My TC4 has arrived

[RH Customs]

Man I thought the TC3 was a good car. I run in the 19 spec class at my track and did fairly well and averaged arounf 20 mph, but now that I have a TC4 there is no comparrison. The Tc4 makes the Tc3 look like some think you would get at Wal-Mart. I have not raced it yet but I can't wait. Even if most TC3 owners don't think the Tc4 is worth the investment take a look if you get a chance. The car is even quicker and most of all has a supper tight and super fast steering. I will be posting pictures of the car shortly.

[viper2002]

Guys I know that have been racing 15+years and were with the TC3 since its birth say there is little difference.

If you want the best TC on the market, Tamiya TRF 415 rocks!

[RH Customs]

I'm sorry but the TC4 is where it's at. (well at least for me it is)

[Minty Fresh]

Nice!!! :cool: Congrats! Take some pics of it!

[always_opencarb]

ive heard the same as viper: stick with your tc3 and dont spend money for the tc4

[JimC]

RHCustoms, have a question. I'm building my TC4. Looking at the shocks, the spring is 'short.' What I mean is that when the shock is fully extended, there is play in the spring, up and down, like a 1/4". Doesn't seem right to me. The pictures in the manual don't seem to show this gap. Let me know if you need clarification.

Thanks.

[always_opencarb]

its the same with the tc3 i expect they use the same shocks

[JimC]

So I shouldn't be concerned. ok. thanks.

[RH Customs]

There should always be a bit of droop, the springs are fine. Put all the electroics in your car including the battery and set the ride hight to where the car is sitting about 1/4 of an inch off the ground this will be perfect.

[RH Customs]

Picture 1.

[RH Customs]

Picture 2.

[RH Customs]

Picture 3.

[BrushlessHawaii]

looks - cool - but i'm I missing something I don't see a big change - is it internal?

[RH Customs]

Yes, there have been a ton of internal changes, take a look at the manual.
http://download.teamassociated.com/pdf/manuals/tc4_manual.pdf

[GT Freak]

cool tires, wonder if those would b good for street use :confused:

[Prelude14WRX]

looks good. Dont think ill be upgrading to the tc4; lack of money for r/c and i just got my tc3 dialed after 2 years :p

[GT Freak]

just got my tc3, it loks like its BRAND NEW!!:ekk: all i have to do is put electrics in it and then its FUN RUNNIN TIME! :D cant wait!

[RH Customs]

Just brought my TC4 to the track on Sunday and I will have to say this WOW. The TC4 is so much smoother, quiter, responsive and the list goes on. I already convinced 5 drivers at my track to get one, only one problem everywhere they have looked the TC4 is out of stock. I guess I was a lucky on getting mine. Even if you don't think the TC4 is beeter than the TC3 try to drive on then get back to me because the car drives like a totally different car.

[gizmoguy303]

Yup, the TC4 feels pretty good. If you find that your front end is diving too much, install gold springs in the front. After I did this, the car felt much better. It all depends on your traction and what kind of track you run on, though. Have fun!

[stormperson]

Without saying alot... If you currently own a tc3 your best bet... Mill down your roll centers for carpet, move your battery in, and if you really want get the tc4 inside ball stud mounts, but dont waste your money on a tc4. If you currently own a tc4 I would suggest buying a tc3 and doing all of the stuff i said previously. AE obviously never figured out what made the tc3 so good while HPI was able to (as well as schumacher, as they both copied the suspenion) but the TC4 has had some major issues, there is a reason the car did so poorly at the worlds, and at cleveland.

If you tc4 is better than your tc3 then its either a placebo effect or that your tc3 was just beat or poorely set up. :(

[RH Customs]

I will have to strongly diagree with tht TC4 no being a better car. My car was setup perfect and I won quite a few races with and there are several drivers who have been racing for 10+ years and they agree with me that the TC4 is a much better car.

[gizmoguy303]

Without saying alot... If you currently own a tc3 your best bet... Mill down your roll centers for carpet, move your battery in, and if you really want get the tc4 inside ball stud mounts, but dont waste your money on a tc4. If you currently own a tc4 I would suggest buying a tc3 and doing all of the stuff i said previously. AE obviously never figured out what made the tc3 so good while HPI was able to (as well as schumacher, as they both copied the suspenion) but the TC4 has had some major issues, there is a reason the car did so poorly at the worlds, and at cleveland.

