RC4WD - what's wrong with them?

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Webbage

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  1. Bashing
I've seen a few people uttering bad things about RC4WD, but I have several things I want that they make. Does anyone here know why they have a rep with some people or is is just people moaning without a cause?
 
Well they do have a lot of problems. Their products are often put together poorly, and not put through research and development very much. An example would be that most people who buy their FT digs have to take them apart when they get them and do some finish works on the inside just to get them to shift like they should. Or when they released the trailfinder kit, some of the parts in the kit didn't fit so they couldn't be used for their intended purpose. A lot of people received kits that were missing some of the main components, and when they started shipping the kits that didn't even have the instuctions ready to go that were supposed to be with it, and I'm not sure if they've got them finished yet. They have some nice products, but when you're paying the kind of money that they want for their products, you shouldn't have problems like that. It's just poor business practices. I'm still going to buy their trailfinder kit, but I haven't ordered it yet because they're still working the kinks out. Can you imagine how the people felt when they spent $500 on the chassis, ordered and paid for it many months ahead of time, had it delayed for a few months after the release date, and then when they finally got it there weren't any instructions (as promised) and some of the parts didn't even fit. I think that RC4WD is trying to run a good business, but they should be trying harder. Like I said, if you're going to charge that kinda money, you should be meeting certain expectations. Some of their products are good products, but there are some of them that have their problems.

Their tires are incredibly scale. However if you're thinking about getting them for a crawler you might want to think again. Although they are the best looking tires on the market, they don't perform very well like some of the crawler tires. I will definitely be running them on my scalers, but not on anything where performance matters, they aren't designed to perform well.
 
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Well they do have a lot of problems. Their products are often put together poorly, and not put through research and development very much.

That's a shame. They sell some genuinely good stuff, that no-one else really produces.

I was looking at purchasing an R2 Disconnect transmission, a Diablo chassis (just the chassis itself), and a pair of Punisher metal props (which ones largely depends what length I need for the finished chassis setup).

Their tires are incredibly scale. However if you're thinking about getting them for a crawler you might want to think again. Although they are the best looking tires on the market, they don't perform very well like some of the crawler tires. I will definitely be running them on my scalers, but not on anything where performance matters, they aren't designed to perform well.

I did my homework on tyres and for competition Ill only be using Pro Line and Losi tyres :)
 
The R2D tranny seems to work well for a lot of people. I would say that's one of their products that appears to have the kinks worked out and be of good quality. I'm not sure of the quality of the chassis, but if you're wanting to buy a comp chassis I can give you the names of some chassis that seem to do a lot better in the comps. I can't say one way or the other on the punishers. I talked to some of the guys that I crawl with that didn't like them, but I've also heard from people that did. Most people seem to agree that they're nowhere near the quality of the MIP stuff, but if that's all that will fit your dimensions that's what you'll have to do.
 
I know I have read of a good few people using R2 style tranny systems, and they seem to be happy with them. They seem to have got that one on the money, as you say.

As far as the chassis goes I'd just like some ideas on a 2.2 parallel plate style chassis with delrin skid plate that's compact, well made and will hold the R2D tranny and electronics, while keeping a low CoG and being as narrow as possible. These seem to be the required parameters most people look for.

So far the Gatekeeper GC-1, Reign J2-TT and the RC4WD Diablo look good, as does CKRC's Rockstar. I haven't had a good look at any others yet.

The punisher props I really just want because I saw no end of people pop the ball joints out on plastic Traxxas and Axial props when they got a wheel bound up. It's a proper show stopper if it happens in the middle of a section. I know it can be avoided by sleeving the yokes but that's a pain, as you have to get a tube that's a tight fit over it, or it doesn't work.

If you have any recommendations for any products you think are better or would work better for me then feel free to point them out. I'm still sounding for ideas, I'm months away from buying the chassis and tranny anyway...
 
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I'm building a gatekeeper GC2 comp rig as we speak, and it's a hell of a chassis. The GC-1 is nice as well, but I like the GC2 better. The rockstar and the diablo is basically an axial chassis that has been dressed up. All of the suspension geometry and such are set up identical. That's not to say there's a problem with either, as the axial chassis is a really good setup. I currently have a Blackjack, a Rockstar, an Edge, and a GC2 chassis. The Rockstar chassis I may use for my stock axial build, and I'll use it just as a handy backup and for people who want to go crawling with me, things like that. The TCS Edge chassis is a really nice chassis and people are definitely winning comps with it. It's a hybrid chassis, which means that it's like a standard TVP chassis on the bottom half and a tuber on top. I'm using it to build a rig that will be my beater, which will just be something that is tough as nails that I can take out and not worry about breaking anything or things like that. The GC2 chassis is made with a delrin skid and delrin sideplates, and it's just a perfect setup. It's one of the chassis that's at the top of the list for winning the big competitions. Another alternative is the Bender chassis. They have an SW2 and SW3, and Bender is currently developing a new chassis.

