How To Clean Carrera Slot Car Track

Peterson Ketionce · Thursday, December 2, 2021

Carrera track - best way to clean rails?

I've got a 1/24 scale Carrera track that I haven't ran on in a few years. I have a 6' x 20' that it's set up on and it's been setting unused for about 5 years now. I've tried running cars on it recently and once the cars get more than 3 or 4 sections away from the terminal piece the cars slow right down to a crawl. I'm thinking that I need to pull the track all apart and clean the terminals between every track piece. My question is what is the best way to do that? I know contact cleaners aren't good to use on plastic tracks - I learned that one the hard way! Once I get them clean could I use dielectric grease on them to keep from corroding again? Is there something else that would work better? Before this track I had a Tyco HO track that I soldered all of the terminal joints of the track together and that worked great that way. As I understand it the Carrera track rails are made from stainless steel and can't be soldered. Is there any other way I could do that, or anything that would make a more positive electrical connection? Thanks in advance for your help!

I'm not so familiar with Carrera track, as I have mostly used Scalextric & Ninco, but it is still basically the same process.
First, you want to clean the rails. Be sure to only use a non-abrasive cleaner. As you mentioned, the rails are stainless steel, so once you start scratching that, it's rust city. Some people will only use a mile soap & water or Windex window cleaner, but I think WD-40 works good (some say it can hurt the plastic).

It's best to take the whole track apart, and flip over a pair of sections at a time and re-crimp the rail joiners. This is where the track brands are different, but basically you just want to tweek or crimp where it will make a little tighter connection.

If you don't want to take the whole track apart (at least at first), there is a trick to finding dead spots or spots with bad connections. It takes TWO bad connections to make a car stop, but ONE bad connection will cause a car to slow down, because the electricity still flows all the way around the circuit. It's harder to find the exact spot where it slows down, however.

So, you simple take the track apart, creating ONE break, to easily find any other breaks. Drive the car around slowly until it stops. If it stops - there's the bad connection. Fix that connection, and repeat all the way around and on all lanes, until the car doesn't stop. Then hook the track back up (making sure the final section is crimped good), and it should be good to go!

Using conductive dielectric grease works great on the connection tabs, to improve conductivity, as well as preventing corrosion. You can usually get it at Marine supply stores, used on boat batteries and electrics.

On a large layout, for about every 30 feet of track, you should have one power tap (or jumper), to provide a direct power tap to the opposite side of the track.

If you decide to rewire the track and put on a better power supply, you can make a much more dramatic improvement, but that involves a bit more work and an investment in a good power supply. If you are considering that, let me know and I will post links to info on wiring, power supplies, & lap counters.

I moved your thread to t he 1/32 section, so it is likely to get buried, and more likely to be seen by other plastic track owners who can chime in with their advise as well as read the advice shared in your thread.

Hope this helps!

Trackmate is fine, and very popular for home & club tracks. You just need another old PC that you can usually find free or cheap.
While the battery will work, you'll still need to charge it. If you decide to upgrade to a power supply, you can get a good adjustable voltage power supply for around $120 - $200.

Here's a good one on Amazon.com for around $150:

Here's a couple links to a nice track wiring diagram, with optional drivers stations with or without brake & reverse switches:

http://www.oldweirdherald.com/techti...tw_1_2004a.jpg

http://www.oldweirdherald.com/techti...tw_2_2004a.jpg

Also shows hookup for Trackmate lap counter.

Here's a step by step to a guide for wiring from Steve Sawtelle of Slot Car Corner:

http://www.slotcarcorner.com/pages/Track-Wiring.html

I didn't mean to overwhelm you - but you can always start out with the simple "blueprinting" described above, and upgrade as needed or as time & budget allows.

Good luck!

Last edited by oldweirdherald; 07-31-2015 at 10:38 AM.

Originally Posted by Brettm

I've got a 1/24 scale Carrera track that I haven't ran on in a few years. I have a 6' x 20' that it's set up on and it's been setting unused for about 5 years now. I've tried running cars on it recently and once the cars get more than 3 or 4 sections away from the terminal piece the cars slow right down to a crawl.

Copper top!

Last edited by oldweirdherald; 12-21-2010 at 10:21 AM.

Vince Laurent
Webguy for MGPMRC

Every section plug-in is a point for corrosion. Auto part store is a source for a dielectric silicon grease that waterproofs any connection plug - and I used it to battle "Lucas the prince of Darkness" on my British cars and motorcycles...as Ford had to do on the assembly line, as well.
Clean all sections, smear a dab of grease and plug them together. No air, no corrosion, never need to do it again.

Next problem: How far apart are your power taps? Stainless Steel is a much poorer conductor that copper tape or braid. Consider adding taps for every ten ft of track - or at least where you punch the throttle and expect some power to be. I had 75 ft of Carrera before we put in the wooden four lane track. Home set cars only need 18 gauge wire instead of the 12 gauge we use for commercial cars. Using 24 gauge phone cord is silly and not functional.

Last edited by Ramcatlarry; 12-21-2010 at 05:23 PM.

l.d. kelley, M.A. Ramcatlarry@aol.com

60 year pin 1959-2019
Racing slot cars in America
USRA 2019 member
IRRA, ISRA/USA, Hardbodies 1/24 &
1/32 - Great Lakes Slot Car Club
retired raceway owner 1992-2007
Omni/Cidex service center

Since the Carrera rails are solid Stainless Steel, any grade coase or fine Scotchbrite will NOT damage it. SHINY metal conducts much better than dull metal. Many of the other track brands are plated mild steel and the plating CAN be worn off with too aggressive cleaning.
The wire idea may work. I have always just used pinion flux to solder copper tap wires to the SS rails. Be sure to avoid melting the plastic by using a metal plate as a heat sink when soldering.

l.d. kelley, M.A. Ramcatlarry@aol.com

60 year pin 1959-2019
Racing slot cars in America
USRA 2019 member
IRRA, ISRA/USA, Hardbodies 1/24 &
1/32 - Great Lakes Slot Car Club
retired raceway owner 1992-2007
Omni/Cidex service center