410 plastic shock towers?

[MHeadling]

Anyone seen this?

http://www.team-durango.com/blog/2012/05/09/carson-wernimont-tq-win-at-jbrl-round-3/

Looks like plastic shock towers, dont know why you would want these are the carbon/ali towers do the job just fine!

[mark christopher]

Anyone seen this?

http://www.team-durango.com/blog/2012/05/09/carson-wernimont-tq-win-at-jbrl-round-3/

Looks like plastic shock towers, dont know why you would want these are the carbon/ali towers do the job just fine!

cost..............

[Adam Skelding]

Indeed they are plastic...
I think some peoples eyes are painted on, we've been testing them for ages..
:thumbsup:

[Big G]

yup I spotted them on Adam's car many meetings ago :D

[MHeadling]

Whats the benefit of these Adam?

New mounting positions?

[MHeadling]

Also in the 2nd picture on the link, looks like brass rear gearbox inserts?

[jamiew]

Rear gearbox inserts are a neat idea.

Will these be available anytime soon.

[guinness]

the link does not show what u talking about ??

[JohnM]

the link does not show what u talking about ??

Did you not look at the pictures?

[mark christopher]

small bore shocks back on too

http://www.team-durango.com/blog/wp-content/gallery/carson-jbrl-rd3/carson-dex410-2.jpg

[MHeadling]

Cheers for posting the pic Mark

Maybe Durango are going plastic fantastic?! The DESC210 has a moulded plastic tub chassis, will be see a moulded 410 chassis??

Good to see new items on the horizon :thumbsup:

[av4625]

those small bores look diffrent too the shock caps defo are different and they just look different to mine?

[s22jgs]

plastic is the way forward!

[jkclifford]

plastic is the way forward!

Nah, the old ally ones are bomb proof bend em then straighten em back out!!

[s22jgs]

yeh but durango dont make so much mark up on them LOL

whats next, plastic turnbuckles? LOL

[dpackster1980]

I think it's a cost thing as there's nothing wrong with the carbon towers. But there's 2 ways of looking at it.

1) The carbon towers don't break or flex so if you crash the front bulkhead snaps clean where the screws go through the side.

2) The plastic tower might have more flex so maybe less likely to break the bulkhead only if it's not the glass filled plastic. If they are glass filled plastics they'd be pointless.

Then again Durango may want to craw a few extra pennies back per kit and make them standard in the kits and still charge the same price. But if they are it wouldn't bother me it's a good car for the money. :thumbsup:

[coleman758]

I dont see any gains from using plastic?, TD need to watch what there doing.

In my opinion the V3 has been made to cheap. At the end of the day you get what you pay for. Appart from a few cheap changes, Like the Shell & New Wheels. The "Old" 410 is a far superior car!

[Big G]

I didn't see the point in including the alu pods or servo mount with the car. after all the servo mount won't change the car in terms of handling much at all.

The alu pods have been in my box for over a year now having since swapped to the plastic ones.

With my V3 I did buy the alu gearbox parts and steering plate though.

[Aran]

id rather had plastic towers for the reasons people have already posted.

on my dex210 i haven't broke any towers yet.

[Adam Skelding]

I dont see any gains from using plastic?, TD need to watch what there doing.

In my opinion the V3 has been made to cheap. At the end of the day you get what you pay for. Appart from a few cheap changes, Like the Shell & New Wheels. The "Old" 410 is a far superior car!

We do watch what we are doing, hence why everthing is tested before it goes into production.

Options have been tried and tested on the car and some haven't been released as they offered no gain in either performance or 'bang for buck' for the end user.

Plastic towers are a way that we can pass on saving to the customer without affecting performance. Myself, Nathan and Craig have been testing them in this country aswell as the US Team and EU team to make sure they are durable.
They offer the same holes as the Fine Tuning CF towers and also offer a saving in your pocket if you break one. Although we have yet to break one including a full speed impact at the Worksop indoor series.

The V3 improved on the old 410 on pure cost.. We stripped the car back to what the team run, removing of some of the expensive included items in the kit which really don't offer a performance gain but are very bling.

The choice is really now in the customers hand to tune a car according to their budget.. Never a bad thing really.

[mattr]

I bet i can break them.......... well, maybe 6 months ago i would have broken them.

Don't seem to be crashing so much these days....

[mattr]

1) The carbon towers don't break or flex so if you crash the front bulkhead snaps clean where the screws go through the side.Yup, done that.......

