How to Clean Your RC Car of Snow
When you take your fast electric rc cars for a heavy-duty session of outdoor racing, it can provide a great sense of freedom. But it also comes with the responsibility of having to clean your car of any dirt or other sticky debris. This is especially the case when you decide to race your RC car during the winter, as snow is one of the most annoying things to clean off your car.
If you’re concerned about needing to stop RC car racing during winter, there’s no need to worry. Below we have the best cleaning tips available so you can best keep your RC car in top-top shape, free of any snow building up your tires.
Tip 1: Waterproof RC cars Can Handle Intense Cleaning
Some people are concerned that they can’t go too hard with cleaning their RC cars as it might damage the vehicle in some way. While this is sometimes the case, you don’t need to worry about that if your RC car is water-resistant or waterproof.
While completely submerging your RC car in water is probably not a good idea, the odds are it has at least some waterproofing if you can drive it through snow in the first place. Feel free to use any techniques or tools you might have, like showering it with a garden hose or wiping it down thoroughly with a hand towel.
Tip 2: Use a Toothbrush
While we don’t recommend using your own personal toothbrush for cleaning your RC car, buying a spare one to use exclusively with it can be a great idea. Toothbrush bristles have both the right size and the right grit to really scrape off packs of mud or snow that can stick to your RC car.
A toothbrush also provides the right angles to get into those tighter crevices that are too hard to reach with a sponge or other cleaning tools. If you want to remove every bit of snow from your car, a toothbrush is your best bet.
Tip 3: Consider Compressed Air Cans and WD-40
Most people who perform regular maintenance on their electric rc vehicles Would swear by the reliability of a can of WD-40, it's just as helpful in clearing snow.
While in many cases it is useful to let some of the snow melt before attempting to clean your car, sometimes certain kinds of debris can become trapped in the snow and then stick to your car. This will make it more difficult to wash away excess dirt, sludge or grime with just water.
In these instances, you’ll find that compressed air or WD-40 will seriously come in handy. Their pressurized force is often just what you need to really jam out those pieces of wet grime or even tiny pebbles that get lodged in the chassis or tires. It’s also a lot safer than trying to scrape them off with a fork, a screwdriver or some other metal tool as compressed air will never scratch up your RC car.
Tip 4: Always Remove Batteries Before Cleaning
This tip probably goes without saying for many people but it bears repeating: never clean your RC car when it is still hooked up to the batteries. This is true even if you don’t plan on getting it wet. Some batteries are still sensitive to other kinds of cleaning tools and techniques, so it’s not worth risking damaging them permanently.
Tip 5: Wipe the Tires and Body Down Thoroughly with Soap and Water or an All-Purpose Cleaner
While getting rid of the snow and gunk from the nooks and crannies of your RC car is also important, the tires and the chassis are still a main priority. They should be scrubbed down with towels, sponges and a dedicated cleaning scrub.
The scrub will especially come in handy for the tires as it will have bristles that can clean off any small snow particles stuck in the tire grooves. Then, hand towels can be used to wipe down the main body of the RC car.
While warm water is often enough to clean snow off an RC car, we recommend using some soap as well. Odds are the snow you were driving through is dirty and has been sitting on the ground for hours or days, so you might as well take the extra measure to eliminate any germs too.
Related Reading: Winter is Coming & RC Car Fans, Rejoice! Bezgar Is Here to Keep You Up-to-Date
Tip 6: Make sure to Dry Your RC Car properly with Towels and Air Blowers
It is very important to dry off your RC car as thoroughly as possible before ending the clean-up process. This is especially the case if you plan on putting your batteries back in the RC car, as any excess moisture risks damaging your batteries beyond repair.
If you have extra compressed air then feel free to use that to dry off your car, including in the smaller nooks of the chassis underside. Also use a different clean and dry towel than the one you were using before to give it a quick wipe down. You shouldn’t stop the cleaning process until your RC car is as dry as it was before it got snow on it.
Tip 7: Feel Free to Take Your RC Car apart for Extra Cleaning
If you suspect there is snow hiding in places you can’t reach from the outside, feel free to disassemble your RC car a bit to check and see. Any snow trapped on the inside will melt, and this could be a bad thing depending on how water-resistant your car is.
Conclusion
Cleaning an RC car is easy and only takes about 10 minutes for a thorough cleaning. Once you've gone through the process, you can go much faster than that. All you need is some compressed air or WD-40, a toothbrush, and a few towels for wiping.
Especially if your RC car is waterproof, it will be easy to clean without causing you any trouble. So feel free to use your RC car during the winter, Bezgar wishes you a great time!