Losi XXX-S G+ vs. Yokomo SSG
 

Ok, If all you guys had a choice of racing a Losi XXX-S Graphite plus version, or a Yokomo MR4-TC SD SSG, which one do you think you would race with, and why.

I would have to say hands down the SSG. Its one of the easiest cars to drive. If you really want a good car, you might even consider running the CGM. When you do buy it purchase the Green, orange, and pink springs. You will not be disappointed. Also the car seems to get faster the more you drive it. You can pick one up from www.speedtechrc.com. He has the best prices and he want screw you on the shipping.

XXX-S is a great car. Out of the box you get everything you need, but add the black belt kit to it and it comes alive. I think it carries more corner speed then any other car out there. Having never drove a SSG I can't tell ya much about it, but I've heard a lot of people say they have problems with the diffs. Maybe somebody else can tell ya more about that.

Thanks anymore suggestions would be great.

Biggest difference is shaft vs. belt. Each have their pros and cons. Ask 10 poeple their opinion and you'll probably get 10 different. One thing a lot of people agree though; shaft equals instant power, more suited for small tight track but run risk of tourque sterr, belts equal smooth and flowing tracks with smoother power delivery and no tourque steer. Of course both have been provine to work in a ll conditions. Good luck. I think the losi does have better parts availability though. Both have won at high levels.

Well I had to make that decision myself because the CGM and the G+ were the two cars I was looking at. Here's how I arrived with my decision....

I have had Yokomo stuff before (YZ-10) and loved it. I was debating between shaft and belt. Since I had experience with 4WD before, I knew what to expect. They are good kits. I have to admit they aren't what you would call beginner cars. This was my first time in TC so I wanted something reliable and easy to work on. The Yok CGM has more adjustability which is good if you know how to make the most of it. I didn't need all of that yet. The you must remember you have to buy a body and tires for the CGM, which will raise the cost to get running.

Weight wise they are similar, and both chassis are stiff which is great for carpet. But the main factor for me was durability and parts availability. My local hobby store is pretty inept when comes to carrying anything past Associated, Losi, HPI RTRs, or Traxxas. Even then, they are not all that great. So there would be no possibility of on hand Yokomo parts. That was more of the deciding factor since I hate waiting a week for parts.

So all in all, I decided on the G+. It's worked great for me. I haven't broken anything on it yet. Had it for a couple of months now. I'm getting the black belt kit and some springs soon, so I should be able to say if it helps performance too.

Hope that helps clear some of the quagmire. If you aren't a newbie to TC, then I'd go with the Yok. Because I was on a budget and couldn't afford all the smallest electronics that you may need on the CGM because of chassis' lack of space, I decided to go with the Losi and then upgrade electronics/car later. That way I can learn more and adapt to the TC racing, and not be overburdened by "so much chassis adjustment" that I get overwhealmed and never use the car. Like say, the Xray cars.

Yeah, I have been in the hobby for a while and used to race 12th scale, but now I went up to 10th scale. i also have a quantum 2 and a rather small reciever so electronics space isn't real tight, so that isn't much of a factor. I actually have the XXX- G+, but I also have a yokomo ssg on the way so I need to decide which one I want to sell or just put on the back burner. Thanks.

I would go with the ssg. The ease of maintenance for one. Second, its shaft drive. Third, you can convert it to the cgm and it is way better looking than the losi.
Chris

Also, remember that at some levels of racing you have to meet weight minimums too. So its irrelevant on weight but you should consider rotation mass, both are good. I have both cars. Yok watch the shaft drive cups, Losi watch excessive belt skipping although a little won't affect performance, just an annoyance. Something to consider too, Losi is coming out with a new TC within a few weeks. Centered batteries, single belt again. The losi factory guys say its much better.:weird:

I thought it was going to be two belts

Another thing to ponder; I noticed your name is Corally91. Corally is coming out with its new belt car RDX by the end of the month, very interesting and exotic, I'll be getting one. Also Associated is releasing its TC4, that's an option for parts availability and its shaft.

Wow, finally a VS thread i can respond to :)

Corrally91,

I was in the same situation as you last year. I raced my XXXS for nearly a year and just could not push the car to get the extra couple of tenths i needed on my 2 local tracks. I have been racing off and on for 15 years and can honestly say that i tried everything on that car and it just wasnt for me. It always felt extremely smooth but when i needed it to be aggresive, I just couldnt get it to work for me(notice i said for me:)). The sd ssg was going to be released at the time and i have never been one to get on a pre order list but figured it was time to try something new(thank you Speedtech!). I remember last year taking the ssg to my local track, only one there with the car, no idea where to start with a setup so i used one of the supplied diff setups that came with the kit. In the middle of the day i was having my usual problems with my XXXS, the car felt very lazy so i figured what the heck and put the new SD down and i instantly found what i was looking for. As Midnight just mentioned, by far one of the easiest cars to drive, very very consistant. Also i feel like if i make a change with a camber link or shock oil etc i can actually feel the difference. My losi always felt the same for some reason unless i did several extreme changes. My poor losi has sat in my room for the last year, never raced again.

I realize that everyone is different and will have their own driving styles and one car will fit one driver better than another, for me it is the sd. Nobody can really tell you what car is better, they are both proven winners, you are just going to have to take it to the track and test if for yourself but i dont think you will be disapointed with the SD.

