Ok...

Is anyone else having problems with breaking suspension arms??

I am breaking them extremely regularly... and it doesn't seem to take much of an impact, nudge or bump to do it... I am racing on a temporary car park type track so occasionally running over corner markers or brushing bits of the track barriers is par for the course... but of all the different brands running on the track the E4 seems to be the most fragile and cannot withstand any sort of impact... even hitting a bump at high speed seems enough to break the arms

I've also noticed that the arms seem very flexible... so much so that setting droop can be affected by the flexing

new of kfactory for E4

yes the suspencion arm are a little fragile , i think if they made them with out the aluminum brace they will have a little more flex and they wouldnt break as much. You can mod the front arms to use the HPI Pro 4 arms but it will reguire 44 to 45mm cvd dogbones, I did this a while back but never ran it on a race

Anyone running this car with foams on carpet? If so, are there any issues with the rims rubbing on any of the suspension components?

JayBee had a foam spec he might know for sure!

Every TC's front arm are the same....I don't think TM's material is any softer then others...however, one solution is using the HARD FOAM type bumper.
I know for sure there are no hard foam bumpers from TM or any aftermarket mfr...so, try to spot a P-dub or Parma hard foam bumper and modify it to fit the E4. I have several laying around and just need to wait untill I've got the RS then I can start mounting the bumper.

Sorry to be blunt... but ... how many touring cars have you had...

Pick up a Tamiya 415M?? arm and try bending it... then do the same with a E4 arm and you'll very quickly see that they are not all the same

I've raced a 415 it is various forms since it was released as an MS and that would be something like 3 or 4 years, and in that time I've broken maybe 3 arms in total... I've broken that many in 2 weeks with the E4...

Hmmmm, OK...sounds like you know better.

You are right, the Tamiya arms are very strong. Possibly the best there is in the business!!

Solara was also right in that "most" all TC arms are the same. There maybe, and are as you have pointed out, some that are different, but on the whole there's not much between them all.

One thing you should think about ShadowAu. No one has really answered your original question.................

Perhaps your one of the few who have had problems with arms breaking.

Regards,
British Menace

Not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing

I went for ages before I broke anything (bought the car October of 2007)... even the drive shafts seemed to be lasting very well.. but since I broke that first one its like a dam has burst and now I throw $40-$50 worth of parts at it per race meeting... and to make matters worse most of the time I don't even get to finish a whole race day before I run out!

(arms are about $20 a set here... drive shafts around $50 a pair)

Arms are only about US$7 from rc mushroom - a good source of spares if you're running the original E4.

My car has only done 2 meetings, but I had 3 absolutely huge crashes the last time I raced it - and no damage at all

I know what you mean - I had the same problem with my Evo 5 - took forever to strip the front diff gear, but after the first one, I did another 3 in about 10 runs

http://youtube.com/watch?v=l2Zb7h_f7X4

E4 in Europe

Yeah I get some of my stuff there but also try supporting the local guys... tend to split it 50/50... depends if I have lots to order...

A $7 part and then $10 freight ($US) doesn't make sense if the local shop can do it for $20

True, but $24 for two sets is better, $31 for three is a good deal!

But good job on supporting the local shops and stores, comes at a price though. People here want to make money at the hobby/sport instead of just 'getting by'. And who can blame them. Others in the far east ARE happy with getting by.
Not only that, but your money still buys you a good deal of stuff across there?!

I think its also a mental thing on the car and breaking parts......... when you first get the car, your spending time getting used to it, not thinking of really going fast, or of parts breaking.
After a while, you start to really push and your thorghts start to go towards what will happen 'when' you crash, not if. Then if/ when you do break something, your thinking "..........is it a week part of the car? Will it break again when I crash"
What happens is your thinking about the broken part, and low and behold, you crash and break again.
Coincidence?? Funny how others have the same story.

Sorry for the long story all.

Regards,
British Menace

I had to shim the rear 1.5mm and the front 1mm when running the Jaco prisms.


I haven't broke a single arm running on the rug. I use the p-dup bumper for the cyclone, fits without any modifications.