FlexTek A-Arms??? are they worth it???

[Out Of Control]

What does everyone think of Flextek a-arms they say that there indestructible and they are made of titanium so there strong, they way as much as the stock plastic arms but there alittle pricey but it worth it right?

http://www.flextekrc.com/products/T-Maxx/FXT-10001.shtml

im thinking of getting them, the only other thing im worried about is that thay make your schocks volurnable to everything what do you guys think before i spend ALOT of money

[RrR]

Well if you arms wont brake something more costly will.Bummer

[traxxas_fan101]

get rpm a arms
they are lighter than titanium and if you ever break them rpm will replace them for free

[HelicopterPilot]

Flextek also has a lifetime garuntee. Also it wont cause another part to break becuase it flexes and absorbs (key word) the impact and does not transfer the energy

[Silent Scope]

I say get RPM.. cant beat RPM products..

[Out Of Control]

i broke both front bulkheads left top/bottom a arms, 2 shocks,badly bent the 3/16 inch stainless steel chromed roll cage, broke the front bumper, and bent the top of a cooling head and twisted the driveshaft in the same, i need the strongest there is on the market :D

[zakerid]

i broke both front bulkheads left top/bottom a arms, 2 shocks,badly bent the 3/16 inch stainless steel chromed roll cage, broke the front bumper, and bent the top of a cooling head and twisted the driveshaft in the same, i need the strongest there is on the market :D
Have yet to see a review on the flex tec's, but you can't go wrong with RPM arms.

[RrR]

Flextek also has a lifetime garuntee. Also it wont cause another part to break becuase it flexes and absorbs (key word) the impact and does not transfer the energySo "thay" say.I can say my E-Maxx will go 100mph on 12 cell and stock ESC and motors :eek: But that don't make it true.LOL ;)

[RrR]

i broke both front bulkheads left top/bottom a arms, 2 shocks,badly bent the 3/16 inch stainless steel chromed roll cage, broke the front bumper, and bent the top of a cooling head and twisted the driveshaft in the same, i need the strongest there is on the market :DYou did all that did you? You need a lot more then Ti. arms LOL :p

[Grant Tokumi]

Have yet to see a review on the flex tec's, but you can't go wrong with RPM arms.
Here's a review.
http://www.beatyourtruck.com/prodreview-FLEXTEKRCarms.html

After initially being a skeptic, upon closer looks at the parts in the Beat Your Truck review, its actually looking quite promising. As someone mentions, the key is to absorb the impact instead of transferring the energy. RPM arms are flexible so they seem to absorb energy well. These appear to absorb even more energy based on its thin looks so I would not be surprised if they handle significantly large impacts.

I don't know if anyone remembers seeing the criticism of the Revo arm's "thin looks" on these boards back when only prototype pictures were available. I believe the Revo arm design was based on the same goal of impact absorption.

This is really the first design using titanium that I've seen that looks to have potential. Looks functional and lightweight. Other Ti parts are definitely functional since they are just direct replacement parts made out of stronger material, but that also makes it very heavy.

If there is any big drawback that I can see of this, its that its not passed the test of time since its a new design concept and you're really not sure if they've worked out all the bugs. Also, you really put all your eggs into 1 very expensive basket. If for whatever reason, you do end up permanently deforming the arms by means not covered under warrenty (too large a jump), you are out some big bucks. On the flip side, I guess I've also seen $75 (cost of 1 corner) go up in smoke in a single mishap as well (frying a good servo or a receiver, or esc).

Thanks for the link to this product.

On a side note. Building and bridge design uses the same concept of flexibility to absorb wind loads, earthquakes, etc. Rigid structures are more primitive designs.

[Out Of Control]

RrR i need the strongest stuff there is to me my driving lol, no i was driving my tmaxx and i was doing a hogh speen run and it just kinda swerved to the side of the road and of coarse there had to be a light post made of concerte there

[doesgo]

get rpm a arms
they are lighter than titanium and if you ever break them rpm will replace them for free

Be sure to read the fine print about their lifetime guarantee. Essentially they'll replace broken parts for free if they break under normal and reasonable use. 40mph into a concrete light pole probably doesn't fit the criteria. :p They may still replace the parts, but the guarantee is not unconditional.

[Out Of Control]

doesgo its not my fault i cant drive :D ;) :D

[doesgo]

I don't blame you, I can't drive either!

[zakerid]

Here's a review.
http://www.beatyourtruck.com/prodreview-FLEXTEKRCarms.html

After initially being a skeptic, upon closer looks at the parts in the Beat Your Truck review, its actually looking quite promising. As someone mentions, the key is to absorb the impact instead of transferring the energy. RPM arms are flexible so they seem to absorb energy well. These appear to absorb even more energy based on its thin looks so I would not be surprised if they handle significantly large impacts.

