Why do manufacturers paint the chassis?
 

Took a friends new but older model Hyper 8.5 to the BMX track a few days ago for its first run, after about 3 tanks and a few big jumps the chassis is showing the usual scuffs and scratches. Even though the car has barely seen 15 minutes use the chassis looks awful and thrashed.
Just wondering why buggy/truggy makers bother?

The chassis isn't painted, its anodized.

Wear/scratches are dependent upon the quality of the anodizing (thickness) that the manufacturer puts on. For instance, some of the brands with really thin/cheap anodizing (Kyosho, Ofna, etc) will wear off REALLY fast. Some that have thicker coatings (Xray, Radiosistemi, Mugen, etc.) will wear out much better.

Kyosho should definitely fix that :o

the MP9 is great, anodization is crap.. everywhere: chassis, shock towers, shock bodies... it's a shame on such a good car with a 900$ price tag

in this case they should have skipped the anodization part.. it looks like a cheap varnish

most durable chassis I had were made by Xray: XB9 and XB4

On the rough blown out dirt tracks that we drive on, no anordization would last more than a few rounds.

On the Losi's and Mugens I have seen driven from new the bottom of the chassis looked really bad after just the first couple of rounds.

The anodizing is primarily not for wear but for inhibiting oxidation.

Ever looked at natural aluminum after 6 months?