then all the F1's and pan cars are so whisper quiet that you can't help think they are just, well, better. 

I can't wait to see how the XV-02 feels, having absolutely no valid technical reason not to sound any different than the TT-02 😉

[skom25 2179]

25 minutes ago, Pylon80 said:

Absolutely. I always thought the TT-02 was not that bad in itself but the noise coming from using 2 bevel gears was unavoidable and makes it sound cheap and can be downright unpleasant. The M-05 (with new gears that is...) in comparison "feels" smoother and much higher grade while it might not really perform significantly better in practice. Then all the F1's and pan cars are so whisper quiet that you can't help think they are just, well, better. 

I can't wait to see how the XV-02 feels, having absolutely no valid technical reason not to sound any different than the TT-02 😉

Interesting point of view. TT-02 is loud, but I think it is quite nice. I like to hear gears etc.

Do you have XV-01? I was impressed how quiet it is! Even more impressing is fact, that belt makes it so smooth. Hard to describe, but it almost feels like car with clutch. There is no that harsh moment, when motor starts.

[OoALEJOoO 3283]

The noise each car makes is indeed part of its charm and personality!

So far nothing comes close to the sound coming from the planetary gears of the CR-01 chassis. It really enhances the car as you drive it.

I tend to like the sound of cars with all transversal axles (i.e. no bevel gears such as the TT-01/2). Hearing the XV-01, FF-03, M05 and M06 as they go is great. For some reason the MF-01X sounds great too, even though it does have bevel gears like the TT-01/2.

Having said that, the awful noise of the TT-01/2 seems to be exacerbated by the use of a Tamiya ESC with a silvercan. Once you switch to a hobbywing and/or a superstock motor, most of the noise is gone. Not sure if this is because the ESC's capacitor. Also, a worn pinion makes the noise more pronounced. They sound like a mad chicken when you run them with a worn cheese stock pinion!

[Pylon80 3686]

13 minutes ago, skom25 said:

Interesting point of view. TT-02 is loud, but I think it is quite nice. I like to hear gears etc.

Do you have XV-01? I was impressed how quiet it is! Even more impressing is fact, that belt makes it so smooth. Hard to describe, but it almost feels like car with clutch. There is no that harsh moment, when motor starts.

I no longer have an XV-01. Yes the belts made it very quiet! I think the human brain struggles to figure out why it feels so nice when it's quiet so we rely on words like "smooth". It's not like shaft driven cars are jittery as they roll and belt driven cars are smooth  I think the noise plays a big part in it.

[OoALEJOoO 3283]

1 minute ago, Pylon80 said:

I no longer have an XV-01. Yes the belts made it very quiet! I think the human brain struggles to figure out why it feels so nice when it's quiet so we rely on words like "smooth". It's not like shaft driven cars are jittery as they roll and belt driven cars are smooth  I think the noise plays a big part in it.

Bevel gears in general have more backlash than straight gears, in particular if their axial position relative to the crown gear is not consistently controlled. Given the amount of axial play on TT car's bevel gears, I think this backlash could be part of the perceived lack of "smoothness", especially when transitioning between off/on power. The backlash also affects gear mesh, which could explain the noise. Perhaps shimming could correct this.

[skom25 2179]

Hard to say, but I think there is small difference. Shafts are hard and drivetrain engagement is rather harsh. Belt is elastic and I think whole operation is much smoother. There is also huge difference in design between TT-02 and XV-01.

[Rinskie 1024]

Honestly I'd enjoy my TT02 a little more if it was as quiet as the M08. That said for some reason my GF01 doesn't bother me the same was the TT02 does.

[markbt73 5850]

Noisy gearboxes don't bother me, as long as it's "supposed" to sound like that. But ESC whine drives me nuts. It's my least favorite thing about scalers/crawlers, and the reason I can't watch anyone else's videos with the sound on.

