ORIGINAL: brio
Mr snuggles... why do you say using alum for a basher is not good? I have some Aluminum parts on my truck and they're fine. It's not much alum., just lower arms, rear hub carriers and front turnbuckles, but it handles well and they don't break like the plastic counterpart. Yes, I bash my truck pretty HARD.</p>
Aluminum is good in some spots, mostly to reduce deflection and for making some assemblies more rigid.
The arms, are a bad idea- as well as the buckles- they will bend when you hit the truck hard enough. The pieces that should be upgraded to aluminum, are shock towers, steering assembly, throttle mixing assembly, hubs if so desired, and thats about it.. The steering and throttle rack/mixer have a lot of slop in them, and deform while the servo is operating. Stock shock towers are pretty soft, and deform a pretty large amount to the extent of punching holes in the fuel tank in the rear.
Bumpers, skid plates, arms, roll bars- or any pieces that make immediate contact with a surface during impact- are a bad idea... The reason for those being plastic, is so those parts can deform and absorb the energy, and hopefully spring back.