ORIGINAL: theRCreverend.
ORIGINAL: Chris_RC
They dont work, when you preheat you engine and run it at 200-250 it deterioates the zip ties and breaks them. If you look at your car for hours straight you could do that, but there is NO difference when you race it.
They do work. I have never experienced the deterioration of zip ties that you talk about. Maybe the zip ties you used are crap. I don't use them on any of the vehicles I race, but I have a collection of vehicles I use strictly for bashing. They always see a mix of asphalt and dirt. I use zip ties on my 1/8th scale buggies because the head is most vunerable in those. I have a few turggies with low bodies and the head sticks way out on those as well.
I put a piece of fuel tubing on the zip tie and install 4 on the head. The fuel tubing covered part is on the top of the head. The trick is to not zip them down super tight. It is not necessary to crank them down and if you do they are more likely to break. They work well and survive many filps. After a while the fuel tubing wears and you have to replace them, but it's not a constant issue.
I beat the everliving hell out of my bashers, so without these zip ties I would grind the heads down to the nub.
I have tried ziptues multiple times, from slightly losoe to really tight, and I use really heavy duty zipties. I think the part that deterioates them most is preheating the engine when you have the heat gun that can get an engine up to 300 degrees blowing at the head. Also the engines Ive used this with were all V-Spec's, do they have a slightly sharp head.