[Saito2 7654]

The noise of each individual car is distinctive and part of their character. I can likely identify most off roaders of the first 100, by family at least, blindfolded. Part of that identification relies on tire sound and their contact with the ground however. I know the "bouncy"  sound of a Hornet or Lunch Box axle, but can hear the sound the bigger Lunchie tires make to differentiate them. I can not tolerate when things don't sound right. A Hotshot screaming along in full song is fine but the clicky/wind-up toy sound from a modern Thundershot re-release that hasn't had the molding burrs removed from the faulty bevel gears drives me nuts. A twin motor Clod Buster still sounds like "quality" to me, despite being loud, while the sometimes iffy plastic gears in a Kyosho Double Dare are borderline annoying. The re-release Kyosho Optima was my first belt drive vehicle and, to be honest, was a bit spooky to hear as it was so different from usual Tamiya chunky pitch "music".

[Smokescreen38 98]

Interesting comments about sound here.   I remember REALLY noticing this with electric model planes as brushed motors with gearboxes gave way to direct drive outrunner brushless motors.  The experience was massively enhanced.  With cars, so long as the sound isn't indicating improper gear mesh, it usually doesn't matter that much to me.  Obviously, this is personal taste. 

That said, TT02 being loud never bothered me since it's still much quieter and more pleasant sounding than a competing touring car platform; RTR Kyosho Fazer 2.  Driving both back to back, the TT02 is a lot easier on the ears.   

 

[Tbird232ci 404]

I was just thinking about this the other day. In the early 2000's, I was racing a TA03 when everyone had moved onto xRay, Losi XXS, TC3, RS42 etc. I was the only person running a Tamiya at the point. Everyone knew my car because it was loud. I can't remember how, but I got my hands on a set of Eagle Racing gears which were much more narrow and had a finer tooth pitch. Everyone thought I had bought a new car as it was significantly quieter.

[RichieRich 798]

100 years ago, I had a Kyosho Big Brute. This thing sounded like it had marbles rolling around in the transmission. Loudest car I've ever owned.

[moffman 6024]

As much as I love the hotshot range of buggies and had quite a few over the decades the one thing from day one of the original right up to now with the hotshot 2 re-release is the horrible noisy gearboxes to me it just sounds like the gearboxes are just vibrating the living daylights out of the gears inside the cases and makes no odds if you add bearings!

[El Gecko 1518]

  

3 hours ago, moffman said:

the horrible noisy gearboxes to me it just sounds like the gearboxes are just vibrating the living daylights out of the gears inside the cases and makes no odds if you add bearings!

That's how my old Traxxas Hawk gearboxes sound... no matter how smooth the gear mesh may seem at low speed, once the car is out driving around, the noise is almost as bad as a ball diff dying. But they never break! Must be something about the chunky gears and the way they echo through the gearboxes. It's less noticeable on the Sledgehammer because of bigger tires and lower speeds, and because there's a lot more metal and thicker plastic all around it in the Sledge chassis.

My Tamiyas all seem super quiet by comparison. Especially the ORVs, they're just so silent and smooth, which I think is a big part of why they're my favorite chassis to drive. The Toad is so quiet I can hear the driveshafts clanking around in the diff cups. Does anyone run the old-style driveshaft boots over the newer UJs, or do they just fall off and/or get shredded?

The Grasshopper/Hornet and DT02 are pretty much all tied for second, although I still have the plastic driveshafts and friction shocks on the DT, so there's definitely room for improvement. I can hear the clunk of the shocks topping out when it bounces around on rough ground, so I know a better set of shocks would make it a whole different car. Like how the Hornet and GH2 were totally transformed with my simple homemade anti-slap linkages, thankfully they've been cured of that awful floppy gearbox noise!

I also agree about ESC hum, it was something I had to get used to after driving only MSCs forever. But now that I'm used to it, I seem to tune it out... it's like I don't even hear it anymore. I also watch almost all RC videos on mute because I'm usually already listening to some kind of music.

[OoALEJOoO 3283]

Another interesting aspect about noise is its usefulness as a powerful troubleshooting source of information.

Clicks, rubs, rattles can be giveaways of what is wrong with a drivetrain.

