Horatio

The question I want to ask is this:

Are the SD008G arms going to be more durable than the standard arms? Same question for the hub carriers and other plastic parts made with the new G material etc?

The standard plastic Yok SD Arms are very brittle over here in the UK. I'm wondering that it might be because of the lower temperatures. I know that several sponsored/team drivers at the last 'big' meeting I attended all had Arm, carrier and steering arm failures at some point during the day. One CML driver in particular only finished 2 out of 6 runs!!

I managed to get my SD through the last 2 race meetings without ANY breakages, but to be fair I have upgraded the car to alloy team suzuki steering arms/rear hub carriers. Also, as I finished 5th overall, I was not as aggressive as the 1st and 2nd placed sponsored drivers who were driving Yok SD's. They both suffered breakages/retirements during qualifying. I admit I feel I'm 'holding back' a little to save breaking the car.

As a result, 2 drivers I know are selling their SD's and getting different rides via CML.

I'm of the opinion that the SD is a very quick car - it certainly had all the quickest single laps and qualified in the top 3 places at the last meeting, but the durability issues - especially for indoor racing - must be addressed before more GOOD racers change camps.

2Tenths

Horatio - In general, graphite molded parts are less durable than plastic parts. I have the graphite arms, and they do not flex nearly as much as the plastic ones. This probably means they would snap more easily, as less of the shock of an impact could be absorbed. I have not broken a graphite arm yet, but I race indoors (if the temperature makes a difference).

Horatio

Thanks for the response.

In the past, I'd always found graphite parts more rigid but less durable. But with the standard plastic stuff on the Yok, it seems to have very little in the way of fibre of ANY kind to reinforce it. Without meaning to sound offensive, the standard plastic arms seem very 'toy-like' in nature, when compared to Schumacher plastic parts which are glass reinforced nylon and very durable (just for example).

I've broken one arm so far (on the rear) since racing the car and to be honest that shouldn't have broken. I also broke 1 C carrier, again, this shouldn't have broken as I didn't actually hit anything -the breakage occured due to the driveshaft seizing. The vibration caused the premature failure. But the plastic is very weak and not particularly stiff either.

I'm just wanting to know if anyone has found the carbon fibre reinforced parts more durable (and stiffer) over the standard parts. Put it this way, if they aren't the SD is going to loose it's pro drivers left, right and centre.

I ran the SD008G parts at the last race meeting, but didn't hit anything to 'test' the durablility side of things. The same cannot be said for other well known drivers attending. If I know that the parts are stronger, than I can at least try to 'push' the car a little harder without fear of the car falling to bits during an 'off'.

AS these parts have only just become available in the UK no one over here has been able to give me a difinitive answer yet.

utieh

iTrader: (3)

i've never break the graphite arms so I cannot tell how it looks inside, but i've broken in 5 months 2 arms and 1 C-hub, and it seems that the material isn't very homogeneous (sometimes some air bubble...), perhaps that's the reason it is so fragile...
The graphite gearboxes really help to reduce the lateral flex.

Cobra81li200

I agree with Utieh, the standard material does not seems very homogeneous.

I have been running the graphite arms since their release in japan. I race at Don Valley almost every friday and had no problem at all.

But trying to remove my anti roll bar, the ball of one arm stayed into the ball cup, so this arm is not usable anymore with anti roll bars.

Also, after a take off and landing right on the rear wheel, I broke one arm exactly the same way as I broke the stock ones. But the car went more than 1.5 m high at high speed and landed on the worst manner for the arm, so I reckon even my TRF 414 would have had a broken arm and they're the most durable I've even seen.

On the other hand, I had quite hard crashes with the car. Also we've been running te car in two people last sunday at the HPI and had no problem at all, the car was quick and even some bad crashes did not do anything to the car.

My feeling is that the graphite material is less prone to breakages at low temperatures than the stock one, which I found to be shit under a temperature of 15°C.

Randy Caster

iTrader: (47)

The graphite isn't fragile in any way, but I dont think it'll add any strength to the car, it's just made to be a bit stiffer.

I dont have too many problems with breaking parts, but usually the only time I tend to crash is in practice working around slower traffic, but I havent had any problems yet with 2 days on the graphite. I know it's not long, but I'm still impressed with it...

vtl1180ny

The best thing to do is make or modify a front bumper for the car... I was running a stock NTC3 bumper last week till I got wacked hard by someone and I broke the bumper and kept on going... I did eventually break a stock ballcup that was on its last leg anyway... I think the Suzuki knuckles made a big difference... I thread locked the king pins in and didn't break a single C hub... I was constantly finding king pins loose or missing...

I have a full set of graphite arms, just haven't put them on the car yet...

Randy Caster

iTrader: (47)

I dont think the bumper is the main key to not breaking parts, it can only do so much... Not crashing would be the way to keep the parts in 1 piece, takes practice, but that's the one hopup that everyone needs, but nobody can buy.

utieh

iTrader: (3)

... or you can say the SD makes you drive better!

Randy Caster

iTrader: (47)

I am actually able to say that, the car feels very good to me in my hands, better than the others I've recently driven. I'll be sticking with Yokomo, especially since they have their CGM chassis coming out

Cobra81li200

The friend I lend my yoke to on friday (for the HPI @ Don Valley, UK) said it was the best car he's ever driven. And the setup was really good actually, I don't know what do to to get a better car, maybe I would need a little more overall grip to go faster.

Randy Caster

iTrader: (47)

If you need a little more overall grip, tires might be the answer...

Cobra81li200

I'm already using the same combo tires/inserts/rims as the best drivers.

My car was a good B or last A able, I just left my mate use it more than me as he's doing the whole championship and I had entered that one race only in the morning.

I'll try to use softer anti roll bars next time, and maybe a little more camber.

kt racing

maybe a little less droop

Cobra81li200

Less droop will give me less grip, no ?