HO Slot Car Myth Busters – WD-40 vs. Clean and Dry

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Myth busted that WD-40 is a good way to clean your HO slot car track. While it might make the track look better and perhaps “attract less dust”, it decreases traction. The best, most consistent lap times are produced with a clean, dry track.

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12 COMMENTS

  1. Hi! It's Trevor Ursulescu from Monster Hobbies in High River, Alberta, Canada. We race 1/32 Carrera Digital Slot Cars. Thank you for making such a good video. I hope it is ok to share it on my Facebook page. It may be beneficial for some of my customers who bought their own sets. Please check out my videos sometime! Thanx!

  2. Have you tried ArmorAll Matte Protectant wipes? I'm thinking about trying it on a test track. It doesn't leave a greasy finish, fights fading aging and cracking. Didn't see anyone trying it on slot car tracks.

  3. Ok, I can agree that WD-40 will decrease the traction. But here's what I'm dealing with. I have a lot of old Model Motoring track and it has rust. I want to remove the rust and prevent it from rusting again. I am not so concerned with optimum performance from the cars, I mainly want this antique track to be preserved. I have been using WD-40 and it seems to work well. Anyone got a better suggestion?

  4. I use denatured alcohol. It does not contain any water as you would find in isopropyl alcohol. It cleans up and dries with no residue. You can pick it up pretty cheap at your local hardware store and a quart will last you a very long time. That is if you don't dump over the can.

  5. This depends a lot on what tires you're using. if silicone then it's a bad idea however oil such as WD-40 actually softens rubber tyres and will actually make them grip better it's something we use on 1/32 tracks a lot

  6. I had a "Matchbox" HO race set as a kid in the late '70s. One car was a white corvette, the other was a Porsche, I think. I put it all together…cars barely moved. Maybe one car might make one jerky slow lap. What a piece of crap, lol!!! May as well have soaked the whole stupid thing in WD-40 (or kerosene) I remember scrubbing the whole track aggressively with an eraser. It never worked. Now as an adult, I wonder what the problem was…the track probably wasn't getting clean current from the transformer. I recall pressing the shoes onto the track and letting the rear wheels spin so I ruled that out….I must've chucked what whole non-working set…sad.

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