I finally got around to fixing my RC car, having smashed the left steering knuckle too long ago on one of its first drives. As I was installing the replacement, I started to realise that I had a small decision to make: I only actually needed to replace the left one, but the new pair was of a slightly different, apparently tougher yet lighter, design than the original. So, should I also replace the right one to go with it?
I probably would have done on a passenger car, but I guessed that it’s always good to have backup to hand should I smash the right one next. The car’s a 60 kmh beast, so the odds aren’t too negligible that it might happen, though it’s 50/50 + Murphy’s Law that I’ll smash the left one again.
In terms of driving dynamics, I don’t see an issue - the new one seems to have the same physical geometry in terms of the contact and motion points, so I’m not skidding the left any further or less than the right during a turn, at least not significantly. And although the new one seems to have slightly nicer bushes for the steerer, the whole system will be limited by the worse / slightly older ones on the right. Which weren’t that old to begin with.
So… that leaves only the potentially crucial difference of a few percent of a gram weight difference to consider…
