Roboracer

Of course they are stronger than plastic, but do they bend alot? Is there a pressure for other plastic parts behind aluminum parts?
Is it better to keep the plastic or buy aluminum?

Groundforce-RCU

My Feedback: (20)

My opinion of aluminum is that, while they MAY survive a crash, the force of impact travels up the arm, to another plastic part, which may or may not break at first, but something will give sooner or later. Unless your truck/car is for show, I personally would stick to plastic. Lighter, less expensive.

b@5her

i agree with ground force ally tends to transfer the shock of the impact to other parts of the vehice which may be more expensive to replace.

i notice you live in iceland, it may be worth considering that plastic gets very brittle when the temperature drops and is very prone to braking

cardriverx

i agree with both groundforce and basher, and ive had my truck for 3 months now and i have yet to break a plastic arm.

tndiverdown

I agree with all. It makes no sense to attatch aluminum arms to a plastic bulkhead. Now, instead of the arm absorbing the impact and maybe breaking, the aluminum arm will break the bulkhead. Add aluminum to your truck from the inside out. If you must do aluminum, start with the bulkheads, shock towers, etc.... Arms should be one of the last aluminum items added.

DarkSavageX

metal gets all stached up and looks bad

Tnx_4_life

plastic can "bend" and "bend back" aluminium doesnt. it bends without te bending back part. it might be stonger, but using plastic has much more pros. lighter, cheap etc...aluminium has 2 pros. looks good and is more durable than plastic(to a certain extent)

jus stay with plastic! thats the way to go. if ya gonna make a shelfqueen get aluminium!

Roboracer

Why aren't there any carbon fiber or graphite arms on the market? It would be alot better, right?

fastcrash

carbon fiber is very expensive. thats my guess why its not used in those high impact areas.

as for plastic vs aluminum, how many of the pros use aluminum? i have never seen a racer like steve slayden, or any others use aluminum in their cars and trucks. if you need a light, durable platform, plastic is your key.

The Boss

Most Aluminum parts are way over rated, in the past before the m/t craze most of us did not want aluminum parts on our 8scale race kits. With the exception of the odd part, aluminum is considered a down grade to many of us because it does not have the durability ..."shock impact or flex memory"... as do better matierials like virgin nylons, carbon fibers, graphites, urethanes and polyethylenes.

thumpin15s

I think your better off with plastic, for the same reasons posted. PLUS since they are on a monster truck, more then likely you'll be off roading, and can break a-arms to. Its a lot more expensive to replace an aluminum a-arm then to replace a plastic one!

satoch01

RPM makes A-arms that are more flexible than the stock ones, are dyable and have a lifetime warranty. It's a lot easier to replace an A-arm than a bulkhead!! Aluminum's for beer cans!

Cloud15x

I wish I could find the site but somebody designed like a 400 dollar set of A arms for a tmaxx maid out of titanium... But the hitch was, is the flexed like plasitic but as strong as steal... Someone did a review on them..
Wish I had the link.