I don't know if anyone remembers seeing the criticism of the Revo arm's "thin looks" on these boards back when only prototype pictures were available. I believe the Revo arm design was based on the same goal of impact absorption.

This is really the first design using titanium that I've seen that looks to have potential. Looks functional and lightweight. Other Ti parts are definitely functional since they are just direct replacement parts made out of stronger material, but that also makes it very heavy.

If there is any big drawback that I can see of this, its that its not passed the test of time since its a new design concept and you're really not sure if they've worked out all the bugs. Also, you really put all your eggs into 1 very expensive basket. If for whatever reason, you do end up permanently deforming the arms by means not covered under warrenty (too large a jump), you are out some big bucks. On the flip side, I guess I've also seen $75 (cost of 1 corner) go up in smoke in a single mishap as well (frying a good servo or a receiver, or esc).

Thanks for the link to this product.

On a side note. Building and bridge design uses the same concept of flexibility to absorb wind loads, earthquakes, etc. Rigid structures are more primitive designs.

I've read that review but didn't count it as a "real" review. Did you notice that they also sell those arms as well? I have read a couple of their other reviews of products that I have used in the past and did not agree with them. To each his own I guess.

[Grant Tokumi]

Well, I can't say whether I count it as a "real" review either because frankly, I did not read the review. I was just looking at the closeup pictures of the parts on the review's website and making my own intuitive judgment that it looked pretty good. Having a slight background in structural design (and I use the word "slight" loosely :)) and shear/moments, the product appears to have some good engineering judgment behind it. This compared to your average aluminum/titanium/unobtanium part making company who has a caliper and a CNC machine and starts carving out parts. I can kind of see why the Flextek guys made certain areas thick and certain areas thin with no cross bracing. The Flextek website did not have very good closeup pictures like the review website did to show these things. The review contained the pictures at all the different angles that gave me a better idea.

I just now saw the video, its pretty neat. Lets see an RPM arm do that. It doesn't appear to be much force on the arms, but I'm guessing it is some serious force loads on it for the testing.

[Grant Tokumi]

I have read a couple of their other reviews of products that I have used in the past and did not agree with them. To each his own I guess.
I turn the filter on to "high" when I read reviews. I figure the review for this product might be very one-sided as well, so I tried not to read it and only looked at the pictures. Something I thought would be a great review procedure on most any product would be to have an average joe driver run it until they break it. How long did it take? What broke (it may not necessarily be the part you are reviewing)? How did it fail? Why did it fail?

Just out of curiosity, what products have they reviewed and you had not agreed? I like to hear the other side as well. And have you agreed with all of RC Car Action's reviews of products? :)

[zakerid]

Crazy nut racing brake kit for the revo, RRP slipper for the tmaxx, full force screw kit... I like the BYT site, vids, and forum. Just not a fan of their reviews.

[danhfvcsd]

Didn't BYT say that they liked the arms so much they DECIDED to START selling them???

I think when they reviewed them, they THEN decided to start selling em.

[Out Of Control]

so waht does everyone think should i save up to buy em or should i just stick to buying the rpm A-Arms let me know

thanks
out of control

[doesgo]

What's the price difference?

[danhfvcsd]

I say if you got the dosh, and if you like em personally, i'd just get some - they look horn too man :)

I wanna get some for my LST later on when i get some more dosh together ;)

[Grant Tokumi]

so waht does everyone think should i save up to buy em or should i just stick to buying the rpm A-Arms let me know

thanks
out of control
As I am a more "close to the vest" type person, I would personally not invest that much money into such a radically different design until I've seen multiple people with them and crashing hard multiple times and coming out ok. So I'd go with the RPMs. But.... your personality might be different. The TMAXX and Revo are/were radically different designs when they were introduced. Would you back order them before it was even available to the market, not knowing really how good the product was in real life conditions? I would not, no matter how convincingly good it sounded on paper and video. But if you are ok with that risk, then my initial "jump to conclusion" thought of the flex arm is that it looks promising so I would not think you are making a bad decision by purchasing them. Buying typical aftermarket aluminum arms I think is a bad decision, but not these.

[Out Of Control]

ok, doesgo the price difference is:
flextech=$300 for all 8 arms
rpm= not evem $40 for all 8 arms

grant tokumi: i want them but there realy expensive an i dont hear enought to want to buy them so i want to agree with u on it im probley going to get the rpm a arms because there cheaper, and trust me i know aluminum is not that good because it bends

[danhfvcsd]

woa -lmfao- i didn't realise there was THAT much of a difference -rotf-

Yeah man - go the RPM arms first - then once you're happy with all the rest of ur upgrades, and if you still want, THEN go the flextech arms :)

I didn't realise they were so cheap (rpm -lol-)

[doesgo]

WOW! Those arms are pretty cool, but not THAT cool! Sheesh!