If you tc4 is better than your tc3 then its either a placebo effect or that your tc3 was just beat or poorely set up. :(

Could you elaborate a bit more? I'm very curious as to what you are talking about (in a good way, of course).

[RH Customs]

The TC4 elmimantes alot of the hassles of the TC3.
1. The width if the chassis is alread narrower.
2. Has a refined NTC3 steering.
3. A refinened NTC3 bumper and bumber mount.
4. The Material used for the car is stronger and lighter ( not sure how AE did it but they it is and it works).
5. Better better motor mount.
6. Differnet hinge pin set upt and had captured ball ends.
7. Comes stock with beefer cvd's.
8. Beefer drive shaft.
9. Beefer drive shaft imput cups.
10. More setup options by using shims and hinge pin blocks.
11. The list goes on, please check out the manual for all the info, http://download.teamassociated.com/pdf/manuals/tc4_manual.pdf

[gizmoguy303]

Um, I know what the TC4 has. However I respect Stormperson as a very fast racer, and would like to hear his opinion. ;)

[stormperson]

I dont want to say alot since it might get certain people in trouble, but I am just going to say this..

There is a good amount of chassis flex in the TC4 that did not exist in the TC3 (and the actually moved the battery's in further than was recommended on the tc3, and certain drivers who did move it in that far actually threw out the chassis and redid with the batteries moved in less, since for some reason it threw off handling), also the shock towers are more flexable. In addition the car is heavy, alot of the AE drivers either had the alum blocks machined out alot or just ran milled plastic ones to get the angles that they wanted since the stock alum ones make the car quite heavy ontop of a pigish car.

I do have the say that the new front bumper is dialed, and I always liked it on my ntc3 (Although i wasnt a big fan of the ntc3 in general, lol). The new steering isnt really going to make the car faster, but it is less maitnnece since it doesnt gum up or break, which is nice, no doubt.

As far as heavy duty drive shafts, they are just rebadged IRS units like half of their 12th scale (and other companies do it as well, there is nothing wrong with it, but there wasnt much wrong with the orig ones, the pin that connects the axle to the dogbone just wore and you had to replace em every month running mod, stock you could go alot longer.) Input thingies, replacing the old ones wasnt that bad and i never broke one, since i would replace the spur gear mount anyway and it was the same sprue (sp) so you werent buying extra parts...

and back to blocks, yes it do like that it is all adjustable without a good steady hand and a dremel or machining equipment, but they should have dont he blocks like HPI or Tamiya (Really skinny between the two hingepins).

I would have like to have seen tape as an option (although it is optional with a dremel, lol)

All in all, after running the AE for a while i cannot be happier that my xray hopefully is showing up tom so i can get testing for the novak race, lol.

Also i just have seen it run on carpet, at the worlds i heard that all of the cars pushed really badly, probalby due to chassis flex 'n stuff, but on carpet they just all look so bad, in mod half the team guys cars looked like they were runing schumacher's (go into the corner the chassi would twist up, halfway through it would stop twisting and unwind and other good stuff). And in stock alot of people had problems too, and stock is a better judge of a car IMO, since even though people are sponsored by car companies, they can move around alot easier and will depending on the car and very few people who always ran tc3's are running tc4's...

anyway thats my $.02... take it or leave it :)

[RH Customs]

Well no matter what anybody says about the TC4 it is a haas and is not weak, and does not flex as much. I Have had mine for just over a week and have in both races this week in the 19 turn spec class.

[b3guyRC10]

Oh my god, RH Customs must be our savior!! Can I get an Amen.... Halleluiah brotha!

[stormperson]

RH- if only AE factory drivers had the love of the car you do, lol.

[gizmoguy303]

Thanks for the info Storm. I might hang onto my old TC3 after all. :D

At our track, however, the TC4 seems to be doing just fine. I might hang onto it and see what happens next season. TQ and 1st place last weekend was a Yokomo with many TC4's following close behind.

[stormperson]

Honestly, club racing isnt always the best way to judge a car, unless you run at socal or a few other tracks around the country full of top driving talent. Because otherwise its tough to see if the car is being pushed to its limit. And big races and factory drivers some people complain about not being a fair judgement of a car, but when you have 5 losi's in the A main at cleveland, and two AE's (barry baker and blackstock, and for blackstock not to be top 5 on carpet, is crazyness, and he just squeezed it into the show in the last qual). Also the worlds as well, for AE to have barry that far down and only one guy in the A main, and the rest of the team so far off pace.

