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FIRST IMPRESSION: The RC Solutions shock towers, roll cage and skid plates come nicely packaged and include all the necessary hardware for installation. The hardware included is a good quality stainless steel. The shock spacers and roll cage spacers are polished very nicely and add a detailed look to the components. We have seen other kits similar to this that have lower quality hardware and "ugly" unpolished aluminum spacers included. Nice work RC Solutions!
These parts are made to work together, not necessarily by themselves. For instance, the shock towers can not be used alone as they do not have body post mounts. The post mounts are built into the roll cage. We will however rate each part separately as they each perform unique functions on the truck.
INSTRUCTIONS: The included instructions are some of the best we have seen in any RC upgrade kit. Full color instructions with digital pictures ensure everything goes smoothly. You will want to pay special attention to the instructions for the roll bar to ensure everything gets put together properly (interlinking bars etc). A note on the shock tower installation: RC Solutions supplies two different lengths of upper shock spacers. The longer spacers go towards the closest bumper. If you miss this step in their well written instructions, you will find yourself with bolts that are either too long or too short. The different length spacers are appreciated as they keep the shocks in a nice, straight operating position.
 QUALITY & FEATURES - SHOCK TOWERS: The towers are constructed of 6061-T6 aluminum. There are three (3) adjustments for the top shock mounting position. A very interesting and exciting feature is the integrated bump stop for the upper a-arm (see picture to the right). This keeps the shock from fully compressing (we all know that's when things like blown shock caps start happening). This is a feature that we have not seen before in an aftermarket shock tower (they may be out there but we haven't seen them). It essentially helps reduce shock load and that's a welcome addition for any monster truck. The upper shock mount features one 45mm screw that holds both shock caps to the tower. Remove one screw and you have two loose shocks. It is a time saver when it comes to changing shock positions and simplifies the entire process.
 QUALITY & FEATURES - ROLL CAGE: The roll cage is constructed of 6061-T6 aluminum. It eliminates the need for standard body posts as they are built into the cage. Note that if you plan to use a body with this cage, you will have to do some serious lexan cutting to make it work (the instructions show you an example) due to the shape of the cage. The cage also provides alternate body clip mounting locations so you will have to drill a few new holes. Our thought is - this cage looks so awesome, why would you want to cover it up?!
 The quality of the cage is very good and it provides an excellent level of protection to the truck vitals. It does this without limiting access to your trucks goodies. Meaning you can still make adjustments, perform maintenance etc without having to remove the cage. This is a huge advantage over other full roll cages on the market today. The hardware and spacers are very good quality. The cage features nice cut-outs for the edge of a standard chassis however it also worked well in conjunction with our Spider chassis. Note: the lower roll cage mounting plate acts as a center skid plate and due to the design, it may interfere with certain truck stands. It wraps around the chassis braces and widens that area slightly. (Not a big deal I just wanted to mention that for those of you who recently bought an AJS stand - it doesn't fit very well on the stand).
QUALITY & FEATURES - SKID PLATES: The skid plates are constructed of tempered spring steel (.042" carbon steel). This is something that we have yet to experience in an RC world that uses plastic, aluminum and titanium to make their skids. "Spring steel" is just that, springy! Upon impact the plate will flex and absorb some of the force before it gets transferred into your truck. Great idea and it appears to work pretty well. The skids are lightweight (same weight as 1/8" aluminum) and quite thin (.042"). In fact they are significantly thinner than the stock plastic skids. Holes are countersunk and there are the traditional access holes for drive shaft yokes etc.
PERFORMANCE - SHOCK TOWERS: While they may look thin (and they are compared to some of the big thick towers that are out there), they feel incredibly strong. Apply force to the towers in a vertical direction and no flex at all will be felt. Applying force horizontally will show flex but nothing too concerning. Of course anything can be bent but we think it would take some solid effort to bend these. There would little to no chance of any bending taking place when used with the roll cage system. The "thin" construction helps keep the weight down and this is a plus.
PERFORMANCE - ROLL CAGE: This thing is TOUGH! We pounded this cage on grass, dirt and pavement with no ill effects (other than some serious scrapes). It protected the engine very well. We did notice that it is a little tight to get your glow plug igniter onto the glow plug. Ours fit but barely. For those of you running EZ-Start, this is not an issue and there is a handy wiring adaptor bracket (a must have as the stock rear body post is gone). We really liked the curved design to the roll cage. It seemed to allow the truck to roll completely over (on front to rear endo's) and land on it's wheels more often than normal. Rock solid, interlinking, chassis reinforcing construction and all for only 8 ounces of weight! It looks like it weighs more but it doesn't. In fact, when it is in your hands, it feels super light. Note: The only bad thing about running without a body is that on certain undesirable landings (aka roof landings), the cage would dig into the turf like a shovel and leave a good sized divot. We BEAT this roll cage and it held up very well.