2) The plastic tower might have more flex so maybe less likely to break the bulkhead only if it's not the glass filled plastic. If they are glass filled plastics they'd be pointless.Depends doesn't it. You've got a dozen or more grades of plastic that are practical to use here (at least) then another handful of tuneable characteristics, *just* with the material/glass fill.

Then they can start looking at geometry tweaks.

[coleman758]

I agree Adam, But is that not what the 410 - 410R was about?

What i'm trying to say is the V3 should have been around the same spec as the old 410 including all the goodies.

and the R version should have been what the V3 is now.

In my oppinion is like Mclaren launching a £6k hatchback :thumbsup:

Sorry if its sound like i'm ranting :woot: I love Durango Cars, I was ecstatic when I saw the that the V3 was coming! But was disappointed when i realised my current 410 is a higher spec? So i just added a few parts like the 14mm Hex's, Shell and a few other bits...

[Netmav]

Can anyone tell me when/if these will be available?
I've broken three front carbon fine tune towers and one rear carbon fine tune tower in the last month!! They snap like matchsticks, or so it seems. :cry:
I've never had the plastic bulkheads breake, just the carbon towers..
I run mainly on carpet, btw.


\Martin

[Big G]

how on earth did you manage that?

I only managed 1 in 18 months

[Netmav]

how on earth did you manage that?

I only managed 1 in 18 months


I wish I had an answer for that, but I don't..
I don't crash very often or very hard either (compared to the other 410's at our track).

I'm thinking maybe it's the optional steel shock mounts that cause this (combined with my crashes). I'm gonna try the original plastic and screw ones, and see if that makes any difference..
I can't afford to breake the carbon ones at this rate! :(


\Martin

[JohnM]

Can anyone tell me when/if these will be available?
I've broken three front carbon fine tune towers and one rear carbon fine tune tower in the last month!! They snap like matchsticks, or so it seems. :cry:
I've never had the plastic bulkheads breake, just the carbon towers..
I run mainly on carpet, btw.


\Martin

Try the older style carbon towers from the "full fat" 410, they're listed on the options page for the V3, mine are the still the ones that came with the car 2 1/2 years ago:thumbsup:

[AmiSMB]

I keep breaking the fine tune towers whereas the old 410 original has never failed me yet!

[hotrodchris]

I only run the old spec front tower or the one from Atomic Carbon and that only broke when a car flipped in front of me and i collected it as i was accelerating so it was expected!:(

[av4625]

i use metal ones cant go wrong!!!

[hotrodchris]

the metal ones are ok but do not have the same tuning options as the carbon!

[av4625]

well my car goes very well on them theres 5 holes at the rear and 4 at the front

[Origineelreclamebord]

the metal ones are ok but do not have the same tuning options as the carbon!

But in metal you can easily drill extra holes if you are looking for more setup options... Carbon is a little dusty, dirty, gritty, and your common household drillbit? It doesn't like carbon! :p

Anyway, just my opinion on this:

I think it would be nice to see plastic towers, but then PLEASE change the construction all together: This car's aesthetics and design were clearly built around plate type towers (and then I don't mean moulded 'plates' of plastic).

I don't really like the price thing Durango have got going on lately. I've bought a 2009 spec Durango (NIB) a year or so after it's release, and it's hands down the best car I've ever built! Yes, some fits were actually too tight, but I'd rather have that than a sloppy car, and overall everything went together so beautifully, and the spec is mindblowing! I've recently built a DEX210, and though it was awesome to build, it missed the feeling of specialty over it when it was finished. I guess that, even when the Team drivers don't use certain parts, they can still be very useful or a nice addition to the car. And there are some things, like the metal top mounts for the shocks, aluminium adjustable retainers and the 'small attention to detail' that is just lacking.

The Durango was a statement and a very well performing car. Now it's just a very well performing car (like the others in the field).

Nothing wrong with that, it's just that I would pay the extra bucks for a package that does offer those parts. Therefor if I'd buy a DEX410 then I'd certainly look out for a second hand 2009 or 2010 spec and upgrade it with big bores (and some other updated parts if/when they break) instead of buying the V3. It's easier and cheaper than buying a V3 and upgrading it with the aluminium machined parts the V3 is 'missing.'

