Carbon vs Graphite Chassis

[Danosborne6661]

Right when I bought my B4 FT I bought it second hand and it came with all the carbon parts instead of the newer 1 with all the plastic.
I wondered if its really worth changing the chassis to a plastic 1 and if it made any difference in handling to you lot?

We run these buggies with real soft suspension so I didn't think the stiffness of the chassis would make any difference?
I did notice that mine lands a bit harsh on jumps and that maybe the plastic chassis might help that out with the bit more flex it has.

Anyways your thoughts from people that have moved from Carbon to Plastic?

[ashleyb4]

The plastic parts are meant to give more flex in the chassis ad all parts of the car from what i remember and understnad of it when i was running my b4 was it was to make the car less twichy dont know if its true but i ran a full plastic car. I couldnt feel the diffrence as when i was running the graphite i wasn that good so couldnt compare.

A

[Danosborne6661]

The title was meant to read plastic vs graphite by the way, oops :P

[IceMike]

if the car is landing abit harsh ya need to stiffen the suspention to try and reduce the impact. i was like you runnin the car softer to generate the grip taht i wanted. But i still wasnt gettin teh desired effect. switch to a plastic chassis and stiffen the car to a minimum of 30wt

[Danosborne6661]

I am running 35/30, by soft i mean Offroad cars ARE soft with they're long travel.

My question was will moving from a graphite chassis to a plastic really make that much difference?
It's not like these are touring cars where flex in the chassis can make a significant difference

[IceMike]

the flex does make a sifnificant difference in off road 2. the graphite chassis are more suited to the harder more stable surface of the american an european clay an dust tracks. where the plastic chassis is better for the more unstable and differing surface of the british grass track. most of the national drivers change there ft graphit chassis to the plastic. the increased flex gives more grip through corners where the more rigid chassis lack this alittle.

from wot i understand that is

[Richard Lowe]

In my experience a graphite car does everything better except the plastic car has more (but less consistent) steering :)

[Chrislong]

From my experience, my first B4 was a full plastic one and it was excellent. Could do lap after lap the same within reason, setup needed little change to suit anywhere.

When I switched to Graphite, I found the car would be less forgiving and hard to do lap after lap the same. It would feel great on a setup somewhere, then next meeting be a million miles out. Would grip roll at random when id been doing laps the same all daylong - perhaps the stiffness of the chassis meant it uncoils mid-corner like a spring? I dunno, it wasn't good.

I am back to a plastic car now, upgraded with tit-turnbuckles, alloy front bulkheads, trishbits, Nortech O-rings and threaded shocks - it is how I remember my first B4 being. Very good, infact, better now I have a setup on of my own using Losi pistons.

If I was going to buy another B4, I would consider an FT but still put plastic wishbones & towers on it - keep the carbon as spare if desperate.

[Danosborne6661]

OK well it sounds like it should be worth a shot at least.
My Dad's got a X6 on the way for himself so ill nick his old chassis to try out :D