Then you clearly have different priorities at the track than ThunderbirdJunkie

Mine are fast lap times and going faster than the other guys. What are yours?

So the RTR shocks that are 2 weeks old are leaking? Can anybody from AE confirm or dispute this diagnosis? That would be... disappointing... if accurate.

Bullpucky, having a good time, and self-improvement

No disputing. That's what it is.

It's an RTR. ThunderbirdJunkie has seen RTR's that all of the shock oil was in the bottom of the box.

If you want it built right, build it yourself.

You pay good money for a good car, it ought to work. Just venting, and certainly no offense intended, but I don't subscribe to your rationale in this case at all. If I bought some POS off-brand for 90 bucks, I could see that. But I went with AE because they are the best. I shouldn't have to accept quality control issues just because I didn't build it myself. I wouldn't buy a Porsche and expect to have to put the shocks together myself to ensure a quality build.

Mistakes in production happen. It's up to the company to ensure those mistakes are rectified in a way that wipes those mistakes from the customer's memory, and turns a negative experience into a positive one. Hopefully, AE is listening.

I understand where you are coming from, jf+.

However, shocks are maintenance item. Over time, depending on how often you drive your car/buggy/truck/whatever, your shocks will need to be rebuilt. It's a way of RC life. I don't think it's a fair comparison, either, between your Porsche and a RC truck/buggy. Take your Porsche off of a 3 foot jump, scaled up, and let me know how it does.

I had the rtr shocks for about a year and they didn't leak that bad for me. Most guys on this thread have the FT and are not very familiar with the rtr's. I only rebuilt them once in a year (by that I mean new o-rings). They didn't leak that much more then these new V2 shocks I got for Christmas.

Since you're fairly new to the hobby, ThunderbirdJunkie understands your frustration and your position.

The simple fact is, if you want it built right, build it yourself. Experienced RCers have been calling RTRs "Ready to Rebuild" for a long, long time for a reason.

There are guys that build their own shocks that rebuild them every two weeks, and there are guys that change their shock oil every race day.

This is a maintenance-intensive hobby, end of story. Now, if you are upset about having to rebuild a set of shocks after two weeks of ownership, imagine what would be wrong with that $90 knockoff piece of crap you could've bought.

You bought a good car. But without knowing what conditions under which you're running, how badly/well you're driving, or how much the car has been run, it's entirely impossible to say whether or not you SHOULD HAVE to rebuild your shocks, and let's not get into the possibility that your car has seen more runtime in the past two weeks than ThunderbirdJunkie's has in the last 3 months...but ALL RTRS REQUIRE A SHOCK REBUILD AS SOON AS THE CAR LEAVES THE BOX. This has been a constant ever since the RTR was invented.

Also, you didn't buy a Porsche, you bought a reasonably priced sporty subcompact. There are guys in this thread that have spent more money on tuning parts for their B4/.1's than you spent on buying your RTR, so your cost analogy doesn't really hold much water.

Not trying to insult you or anything like that, just trying to put things into perspective. If you want Porsche quality, buy a Porsche, not a Civic Si or SVT Focus. There is a method to the madness when an experienced racer drops $300 on a speedo/motor combo, $300 on a car, $100 on parts for said car, $100/ea on batteries, etc...it's not because we're "stupid and could get the same car already built for 1/4 the price".

Hehehe thanks for the laugh, I needed that. In answer to your example, the Porsche would perform admirably. And be totaled.

I completely understand shocks on buggies are built to be rebuilt. Look forward to it. But *that* short of a functional lifespan can't be considered acceptable. This "crud" has been appearing for days...

jf+ Sorry to hear about your shocks. Are you racing this at a local hobby shop track or club track? If so there may be a AE driver there who would be more than happy to help you with your shocks. If not I'd call AE and see what they can do for you (they may be able to get you some o-rings ?) If you need any additional help please feel free to PM me.

Just because someone spends more money on parts than the car doesn't make it right. Also some people have more money to spend on this hobby than other people. Different people have different amount of income. If someone spends $250 on parts, that could be comparable to someone else spending $100.

+1 hanging out with cool people, the track part is just a bonus.

You're absolutely right, but that's also like somebody complaining to Ford that their new Fiesta doesn't seem as well-built as their parents' Taurus SHO.

The simple fact is, yes, he spent $250 - WHICH IS A LOT OF FREAKIN MONEY NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE - on a reasonably priced, good-performing car, and that's what he got. ThunderbirdJunkie was just trying to put things into perspective for him. ThunderbirdJunkie can't afford a Mercedes-Benz S-class, so he's not going to complain that his 200,000 mile decade-old Jeep doesn't have those neat magnetic shocks, snazzy fresh leather, or butt heaters...or that his Jeep requires new shocks, for that matter (which cost more than any of AE's current FT cars OR RTR's), but just like comparing a $250 RTR car (which is a KILLER VALUE) to buying a Porsche and nothing should go wrong in two weeks, end of story. We don't know how he's driving it or where he's driving it or even how much he's driven it.

It's leaking shocks, it's not like it's an insurmountable problem that can't be solved with $10 in parts and about an hour of time watching youtube videos on how to rebuild shocks. If his speed control caught fire, ThunderbirdJunkie would be right there with him and say "Call Associated".