Good Luck,

Blake

go with the XXX-S. Its more consitant and its so smooth. I also like the support the Losi Team gives you if you ahve any questions. All you have to do is e-mail one of them and u get a reply withen 24 hours wich I love. The XXX-S in my expierence is an awsome car and is very user friendly and easy to change parts and anything else you have to do. Oh did I say that its a very fast car. I've also noticed that the XXX-S has won more races on the Pro level than the yokomo. If you get a XXX-S more people have that car than the yokomoe where I race. So you would have more help if more people have one car than the other. If you want you can try both cars. Test one car and then test the other one.

I hope this helps you.

You have no experience with the ssg though. How can you say that it isnt as good as the xxxs? Also, you can notice more people have won with the xxxs because they have a larger team that has been around longer with that car.
Chris

get both.. one for stock... one for 19T/mod.

The whole one car for each class thing is cool, but I only race 19t, lol. I would also rather have a car that is sometimes a little easier to drive than being .001 seconds faster, and on this thread that sounds like the ssg. Am I right?

Also, just out of curiosity, are the springs from the xxx-s compatible with the ssg. Yes it sounds like something a cheap homeless guy would say, but i am just curious.

the ssg would be the faster and the more consistant car. I am pretty sure the springs will be transferable.

I forgot to mention that I am racing on a smallish tight track, I wonder which one the point goes to on that one, hmmm. :D

The shaft drive car.
Chris

fo shizzle

There is a good support group for losi, and I dont think the springs are switchable from the losi to the ssg. On a small track I think your going to love the ssg. Its like having a co pilot inside your car. Its just that smooth.

Get a Xray T1R, amazing car and you just build no extra filing or glueing of carbon fibre and it's super smooth and quiet :nod: :D

Chazz

The ssg has far more modern suspension allowing for better and more useful adjustment. If you must have a shaft car tho, go for the new tc4. Its the only car I have seen that compares to the adjustability that tamiyas pro cars use.

get a xray

Springs for the two cars are not comapatable. I think it's because of their internal diameter.

One mod I have seen most of the Yok SD guys use are the longer shocks from the nitro car with the rear shock tower up front. Also I have heard if you do go with the SSG, ditch the steering setup they use in the manual and go with the CGM setup, watch out for too much flex on carpet tracks. That is why the CGM came out. Before the CGM people were using multiple upper decks just to get the car the way they wanted it. The SSG is about the most flexible chassis I have ever seen.
Xrays are nice cars no doubt, but for me, too expensive and absolutely no parts support around here. So no one drives them.

Looks like not many people have driven both cars, so as one of the people that has, I can chime in here. I owned the SSG, Black Special, Rayspeed, and CGM SD's as they kept coming out. The SSG is the worst material of all of them, it's very flexible, and I had numerous problems with the material chipping, this is after I sanded and sealed the edges. The car was not consistant because it flexed so much that it would actually build tweak in the chassis. The black special was a hair better, and the rayspeed was a hair better than that, but for some reason, driving the CGM felt like 2 steps backward. If you are going to get a SD, I suggest the rayspeed conversion, with all graphite, and a double thick upper deck, it'll still have a lot of flex, but that is the best I found.

As for the losi, I have only owned the G+, threw it down on my first raceday and it was a different world. No tweak, little flex, stronger parts, and much... much easier to drive.

From someone who has tried it all, the Losi is the better car. Hands Down.

Has anybody else noticed this bad chassis flexing, and has it been an issue?

It has been an issue from the beginning with that car. Randy can attest to it. And reading the Yok thread as consistantly as I was, so can many others. The SSG stuff seems to have better luck overseas than in the US. Beyond looking good, the SSG is about as useless a material that there is. This is why people have had to use multiple upper decks on the cars. The SSG material also tweaks very easily. If I remember right, it's basically graphite sandwiched between tin or aluminum. Which is great when you want to put tweak into the chassis, but it's not good when it comes to wrecks. Some people are so adept at chassis tuning that they can use tweak successfully. Most racers don't bother with it. They can use the suspension and roll center to do the same thing.

Does the rayspeed graphite conversion change this?

I have driven both the losi G+ , ssg, bg, and cgm. I do like the cgm overall. I did have a problem with tweak but when I used the beveled screws on the shock tower I never had that problem again.

The Rayspeed conversion is still has a quite flexible chassis. Correct me if I'm wrong Randy, but I thought he was using two upper plates on his Rayspeed also for a stiffer chassis. The main difference between the Rayspeed and the SSG is that the Rayspeed moved the servo position 90 degrees (like the CGM) and the battery placement was slightly more towards the center and and a little more forward. The chassis was also a little stiffer than the SSG, but not by much.

One thing that is nice about the double deck cars is they are overall lighter which equals more speed, in theory. But tweak will always be an issue. That is the tradeoff. If you think your XXX-S needs a diet, you can use a dremel to lighten the chassis. Nevermind if you are good, make some cool designs on the center tunnel while losing weight. Plus if you don't do too much, you won't have to worry about tweaking the chassis. Kinwald, Hodge, Francis and a few other factory drivers have done this to theirs. The cars are in the XXX-S forum. Hodge's is on page 400, I think the others are a few pages back from that. Infact Randy's is on "the diet".

It also doesn't cost you $90-$145 to buy a new chassis/conversion. Unlike the CGM conversion or the Rayspeed conversion respectively. Another reason I chose the XXX-S.