ORIGINAL: malice23
I cant tell u how much this helps. Thank you so much. I already Ordered the 3racing shock towers so Im assuming I just have to go with the 2 O-rings. How do the o-rings hold up over time? The atomic carbon parts look awesome though. I might get them later on. I like the fact that the atomic carbon parts dont require any limiters. You get the full benefit of the shock travel. Is the performance better when using the atomic parts? and are all the holes usable without limiters on those parts?
The shock oil sounds about right, im guesing the harder 35wt goes up front. as far as springs, what combo do you use for front and rear. Harder up front and softer rear?
The 3Racing towers are actually pretty cool. They are not made of carbon fiber like they look, but seem to hold up very well.. The O-Rings will hold up for quite a while before you will need to change them (usually a few months). In my experience they did eventually break and required replacement, but it was never really a problem. It was easy to notice since one tire would move further down than the other while I was holding the car in the air.
The Atomic Carbon towers were first made to solve the problem with the TRF dampers and it works perfectly. You do get the benefit of additional shock travel in the rear and no need to use limiters. The 'length' problem was only with the rear shocks so the front tower serves the purpose of being 'extra' strong, looking cool, and making it easier to add and remove the shocks for maintenance. I wouldn't say that their is a performance difference besides the extra shock travel in the rear.. You will want to use some longer screws to attach the wing mounts to the Atomic Carbon tower though. The Atomic Carbon tower is so rigid that the wing mounts will take all the force from a bad landing or tumble.. The longer screws keep the mounts from pulling away from the screws.. So long as you use the kit mounts you are OK (they can absorb the shock).. If you mount an aluminum hop-up wing mount (like the one from 3Racing) then you might end up breaking the diff cover after too many bad landings because the shock mount will be too rigid. I should know since I did this a couple times. I put the plastic kit mounts back on and haven't had any trouble since.
Yup, the harder oil goes up front. I have switched from the soft (red) springs to the medium (yellow) springs for the front and back [medium yellow in the front - red in back]. To be honest it seemed better to keep the soft springs (red) all around and let the heavier oil do its work to change the damping.. That was the case for the track I run on, you may find that the stiffer springs work better... You want to find that happy medium where the car absorbs the bumps and jumps without slapping the chassis against the ground.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions.. I have tested about every part Tamiya has made for the DB-01, and its the only car I have been racing at my club track for the past year.