BlackKat

Most durable body shell? Throw your 2 cents into the pot!

If I get a chance to race this year I won't have a whole lot of cash to spend. Every little bit helps and that leaves me wondering what the most durable shell I can get would happen to be.

Thanks -Dan

ford_racing

iTrader: (6)

generally anything HPI or Protoform, with the exception being the CTS, cracks very easily along windscreen

andrewdoherty

iTrader: (49)

I dont know if this is acceptable to you but there are ways of strengthening a lexan body. I've seen fiberglass drywall tape and some type of glue (I can get the name if you need/want) used in the high stress areas under the body. You can also mount a body post on your diff case using a regular 4-40 screw threaded from inside the diff case on a TC4. Then you can file the post down and use a spare swivel body mount covered in some foam on the very tip of it. This 5th post doesnt come through the body but provides suport bewtween the wheel wells to prevent some flexing which is what causes the cracking at the tops of the wheel wells.

ChadCapece

Make sure your wheel wells are very smooth and have not angles.

BlackKat

Thanks Andrew. I might end up doing the 5th post mod when my 'C4 gets here

I'm curious to which shell people think is most stuctually durable too. All my crashes can be described as "glancing blows" or "nicking the board" I occasionally nose the car into a board but when I'm trying to find the fastest line around the track I experiment a bit. This results in trashing the front end of my shells. What shell doesn't crack as easily? So far...I tear through Mazda 6's

SMcpot

iTrader: (22)

I use the 5th post on my TC3 and 4.....significantly reduces, but doesn't eliminate, the cracking on my Protoform bodies. Since I'm using the CTS now, I think trimming away the front wheel opening a little more than the mold line dictates (so that there's no flange around the upper part of the hole) might reduce the chance of cracking even more.....gonna have to try that.

TeamPink91

I'm finding that the Stratus 3.0 AP is holding up a little better around the wheel wells that my Mazda 6s did in the past, or maybe I'm just hitting less stuff. Also, make sure you have a bumper that extends out to the edges of the body as much as possible.

josh69162

iTrader: (3)

The HPI Stratus Aero 2 has been really durable to me.
-Josh

Red RSX

5th body post may not effective as bumper flex backward on frontal crash,

I found my Mazda 6 long lasting as I put strip of foam precisely attached and cut to fit between foam bumper and inner side of front bumper