 PERFORMANCE - SKID PLATES: We had our doubts about the skids as soon as we took them out of the package. They seemed too thin, lightweight and flexible to protect the truck and act as bumpers. For the most part, we were wrong. They did a good job of acting as bumper replacements and may actually work better than bumpers. When the truck would climb up to a wheelie, the rear skid (remember...spring steel...springy) would hit the ground and sometimes push the front end back down. Pretty cool! We gave the skids a heavy duty workout and after impacting a few rock piles at high speed, we were able to dent the front skid and put a slight bend in the rear skid. No harm done other than they are a little crooked. The thin design of the plates created an anomaly that we did not care for. The chassis braces stick out (see picture) and catch debris, rocks, dirt or whatever. The edges of the chassis braces would have to be filed down to prevent this from happening or you could add some washers/spacers between the skids and the chassis brace mounts to even things up. We also noticed that although the plates have countersunk holes, the screw heads still stuck out a little (see picture). We talked to RC Solutions about the screw heads and they recommended countersinking the surface below the plates. This would allow the screw heads to drive in farther and thus eliminate the "sticking out" problem.
 FIT / FINISH / APPEARANCE - SHOCK TOWERS: The towers fit perfectly to stock bulkheads and to a set of aluminum bulks. Nice stainless steel hardware is included for mounting these to aluminum bulks (thanks RC Solutions). The towers we tested were anodized red. The anodizing was even and gave the towers a nice look. We really liked the look of these towers when they were bolted in. They have a unique look due to the bump stop design and will give your truck a slightly different attitude than the other trucks at the track or your favorite bashing spot (unless they are outfitted with RC Solutions too). No complaints in this department. Everything fits well and looks good.
FIT / FINISH / APPEARANCE - ROLL CAGE: Duh! The roll cage looks killer! The anodizing looks good and we thought the red complimented our blue and silver truck. Everything fit well with one exception. We had to do employ some strong arm tactics to get the rear mounting holes to line up with our bulkheads. To be fair, it may have been something with the aluminum bulkheads we have on the truck. Never fear, we got everything on and ON IT IS! Once it is installed, you can really appreciate the strength of this cage. We were worried that the cage might not work with our aftermarket chassis however it did without a problem. Lining it up to a stock T-Maxx chassis proved to have the same results. Did we mention this thing looks like something out of Terminator 2? It is probably the best looking roll cage we have ever seen. Bonus, it works great too!
FIT / FINISH / APPEARANCE - SKID PLATES: The skids posed no problems with fit (other than the chassis brace overhang). The finish on the skids is nothing like the other parts. Being that they are made from steel, they are not anodized rather they are "clear zinc" plated, which gives them a silvery color. The zinc plating was a bit uneven and really didn't look quite right. We spoke with RC Solutions regarding this and it sounds like it may just be a variation in the coating. After an hour of beating, it really didn't matter as they were full of bash rash anyway!
COST / VALUE - SHOCK TOWERS: The shock towers run $20 a set (you will need two sets per truck) and we feel this is a good value. You are getting good towers and quality hardware and spacers to mount them. There are cheaper towers and towers that are more expensive. For the money, you would be hard pressed to find a better set of shock towers for $40. (Remember that you have to use these with the RC Solutions roll cage as they do not have a place to mount body posts.)
COST / VALUE - ROLL CAGE: The roll cage sells for $105 retail. Although there are a number of less expensive alternatives out there, not many can offer you the accessibility to the components and strength this cage can. We feel this is a good value despite it's price. This is not some welded up piece of brass tubing from some guys garage. It is a solid, smart system that adds strength to your entire truck while protecting it at the same time.
COST / VALUE - SKID PLATES: The skids are $20 each ($40 for front and rear). They serve their purpose and allow you to get rid of the bumpers on the truck (the plates are light and losing the weight of the bumpers is also good). They are not the best looking skids but again, after a short time bashing, they all look pretty rough. The value is "average" to "slightly above average" on the skids.
THE OVERALL VERDICT:   (Rating of all items above as a whole)
There are a lot of shock towers, skids and roll cages on the market. Features like the "bump stops" on the shock towers and a roll cage that still lets you work on your truck set RC Solutions apart from the crowd. We like this stuff. We like it a lot!
Something different?! Now that's a good idea. That's what RC Solutions is all about. Not following everyone else but blazing their own trail with unique ideas and designs for RC.
Check out RC Solutions web site for more info on these and other cool parts.
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RC Solutions - Shock Towers, Roll Cage and Skid Plates