Rock crawling
Soft, tall rock terrain tires on beadlock wheels at very low pressure, soft inserts, long soft shocks and weight as low and as far forward as you can put it. The goal is four tires loaded at all times; everything else follows from that.
Tire weights at the wheel are legal, cheap and the single most effective anti-tipping change you can make on a side hill.
Bashing
Medium compound tires with a tough carcass, standard thickness or tough-color bodies, skid plates and arm guards fitted before the first run rather than after the first break. Firmer shocks so landings do not bottom out.
Carry spares of the three things that actually break: body clips, suspension arms and the rear wing.
Club racing
Choose compound by track temperature and condition, not by habit. Light weight bodies, race wings, shocks rebuilt before the meeting and a spare set of mounted tires for when the surface changes between qualifying and the final.
Make one change at a time and write it down. A driver who knows why the car improved is faster next weekend than one who got lucky.
Drag and on-road
Round tires, low profile, correct offset and as little else as possible. Drag cars want the rear planted and the front to go light; on-road cars want the opposite. Both want a body that is actually straight on the posts.
A wing is a tuning part here, not decoration. Start with the angle the kit suggests and move it in small steps.
