Salt water and SRB's any problems?

[VINTAGE HILUX FAN 3]

Hi everybody,

After watching some videos and looking at loads of great pictures of SRB's splashing about in salt water I was wondering if this causes any problems. It looks spectacular but I don't want to wreck the car doing it. Do you use plastic or brass bushings rather than bearings so they don't rust? Will the torsion bars seize up? Does it have to be a full strip and rebuild after each run? What do you use to clean them off? Any information and tips on what I can do to prevent any problems would be much appreciated.

Thanks Marcus

[bromvw 744]

I can'nt stress this strongly enough after buying a rough rider that had being run in salt water- dont do it . If you must do it completely strip it down afterwards to nuts and bolts stage and wash every part in either bottled or tap water - otherwise as i found to my expence your end up with a pile of salt corroded junk . Thats only my opinion but it is based on experiance .

[Grastens 2795]

Are you sure those cars in the videos were being run in salt water? In addition to causing problems for metal bearings and all metal parts, the motor is likely to suffer as well. Yes, the motor is sealed, but not completely from the elements.

If you must run in salt water, the safest thing to do is to completely strip it down, clean, and rebuild it after every run; otherwise finding a lake just means the car needs to be dried well and/or sprayed down with a corrosion inhibitor (i.e.: WD-40).

Plastic bearings are great, and as long as the car is cleaned promptly and carefully after each run the car should be able to handle it.

[MadInventor 3884]

I wouldnt do it if I was you. The salt will get in everything, and you will need to strip down down every last nut and bolt to get the salt off. It will even settle in the tops of screw heads and rust them too. It's never worth the effort. Run it further up the beach where the sand dried right out if you must run on a beach, and then make sure all the sand is removed after the run.

[markbt73 5316]

On the other hand, a re-re Holiday Buggy, with plastic bushings and balloons over the electronics, is great fun on a wet beach. Who cares if a few step screws get rusty?

[mr crispy 2293]

My HB2010 seized almost solid after the briefest splash through puddles of sea water on the beach. Rusted virtually every screw in the kit to the point the suspension pins jammed up completely and needed hammering out!

It's happened quick too. Within 30 mins the car started pulling to one side. I initially thought it was the unwaterproofed servo but it turned out to be the metal shielded bearings seizing on one side. Needed a total strip down, all bearings replaced with rubber sealed ones and most of the screws swapped out.

I stay well clear of sea water now if i run on the beach. Best thing I've found is to prepair the running gear with a coat if WD40 before hand and then give it a good shake out, followed by brushing off with an old paint brush and the Hoover afterwards. Haven't had any probs since I've been doing that or needed to strip down my runners other than removing the bodyshell.