Originally posted by BigDogRacing
Hey Rod and whoever was asking about the car drifting thing- I've also found that the Tamiya (specifically the EVO3) is VERY hard to see a slightly bent hinge pin without removing them for inspection. In fact, there have been times when I had a slightly bent hinge pin that was so slight you coulnd't tell it was bent w/o rolling it on clean smooth glass. The car would feel fine but it would have minimal tweak charactieristics like drifting.
One other note- the Xray hinge pins are 3mm just like the Tamiya hinge pins. Get some and cut them to the correct length. They are very strong, but they can bend... just not as easily as the stock pins.
If you were to do that, I'd personally either turn them down with a lathe or grind them, rather than cut them and then leave an edge burr which, in time, will wear away the sockets and create sloppy fit.
I would use 3mm silver steel or stainless steel rod, if it can be got.
BTW, I'm going to start experimenting on my model lathe making parts like the front lower bushings, for example.