When you get ready to start your build, I think the best thing to do is start with an axial kit. You are going to pay just about as much for a good set of axles as you will for the axial kit. By the time you start your build, the kits will probably be around $180. Right now they're at about $195 and going down quick because of the ARTR being available for $239 or something like that. The axial tranny is a really stout tranny, and the axial/VF Dig setup is a lot smoother and easier to set up than the R2D. The axial chassis is designed so that you can swap out the skid with a 55mm skid plate and have a narrow chassis. There is a dual triangulation narorw delrin skid that a guy is building, and I would say that setup is just about as capable as the GC2 and such. When you go from that wheely king to the axial and realize how capable of a rig it really is, you may not want to change your chassis for a while. But, when you do, you can go to something like the rockstar or diablo for about $30 and all you'll have to do is swap the chassis, the links and suspension all remain the same.

If you have anymore questions, please feel free to ask. I'm no veteran or anything, but pretty much all of my RC-ism is now devoted to crawling, and I spend A LOT of time researching and educating myself so that I can be a better builder as well as help other people. I'll try to get some pics up of my GC2 build tonight.
 
Damn, now you've confused me and made me want an Axial... ;) :p:
 
Hua (the guy that owns RC4wd)has had a reputation for doing things half ass for very long time! He makes the parts that everyone wants but they are rarely in stock, the worst costumer service ever, and it's a gamble if your part will be right or not.
 
i have dealt with them and i'm not a fan at all.
 
the fit of the products just wasn't dead on. I bought the rc4wd rockstar beadlocks and i spent close to 6 hours trying to get the first wheel assembled. I was able to get one side in and then the other side just would not seat. I tried everything and noting would work. I would have everything lined up and slowly start tightenening it down and then the bead would bulge a little and start to pull out. It was ridiculous. Even when i had one side perfect, i could still pull the bead out by hand. I think the rig where the bead sits in the wheels was too shallow. I finally sent them back and got my money back.

I also bought a set of the wheel extensions from them and although i like their design the most, the hex was just a little too small to slip right over the stock hex. I had to basically tap them on the whole way and there was NO way the hex's were coming out after that.

Its just overall mediocre quality really. It looks amazing and thats the suckiest part. I stoped going there because i really like the way their stuff looks but i am sure i will have a problem with it.
 
The bad part is they have some really beautiful products and I can promise you that we're not the only ones having this conversation. The fact that it keeps happening basically shows me that their customers are not as important to them as their income, and without customers they wont have any income. It really sucks, I've been wanting to order a trailfinder scaler kit for about 6 weeks. I keep waiting for them to get the wrinkles ironed out so I can order one, and it still hasn't happened. Every week I hear of another major problem.
 
Trail Finder kit has been selling more than we expected and we are really the only company that sell a kit and offer 50+ different free upgrades. Because of this, it really has created a lots of inventory problem. We had to make and stock more parts than ever before because of those options. But we have been continuously posting most updated shipping status on our 3 of our forums. And on our site we also mention that there is at least a 2-3 weeks wait time right now.

The only known problem is the radio plate and body post, that has been resolved already, we might still have some orders that we have not ship the replacement yet. We are continue working on those. And we have posted pictures all over the place already.

If you google around for this kit, you will see there are many happy customers who got it. Both quality and design.

Just some side info, Trail Finder was originally designed, testing in Poland. They have competition there once a month, currently our Trail Finder is rank #2. And we expect to be #1. And there are a couple of long videos of those competitions on our youtube.

We also setup a dedicated forum section (you can find the link our home page for support forum) for just Trail Finder about 2 weeks ago, where our technical export can help out around the clock.

CharliesTheMan, customer is always been #1 for us. If you been follow us on RCC and Scale4x4, we spend a great amount of time and effort to take care our customers. And almost all new products goes through a lots of internal testing and public testing. We giveaway all the time, we support competition events as much as we can, rather its in the US or a small event in UK.

Of course meeting demand has been a problem for us, as we get more distributor and dealer interested in our product. Thats also one of the reason we have not release much new product lately. So we can focus more on building up more inventory. We also refused a lots of profitable OEM project for the same reason.

