Is the Associated TC3 a good car to put various bodies and rims on and street bash?

[Mathew J]

or are there better options, I really would like to get a nice 1/10th car that I can put either a Porsche 911 or a BMW M3 body on it and some chrome style wheels on it and drive around in the parking lot, however I don't know which wheels will work, if they need mods or if there is a better car for this than the TC3, I am just biased towards associated since I have owned their kits in the past.

Thanks

[Animeboy123]

yes, u can put any 190mm body on the TC3 and 24mm rims and tires

[Mathew J]

How about a 200mm body as many of the ones I like are in that size? thanks

[Rdub202]

you could put a 200mm on it but it wouldnt fit right and may look pretty goofy-200mm are for nitros. there are plenty of 190's out there man just keep lookin.

[TC3Racer]

yea 200 mm will make it look pretty funny. Any 24 mm rims will fit just like Anime boy said and it is great for bashing. Check out Venom Racing for some sweet premounted rims and tires. They are great.

[aviaar]

You might look for a car of less caliber. The TC3 was designed to race, not to bash. Yes, you can just play with it, but there's maintainence that comes with it.

[Race123]

Actually, the TC3 is perfect for bashing. The shaft drive and sealed diffs make it ideal for dusty parking lots. If you're not going to race than the rtr or racer kit should fit your needs. Regardless of which car you choose, maintenance is something you can never avoid.

As for wheels, 24mm, 26mm, etc. will all fit the TC3 - they use a universal mounting system so you shouldn't have any problems.

Also, the TC3 is designed for 190mm bodies (and there are a ton of choices out there), but if you find a 200mm body that you really like go ahead. We're talking about a mere 5mm on either side - it's barely noticeable. In fact, if you lower the body for a real slammed street look than the tires will clear the wheel wells and won't rub on the body.

:cool:

[trw]

if you really want a 200mm body, AE does make a 200mm conversion for the TC3.

[KTRTS]

If you want to mount 200mm bodies, mount 3mm offset wheels on with 2mm spacers (various companies do the wheels with spacers). This widens the cars 5mm each side, therefore it widens the car by 10mm so 200mm bodies wont look crap :)

[Pro3/nmt105]

The XXX-S, although a racer, might be better for bashing because its drive train including the spur gear is completely sealed, so you wont have any problem with pebbles. I think pebbles could get stuck in the exposed spur of the tc3. The only problem is that you'd have to get the graphite plus kit which is semi-expensive because I dont think they make the regular kit anymore. The graphite parts are stiffer and will help the car respond quicker but they will break more easily.

[trw]

ive driven my Tc3 alot and ive gotten many rocks in my drivetrain before...the shaft just pushed em aside and my car kept on smoothly, but the chances of a pebble getting stuck in the spur are very slim, since the spur is constantly rotating at such a high RPM, any rock that even touches it will bounce right off.

and if your refering to the composite peices beeing out of production, look again, my car still has a full composite chassis, and if need be i can still go buy all the composite peices off of towers, they are seperate though while you can buy all the graphite peices as a set for $61 (not including shipping)so no, you dont have to buy the graphite setup.

now you did mention "graphite-plus", theres only one graphite setup for the TC3, and thats just graphite, never have i seen a "graphite-plus" for it. :confused:

[Pro3/nmt105]

ive driven my Tc3 alot and ive gotten many rocks in my drivetrain before...the shaft just pushed em aside and my car kept on smoothly, but the chances of a pebble getting stuck in the spur are very slim, since the spur is constantly rotating at such a high RPM, any rock that even touches it will bounce right off.

and if your refering to the composite peices beeing out of production, look again, my car still has a full composite chassis, and if need be i can still go buy all the composite peices off of towers, they are seperate though while you can buy all the graphite peices as a set for $61 (not including shipping)so no, you dont have to buy the graphite setup.

now you did mention "graphite-plus", theres only one graphite setup for the TC3, and thats just graphite, never have i seen a "graphite-plus" for it. :confused:
I was talking about the XXX-S the whole time with one reference to how things can get stuck in the TC3s drivetrain. The graphite XXX-S kit (the only XXX-S kit available as far as I know) is called the graphite plus kit. I had a friend who used to bash his TC3 and after 2 minutes his spur had a bunch of rocks stuck in it.