That said, I still love the cars, and I do understand the decision to try and maximize performance for minimal money... But please leave models in the range that do 'have it all' out of the box - even if the demand is very low for those. Perhaps a DEX410EV3 (E stand for Exclusive) would be a good addition to what you currently offer? :)

[av4625]

I can see what your saying but durango is a business and they arent going to make something that ther is a low demand for. it just would be viable or what ever the word is lol. you defo cant say that there is no attention to detail cause some of the guys at my clubs that i race at say that the cars are nearly over engineered and in my opinion this is awesome just look at the 210 4 different motor configs with one gearbox congrats TD i say. Lots of there parts have the TD logo which means theres detail. The plastic shock tower thing well i havent broke any on the 210 yet. If you want carbon ones in the kit it would make the kit dearer so they have them as an option for the people who want to them and have a little more money to spend so its the same difference. The 410 is by far the best car i have ever driven so i respect TD in watever changes they do, the club that i race at every week only had 2 410's at the start of the season and when they saw how well mine went i think there is now 8 or 9 :D

[Origineelreclamebord]

I can see what your saying but durango is a business and they arent going to make something that ther is a low demand for. it just would be viable or what ever the word is lol. you defo cant say that there is no attention to detail cause some of the guys at my clubs that i race at say that the cars are nearly over engineered and in my opinion this is awesome just look at the 210 4 different motor configs with one gearbox congrats TD i say. Lots of there parts have the TD logo which means theres detail. The plastic shock tower thing well i havent broke any on the 210 yet. If you want carbon ones in the kit it would make the kit dearer so they have them as an option for the people who want to them and have a little more money to spend so its the same difference. The 410 is by far the best car i have ever driven so i respect TD in watever changes they do, the club that i race at every week only had 2 410's at the start of the season and when they saw how well mine went i think there is now 8 or 9 :D

My point is: They're currently still selling all the bling bits seperately... How much more does it cost a company to release another model (or possibly a limited one) using parts they already have? If you distribute it only through your own website/webstore, surely it can't be that expensive? And I'm sure they'll make the (obviously smaller) group of customers happy that really appreciate the parts that are kind of 'overdoing' it :) (including the parts that are not overdoing it but really help, in big or in small ways).

I'm not saying by the way the cars have lost all attention to detail in the literal way, and the construction is indeed very clever - but to get the most out of the cars, there are some nifty parts (or plain fancy ones) that Durango doesn't include anymore as standard. It breaks down the identity that set Durango apart from the rest - it's not so much damaging for the actual quality of the car, but I think Durango will lose it's edge and unique character due to it - something that in the long term is at least as important as the actual performance of the car.

It was part of the identity, the experience, that Durango sold. Every brand needs to distinguish itself, and I think they had the right position and segment in the market, even in these economic times. Look at it like this: You already have the AE's, Tamiya's and Kyoshos... The Schumachers (which are a bit of an odd-ball and typical British pride if you ask me), there are the brands that give bang for buck like Ansmann (something Durango could and should never attempt to directly compete with), and then there was a gap... The innovative, daring, elite-kind of car. Durango not only made themselves unique by design, also by price... until last year. Blending in as a manufacturer with relatively radical designs is something I'm not sure will work well for them in the long term... We'll see.

[TonyM]

... How much more does it cost a company to release another model (or possibly a limited one) using parts they already have? . . .

I fully agree. Let's have a 'full-fat' version, call it Limited Edition, World Edition, Gold, V3+++, or whatever. Here's what I'd add to the current V3 build:-

· 210010 D Joint Driveshafts
· 220003 Flex Brace
· 310006/7 Rear Gearbox inserts
· 310145 Machine cut Diff Ring Gears x 2
· 310208 Rear Gear Box Holder (don’t know why they haven’t produced a front one?)
· 330032 Shock Mounts x 2
· 330045 Titanium Tunbuckles x 3
· 330311 Aluminium Servo saver
· 330335/36 21o Caster Blocks
· 340001 Machined Steering Plate
· 340002 Machined Servo Mount

Of course there will be a few items which can be removed from the V3 build e.g. Steel Steering Plate, Standard Diff Gear Rings, Centre Driveshaft set, Graphite Brace, Steel turnbuckles etc.

On Durango’s list prices the above come to a whopping £370. Add to that the price of a V3 £283. Total £653. Then allow for the removal of the redundant V3 items, plus I would suggest the roll bar set (very few I know use them, so reasonable to have as optional). Make an allowance for bundled kit pricing and I’d suggest a price in the range £490-£530 would be attractive.

People would need to feel they are buying something special, so provide a specific logo sheet and an invite to attend a half day set-up briefing session with one of the national team drivers (run set times in the year). Hey presto – a winner.

To the above I’d simply add the Tresrey Hex Wheel clamps and you’ve got one class piece of kit. Hmmmm? besides the 21o Caster Blocks, that’s exactly what I’ve got. :thumbsup:

[Northy]

410 cf towers (non V3 fine tune towers) back at AC by popular demand :)