CharliesTheMan, I think there are at least 2 vendors now that uses our R2D break parts for their own Dig setup. We are working very hard right now to ensure TCS version will be out soon as well. And we have a 2nd version of our own in the work already, if its out, feel free to contact us for a free testing set, so you can see your self if you think its better than before.

CharliesTheMan, about MIP, yes their quality is superior when it comes to pro shafts. But please understand we didnt really start making our own stuff until 2006. MIP has been around more than 20 years already. To be honest, just looking at CVD specific, I hight doubt we can meet and match MIP quality anytime soon. Not that we are not trying, but we are two different company. We already make all kinds of stuff, I wont be surprise that you see us work on truck bodies, motors, esc next few years. Obviously our goal is not be the best in every area we enter, but create stuff that a lots of people have been wishing for a long time, basically things that was not available yet.

And if you seen our axle housing, you will know that our quality in those are are superior than anybody else right now. We will continue improve our quality, thats why you see that we release our highly anticipated up coming Bully comp axle so slow, is mainly because we want to ensure the quality meet the highest standard. And we will be choose the best drivers and partners to test them out before we even start shipping to public. Just for prototype testing, we plan to put out at least 10+ set. Thats a lots of money we dedicate in quality and R&D for a single product. We are also doing similar things with Baja tires and shocks, were we have send out 20-30 set of them for public testing. Baja shocks alone cost $150 a set retail. And we not in a rush at all putting them out for sale. We still have a few things to tweak.

flm_savage, sorry to hear about that. But I need to know your order # and take a look at it closer. Because obviously we sold a lots of these wheels without much problem, and we quite a few reputable RCC guys who own these wheels as well. And our team drive run these wheels as well on various competition events.

I assume you talk about the 12mm to 12mm widener, it is originally designed for clod and tlt-1 as stated on our site. But a lots of people using it for ax10, I think it might not fit perfectly. Again I have no idea exactly what you are using and what adaptor you tried. Feel free to send our support team and email with what you need, we are more than happy to send you what we have for free, if we have something that fit and works with what ever you have.

SMaxxin, a lots of people have said that before. I think we reply to this same question a week ago on Scale4x4, we have over 1000 products already, if you do a search for sold out on our site, we have 64 that are out. About 20 of them are baja related products, which are sold through distributor TGN, we list them so people are aware that we have them.

Obvious some of the popular products have been sold out for a long time, but we are continuously expanding our warehouse and machines to get more stuff made as fast as we can.

Also I do agree that our software application is not the best, so a lots of customer end up getting backorder even it shows that it is in stock. This is mainly because we have 4-5 different ways dealers/customers/distributor can order stuff from us. We are looking into a more central inventory application that can resolve this. Hopefully we can get this improved early next year. And you can always email us and check and see what we have or even ask on our support forum, so our shipping team can do a quick check for you. Having multiple shipping never benefit us, because we only charge a customer once for shipping fee.

CharliesTheMan, lastly I want to talk about your comments about our tires. You absolutely right about that most of our tires are more for scale than performance. Just remember we released our very first tire less than a year ago. So we are still in the learning curve.

Before I talk about 1.9 size tires, just some of you should know that our baja tires have been getting a lots of great feedback and in terms of performance they are just as good if not better in certain areas. You can see a few reviews on HPI Baja forums. And there are videos to proof that. So our tires is not just for look. Same thing happen in the pulling competition tires, they are designed for comp ready from day one. And we are still continue to find even better ways to improve as well.

If some of you guys probably already aware, we didn't release any new 2.2 tires for almost 6 months now. Why, we are working on a comp ready tire, we posted a few design idea already on RCC, but we not close yet to start working on the mold. We really hope to release a high performance comp tires in that market, rather than just release another scale looking tires.

About 1.9 tires, if you havnt read the review about our latest Out Croppers yet, email me I will send you 4 links.

We use a very new compound for the Out Croppers, review and videos shows that it is a lot better in grip and crawling compare to any of our previous tires.

We will continue do research in areas of compound and thread design and manufacturing method to improve our tires.

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At the end, I want to say thanks for bringing up all these issues about our company. This is what will make us improve and be better for the future.

But just remember we are a US company, we can't just rob somebody and ignore it. It so easy to file a complain to Paypal or Credit card companies to get your money back and keep the product.

And we have 4 public forums already and 1 our own support forum, feel free to post there if you feel you have been treated badly or receive a bad product. Of course it would help us a lot, if you can email us first and give us a chance to take care you.