[trw]

lol my mistake :D

its really hard to believe you about those rocks, extremly hard, there is no place for them to get wedged against or on the spur gear, except in the bottom portion, but it spins so fast to get one stuck in there you must be driving on a construction site or sumfin.

[Mathew J]

Thanks for all the responses, and I will look into the 200mm kit for the TC3, with regards to the XXX-S I am really not a Losi person if I have a choice, and the fact that they only offer a graphite kit is somewhat of a turnoff, if I were ever going to race the car I wouldn't care but this is just something I am going to take out in parking lots and put nice bodies and rims on to look good...thanks again.

[racerrandy]

If you want strickly a basher, you might try a tamiya kit. Pretty cheap and tough.

[Mathew J]

If you want strickly a basher, you might try a tamiya kit. Pretty cheap and tough.


Thanks on the Tamiya suggestion, however having owned many of their kits (upwards of 10-12) I doubt I would ever buy another, they are nice and all but their parts are generally expensive, they are not that performance oriented and their overall build imho is too over engineered whereas Associated tend to be more minimalistic which I prefer, plus I try to avoid japanese kits as much as possible in favor of American.

Thanks

[racerrandy]

I have to agree with you on the AE stuff. I only own AE. If you put super nitro rs4 tires and wheels with a 200mm truck body it looks really cool and fills out the wheel wells. the bigger tires are great for bumpy parking lots too.
Just thought I would throw out the tamiya thing.
Later, Randy

[Race123]

If you put super nitro rs4 tires and wheels with a 200mm truck body it looks really cool and fills out the wheel wells.

Hmmmmm............where have I seen that before - lol ;)

[GramdeGixxer]

I am also an ae guy but sometimes other brands are just better for our application or are just better overall. In this case being the xxx-s It is a superior car and the sealed drivetrain is a nice plus for bashing. the rtr version is just over 250 i think. I have always had ae cars but now i find myself with a mugen a mini t and soon to be owning a lst. just because they are better than what ae offers.

[Mathew J]

I am also an ae guy but sometimes other brands are just better for our application or are just better overall. In this case being the xxx-s It is a superior car and the sealed drivetrain is a nice plus for bashing. the rtr version is just over 250 i think. I have always had ae cars but now i find myself with a mugen a mini t and soon to be owning a lst. just because they are better than what ae offers.


Thanks but I looked at the xxx-s and the price is really restrictive, especially when compared to the TC3 racer, that plus I would never consider buying a RTR car. I considered a mini T but all of the problems they were reported as having, plus the fact they were built in china really turned me off to the idea, that and the thought of pouring over $500 into one just to get it to the point where I like it.

It is a shame that losi doesn't offer anything in the same price range as the TC3 racer, but then again I was never a fan of belt drive systems especially when compared to a shaft drive.

[Cain]

Actually, have you looked online to see what people are selling on ebay? you can get XXXX-Ss and TC3s dirt cheap there.

As for bashing, the main problem with the TC3 outdoors on unprepared areas is you can get crap in your steering rack and it will bind the steering. it doesn't even take much to do that. You can try and fabricate that AE rack cover but even when I had that on there were time it still got stuff in there and whammo, steering locks up.

The TC3 is a good car, but thats something to look into. I would recommend that you also pickup the BRP protection parts, the rear bumper, front bumper, and nerf wings. That should save you some headache and protect your vehicle. Also pickup extra rear hub carriers, they are very weak on the TC3.

[Mathew J]

Actually, have you looked online to see what people are selling on ebay? you can get XXXX-Ss and TC3s dirt cheap there.

As for bashing, the main problem with the TC3 outdoors on unprepared areas is you can get crap in your steering rack and it will bind the steering. it doesn't even take much to do that. You can try and fabricate that AE rack cover but even when I had that on there were time it still got stuff in there and whammo, steering locks up.

The TC3 is a good car, but thats something to look into. I would recommend that you also pickup the BRP protection parts, the rear bumper, front bumper, and nerf wings. That should save you some headache and protect your vehicle. Also pickup extra rear hub carriers, they are very weak on the TC3.

Do you mean new kits or used kits? also thanks for the info as I will look into that, I only plan on driving it on pavement and what not, nothing too bad.