The TC4 isnt a second a lap lower than a tc3, its just alot of work to get it to the point where everyone had had the tc3 so figured out, since even though i am pretty sure i heard that the suspenion measurements and geometry are the exact same, for some reason the same set ups dont even come close to working. So in the future I would expect AE to figure out what made the tc3 so good (Since the tc4 prooved they had absolutly no idea, lol) and get that to work on the tc4 then i am sure it will be dialed and be a contender instead of squeeziing it into the show.

[Baja-Destroyer]

mabey the FT version will be better if it so bad...

[sbdrbyman_212]

I just got my TC3 And I am loving it so far, I have yet to race but i am highly looking forward to it. It is a great car and I havent done much to it. I cant wait to upgrade it, and be more competitive!!!

[stormperson]

Graphite parts arent helping as much as they should, since i am pretty sure although it took them a while all of their team guys had all of the factory team parts available to them. If the FT edition does infact make running changes (signifigant ones, i know already they came out with a new arm mold that is being distrubuted as we speak, but that wasnt really an issue, or a major one, although breaking arms is no fun).

And its not so bad, its just worse than the old car and has alot of inherit mechincal and design problems that the TC3 didnt have.

[JimC]

Sounds the same as a real car. Never want to buy it when it first debuts. Tend to get the bugs out that first year. I just bought a TC4. Didn't have any RC stuff 3 weeks ago. Debated between the TC3 FT or TC4, but I couldn't see buying an older model...These guys will figure it out and get it turned around.

[stormperson]

Well, there have been plenty of cars that have debuted and been fast out of the box (the losi for instance, although they actually ahd the car last year in cleveland, a certain one of there drivers ran it in practice, went .3 a lap faster, called up junior and asked if he could run it, he said sure but you wont have a ride afterward, lol. A certain AE driver this year in cleveland ran both cars during one practice session went over .3 a lap faster with the old one, and knew he wouldnt be allowed to run the old one, lol, interesting irony). But the main problem is that AE basically designed the car, none of their team guys drove it, the first time baker drove it was with plastic parts, the team guys only got graphite like a few days before the worlds, thus they never had tested with it, or the car really, no wonder it was a pile...

I would expect some wholesale changes for snowbirds if the novak race doesnt go so hot...

[RH Customs]

These are the cars I have driven:
TC3 Factory
HPI Pro 3
and know the TC4.

The TC4 is super fast out of the box and has alerady one me races within the first week.

[RH Customs]

Hey every body check out this link.

http://forums.radiocontrolzone.com/showthread.php?p=1631697#post1631697

[Stumper]

These are the cars I have driven:
TC3 Factory
HPI Pro 3
and know the TC4.

The TC4 is super fast out of the box and has alerady one me races within the first week.


Sweet ! What kind of cars did you race it against?

[EvaderRacer76]

You guys are comparing a plastic composite Team version of the TC4 to molded graphite and woven graphite cars like the pro 4 and yokomos and Xray. Obviously the chassis is going to flex more when your comparing it to those cars and materials. I'll bet almost no car around $200 has ever won any major races like the worlds, especially right when they came off the assembly line. Cars take time to fine tune and tweak, and, if I'm not mistaken, those three cars i mentioned above have been out for waaay longer than the TC4.

[stormperson]

I am not comparing a team kit or whatever to those other kits. I am talking about a fully optioned out TC4, all graphite with every FT team part you would use. AE is cheap, but not that cheap, lol. I am not reffering to minor kinks, if they ahd actually tested the car before releasing it, it would have been minor kinks, but now they are called design flaws.

BTW, I do not run for any other competitng car company that would have any interest in wooing them to your product, I am telling you this from first hand expearance of what i saw and heard from AE factory drivers at clevleand and the worlds....

[EvaderRacer76]

you make a good point. i am still for the TC4 anyway, just because i already ordered one, i should have waited for a little while longer in deciding what to get.

[RH Customs]

Evader, you will not be dissapointed, the car handles great strait out of the box.

[EvaderRacer76]

good, i figured it would probably be fine.