Moreover, doing an audio recording and then analyzing its frequency spectrum can give clues on what the source of the problem is. You can correlate which part of the drivetrain is behind the problem by the frequency spike on its rotational ratio multiplier. For example, 66 spur + 22 pinion, that's a 22/66=0.333 factor. If the motor rotation spike is at 12,000 Hz, then a spike at 4,000 Hz will tell you something that is rotating at the same speed as the spur (spur itself, prop shaft, bevel gears, etc) is likely behind the issue. All this without opening up the car.

[Mad Ax 10586]

There's a popular trackside saying in the vintage racing community: "that sounds like a Tamiya!"

Usually said with a curled lip and a derogatory tone, any time a car spins up sounding like a tin box full of nails.

[Rijkvv 66]

I enjoyed the sound of my M08 with Torque Tuned motor and I wonder if an M07 would sound the same. Makes me also wonder if I should bother with brushless at all. The first runs with my TA04 with Carson Dragster 16T I was disappointed how noisy it sounded.

[skom25 2179]

To be honest... what is wrong with loud car?

Do you build them to run or watch and listen?

Probably I am on different side totally, but I like TT-02 which feels really mechanical and it is bit weird to run smooth and quiet XV-01.

Of course, XV-01 is way better in terms of pure drivetrain mechanics, but TT-02 sounds like car, when XV-01 is like Blender on low RPM.

[JimBear 1024]

For whatever that is worth, I bought a used Brat. And the fellow did something to it (haven't opened it up) but man, is it quiet and smooth. I've never gotten anywhere near that result. It's mostly scratchy and scrunchy, wheezing and peeping like some old bird wanting to just give up and go for a bit of afternoon tea.

Incompetent head mechanic at JimBear HQ? Most likely.

But, yes, noise makes a difference to me.

[NUFCRc 173]

Both my re re blackfoot and lunch box are noisy little things, but that's one of the things I love about tamiya- they sound unique. 

[magnumb 147]

Nothing brings back memories quite like the sound of my Nikko Thunderbolt frame buggy! 

Also love the sound of a good boat, like the Kyosho Majesty 

[naturbo2000 1386]

On 10/25/2024 at 10:36 AM, Mad Ax said:

There's a popular trackside saying in the vintage racing community: "that sounds like a Tamiya!"

Usually said with a curled lip and a derogatory tone, any time a car spins up sounding like a tin box full of nails.

Sounds like my Avante on echoey wooden jumps. Box of nails is spot on. We joke that the jumps never stood a chance against the bulk of the Avante. 

DB01 is always getting positive comments on how quiet it is. It has a distinctive but very quiet sound.

[SlideWRX 919]

The ESCs sometimes have very noticeable whine to them, especially at lower speeds.  I tend to ignore it, but I tried recording through an on-board camera once and in the audio that close it was horrendously loud.  I have a Kyosho EZ chassis (currently a Nexxt body, but a mishmash of parts) that has a 'tick' in the spur gear.  I was able to reduce it a bit but it is still there.

[Killajb 1618]

Noise is very much a part of the RC experience for me and defines the character (or sometimes flaws) in a design.  Nostalgic noises like the Grasshopper/Lunchbox gearboxes with silver can motors are right up my alley.  The higher pitched sound of a Fox with that Johnson motor as well. Also, the sound of those Super Gripper tires along asphalt passing by at full tilt.  

I finished a DF-03 a few months back with the slipper clutch option, ceramic diff balls front and rear and the car drives and handles smooth and taught, however it wails like a banshee and the drivetrain noise is a bit loud compared to my BBX for example which is otherwise stock and very quiet.  I've nipped up the slipper clutch and the front and rear diffs a bit more so I don't think it is the sound of slippage, maybe the pinion/spur is a bit worn (pinion and spur mesh set properly).  

Belt drive is the creme de la creme for me when it comes to sound.  My recently completed Yokomo YZ-4 belt drive is ghostly quiet and has and sounds like a jet when accelerating.  I've upgraded the stock plastic pulleys to aluminum ones, with a narrow rear belt conversion as well and it seems even smoother.  I wish I still had my Losi XX-4 and may search for a Schumacher Cat L1R next just because I appreciate the sound and smoothness so much.