THROTTLE and Steering SENSITIVITY IMPROVEMENT FOR THE ZD RACING EX16 (AND OTHER CARS)

Like many ready to run RC cars, the ZD Racing EX16 has terrible throttle and steering sensitivity out of the box but. The good news it is very easy to fix as you'll find in my brief guide below. ​

​This is the first of a 3 part series of tuning guides for the ZD Racing EX16. The others can be found here:

• DRIVELINE FIX FOR THE ZD RACING EX16
• SUSPENSION IMPROVEMENT FOR THE ZD RACING EX16

Hobby grade RC cars have proportional steering and throttle meaning the amount you squeeze the trigger or turn the steering wheel is reflected by the RC with a proportional amount of motor speed or wheel turning. In theory that is. The ZD Racing EX16 is poorly setup from the factory which, to be fair is the same of most cars but it's really easy to fix with the dials on your transmitter.

Improving the throttle control

Precise throttle control makes the driving experience so much better. A poorly setup throttle can cause the trigger to act more like a switch that the throttle control and this is exactly how my EX16 was when it arrived. This made it spin out easily even when in a straight line and is practically impossible to drift. Check out below for the fix

Prior to the fix you I would hit full throttle about halfway through the trigger travel meaning it acted more like a switch than proportional throttle

First connect the battery and raise the wheels off the ground so they can spin freely. The EX16 does not have a huge wheel speed so this is safe on a stand but for other cars you may need to clamp down.

Gradually depress the throttle on your transmitter and listen closely. You'll notice a point where you hit full speed (highest pitch sound) after which no more throttle will change things. Some ESCs have an LED that shows full throttle which allows you to do this without the motor plugged in but not this car.

While holding full throttle on the transmitter trigger, wind back the throttle dual rate dial back as pictured above and note the point where you hear the motor slowing down (the sound pitch starts dropping). Turn it back clockwise again till it just starts hitting that top pitch again which is max motor speed and mark that point on the dial with a permanent marker.

That's it. Now you will only hit full throttle at the end of the trigger travel meaning everything in between is sweet, sweet proportional control giving you much more room for getting the throttle dead right during cornering or other manoeuvres. If you want to improve this even further you can drop the throttle dead zone from 9% stock to 6% using the racerstar programming card as detailed in this guide.

Improving steering control

This process is similar to the throttle but is mechanical rather than electrical in nature.

Firstly run the car and adjust the steering trim to make sure it runs straight. 

With the car off the ground go full steering lock to one side. You'll hear the servo straining because the wheels have reached full steering lock and the extra servo movement is being soaked up by the servo saver (bad) which is akin to what we talked about with throttle - the last part of the steering makes no difference so control is squeezed into the first little movement of the steering wheel.

While at full steering with the steering wheel, slowly wind back the steering dual rate as pictured above. Note the point at which the wheels start coming back from full lock. You also hear that the servo has gone quiet again.

Check full steering lock in the other direction. If the front wheels steer all the way to the end of the steering wheel movement and the servo doesn't make a sound a full lock then you are done. If it does then wind back the dual rate a little more as per the previous step but for steering in this direction.

You're done! Mark it on the dial and now you will have steering in both directions right to the end of the steering wheel travel meaning again that everything in between will be proportional.

Conclusion

These are very simply improvements that anyone can make and all they are really doing is making best use of the controls that are given to us. The improvement they make though should not be understated - I went from spinning out even in a straight line to a much smoother and more controlled drive.

I ordered my ZD Racing EX16 From Banggood. They have a regular version and a pro version. I ordered the pro which is better out of the box (with the best wheels!) and is much better for tuning and upgrading. My full review is coming soon

If you are looking for a discount on this car, I will post any coupon codes or flash sales for it over here on my coupons and discounts page. Remember buying from any of these links supports my page without any cost to you and is appreciated especially since I don't ask for money via patreon and the like. If you want to get involved in this discussion, feel free to join the QuadifyRC Facebook Group Here or like my page below.