Our email is rcrock(at)gmail.com, also please do not PM us, because we dont really check this forum very often. I found this post through google.

If there is anything else we can do for you guys, feel free to let us know.
 
RC4WD, thank you so much for finding this response and posting a reply. It means a lot to me that you went to the trouble to do it. As I have stated in the some other threads, one thing that you guys do not do at all is steal other people's ideas or practice unethical business pracitices (as far as I know) which goes a long way with me. All of your products are absolutely beautiful, and you guys have a lot of innovation. I know that you started out with a small business that has basically exploded with demand, and you're working as hard as you can just to keep up. Your wheels and tires are the best looking scale tires on the market, and I have a set of your prowler tires and will be ordering some of your new 1.9 tire designs that I've seen. I'm anxious to hear how the 2.2 tire turns out. As far as the performance of your tire, I don't think it's a problem that it doesn't perform like some of the other crawler tires. You are making scale replicas of full size tires, and to get them to be the best performing tire out there would require changing the tread pattern, losing the scale appearance. I think you've done the right thing by going to the scale route.

As I've always stated, your aluminum products are beautiful and innovative. The only problem that I have, and the reason that I don't have a hobby room full of RC4WD parts, is because in the past, I think you have skimped on the quality control testing, probably because of your efforts to satisfy the customer and get the product out as quickly as possible. I know that there will always be people emailing you daily wanting to know why they haven't gotten the product yet, and you'll never make everyone happy. There has to be some compromise. Now I do think that in the last few months I have seen you making a lot of progress with QC. I would love to see you allow for more testing and quality control before releasing the parts. I have always loved your products, and I was one of the first ones on here to decide that I was going to purchase your bruiser scale kit. And then I heard about the trailfinder coming out, and that was more of what I was looking for. I was really excited about the trailfinder kit, and was ready to order one, when I heard about some problems that you were having with the parts in the kits. I know that you were under a lot, A LOT LOT LOT, of pressure to get these kits out to the customers. But I would rather have seen you send out a small quantity of kits to customers, get feedback, correct the problems, and then send out the majority of the kits, than rush them to market and then discover the problems.

RC4WD, please know that this is in no way a personal attack, and I really believe that you are trying hard to work in the best interest of the customer. I'm simply trying to give you some suggestions on how to maybe regain some customers that you have lost from small mistakes in the past. As I said, I believe in your product and your ethical business practices, which is the only reason that I plan to spend that much money on a chassis kit (the trailfinder) but I have had to wait to make sure that all the wrinkles got worked out. As I'm a vendor and I design and produce custom crawler parts, you can rest assured that my products have flaws when I first begin the design phase. I've been testing and revising a very simple product for a month just because I didn't want to release something other than perfection. I will then send some out to testers and sell a small quantity to see how they perform in the hands of customers, and then I will go into mass production once everything is just right.

I appreciate the improvement that I've seen in quality control and the great customer service in the last few months, and I look forward to seeing you grow as a company and get the few minor flaws that are in the system worked out. If there's anything that I can do to help or provide input, just let me know, and best of luck to you and your company.
 
I, too, am greatly appreciative that you took the time to address these people's concerns. As a newcomer to crawling and someone with very little experience, I was just trying to gauge the issues people had with your stuff, so I could make an informed decision wether or not to buy from your company. I feel now that I'd be confident buying from you because, although you have had problems, you see to be making a serious effort to address them, and also if I do have an issue wit ha product you make I feel confident that you will be there to help me out.

Thanks for your tim and maybe one day in the future I'll be adding an RC4WD part to one of my projects :)
 
Thanks guys, the entire crawling market has change so much now compare to a year or two ago. From consumer point of view, its getting better than ever. There are so many choices now, in every categories.

We wont be around if its not because our customer, if you check RCC a lots of our products are created base on customer feedback and suggestions.

We are working a lots of unique and exciting stuff coming ahead...

here is a short list of some of most anticipated products:

- Bully Axle
- Disruptor Scale Kit
- X-Lock Comp 2.2 tires
- Baja Desert Storm Chassis

all these expect to be ready for sale in the next few months

If you guys have any questions, feel free to email us at rcrock(at)gmail.com
 
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WOW! Now if only all RC companies in the industry would step up like that and address issues first hand. I'm impressed and am also just getting into te crawler world, looking for my first kit, and doing my research. I will definitely check out your website, and see what you have to offer. Now, if we can only get Integy in the ring, and maybe have a go at them, and actually be heard!
 

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