BashingBrian's X Maxx questions and experiences ( from a Traxxas noob )

[Armarookie43]

Buy once cry once

I have cried more than once by not going with the MX43. I made the mistake to sell the MX43 and get the 4.3 trenchers. ANOTHER mistake. They tore up after a few months

 

[BashingBrian]

Are the MX43's a lot heavier than the stock tyres???

 

[Matt05]

Are the MX43's a lot heavier than the stock tyres???

Quite a bit, one of the reasons a lot of people don’t like to run them on the X.

 

[KnowAir]

Nearly a half pound each heavier, or 200 grams each, 7oz..
Substantial I'd say. Backflips galore though..
I'm interested but man, my crap is running hot enough already. TBH I think it's the flat TRX tires that are causing mine to run hot.
My bro got his O8S roller up and running, brought it out on Saturday. HW max 6/1100 combo, savox servo. It rips pretty good. My X needs some upgrades now, LOL. He also bought an M2C mount and max6/4985 combo for his X.. I tried to tell him the 1650 4985 isn't a good choice for it but, he no listen..
Either way, I gotta step up I guess.

 

[Moirae]

I think i have at least 3 sets of mx43 on rigs right now. That's how much I love them

 

[KnowAir]

I think i have at least 3 sets of mx43 on rigs right now. That's how much I love them

Hey, after you posted about the MX43's yesterday, I started looking into them..thanks anyway, I see that each wheel uses "40" m3x20mm steel screws..hmm, how much weight could be shaved off by using Ti screws? Well, I exhausted my search for titanium and wrote the idea off, too spensive.. but, then stumbled onto some 7075 t6 screws that are actually affordable, under $50 for 200 of them..I wonder how much weight savings that would be? Would they be strong enough? I think so

 

[KnowAir]

Other colors available..
https://www.fastener-express.com/m3-x-5-x-20mm-socket-head-cap-screw-blue-anodized-100-pieces.aspx

 

[MiamiRC]

Quite a bit, one of the reasons a lot of people don’t like to run them on the X.

I got the Proline Mashers for this reason. Belted but not much heavier than the stock wheels. And far more durable. But they are expensive.

Nearly a half pound each heavier, or 200 grams each, 7oz..
Substantial I'd say. Backflips galore though..
I'm interested but man, my crap is running hot enough already. TBH I think it's the flat TRX tires that are causing mine to run hot.
My bro got his O8S roller up and running, brought it out on Saturday. HW max 6/1100 combo, savox servo. It rips pretty good. My X needs some upgrades now, LOL. He also bought an M2C mount and max6/4985 combo for his X.. I tried to tell him the 1650 4985 isn't a good choice for it but, he no listen..
Either way, I gotta step up I guess.

 

[KnowAir]

I got the Proline Mashers for this reason. Belted but not much heavier than the stock wheels. And far more durable. But they are expensive.

I like the idea of only buying tires at half price next time around, that's assuming the wheels don't get hammered,and broken. LOL. I don't need belted myself. I really gotta work on removing the tires without destroying them, hopefully the wheels either..I wish Proline would ditch the removable hex adapters already though, in my experience, tires never seem to last long enough to worry about adapting them to a different vehicle.

 

[Spidaso]

@KnowAir ... Does the stock servo take 7.4v from the Max6.??


Was going to upgrade the servo but my LHS said the best bang for buck upgrade to the steering is not fit a high powered 1/10 servo but just put the upgraded metal gears (TRX2087X) into the stock servo

I am going to get the roof skid TRX7817 and the heavy-duty servo saver spring TRX7746X

I don't plan on upgrading the rig with giant motors etc only a Max6, suspension pin conversion to bolts, steel spur 50T and a choice of pinions 18-20T.

Any other bits I should look at ???

Late to the game and haven't read through the thread - but we recently got a fleet of Xmaxx's for the family (only 3 actually) one for the wife, myself and SIL- Wife and I are pretty mild but SIL is a freaking monster on his, he has made me hate Talbot's videos with a passion as Talbot has money and can afford to to tear his stuff up but kids see it and try to duplicate his bashing... Tried explaining to the kid these facts.. in one ear and out the other... Sorry I digress!
The rood skid is the cheapest and best first purchase!
I am sure others have said in this but tape up the holes on the rims- absolutely must do!
I have put a spektrum 160 ESC in mine (went this route cause I wanted 8.4 on the BEC for a reefs 500, max6 only does 7.4)
20/50 gears and did drywall tape and shoe goo on body, I also did the duperdash bed reinforcement and body is holding up well.
Been wanting to do GPM or RPM hinge pins but so far the only pins that have popped have been the front carrier bearing housing, fixed with a RPM carrier set.
Went through a period of time i was stripping pinion and gears, frustrating till i connected a bent drive shaft with along with the gears getting stripped, replaced shaft and then found the motor mount wasn't straight, so replaced it and no more stripped gears for now.
I would keep a spare driveshaft on hand or upgrade to a flexible one. Spare pinion and spur couple of spare tires and toe end links. Then as other stuff breaks upgrade it as you go.

Wifes is stock except the 20/50 gears and upgraded Toe links- she still manages to break the rod end every so often but i keep a supply of those on hand as well.

Mod wise, when you do the spring use a longer bolt on the saver and put a nut on the end and cinch it down, steering will be way better.

I just got finished doing ear plugs in center diff, haven't had much time to test it out but while in there reversed drive cups to put some wear on the other surface as I hear these tend to break.

I enjoy working on the trucks as much as driving them- but i hate replacing tires at 70 bucks a pair so new project is working on a easy and expensive way to replace foams as tires do fine but foams are crap.

 

[KnowAir]

Late to the game and haven't read through the thread - but we recently got a fleet of Xmaxx's for the family (only 3 actually) one for the wife, myself and SIL- Wife and I are pretty mild but SIL is a freaking monster on his, he has made me hate Talbot's videos with a passion as Talbot has money and can afford to to tear his stuff up but kids see it and try to duplicate his bashing... Tried explaining to the kid these facts.. in one ear and out the other... Sorry I digress!
The rood skid is the cheapest and best first purchase!
I am sure others have said in this but tape up the holes on the rims- absolutely must do!
I have put a spektrum 160 ESC in mine (went this route cause I wanted 8.4 on the BEC for a reefs 500, max6 only does 7.4)
20/50 gears and did drywall tape and shoe goo on body, I also did the duperdash bed reinforcement and body is holding up well.
Been wanting to do GPM or RPM hinge pins but so far the only pins that have popped have been the front carrier bearing housing, fixed with a RPM carrier set.
Went through a period of time i was stripping pinion and gears, frustrating till i connected a bent drive shaft with along with the gears getting stripped, replaced shaft and then found the motor mount wasn't straight, so replaced it and no more stripped gears for now.
I would keep a spare driveshaft on hand or upgrade to a flexible one. Spare pinion and spur couple of spare tires and toe end links. Then as other stuff breaks upgrade it as you go.

Wifes is stock except the 20/50 gears and upgraded Toe links- she still manages to break the rod end every so often but i keep a supply of those on hand as well.

Mod wise, when you do the spring use a longer bolt on the saver and put a nut on the end and cinch it down, steering will be way better.

I just got finished doing ear plugs in center diff, haven't had much time to test it out but while in there reversed drive cups to put some wear on the other surface as I hear these tend to break.

I enjoy working on the trucks as much as driving them- but i hate replacing tires at 70 bucks a pair so new project is working on a easy and expensive way to replace foams as tires do fine but foams are crap.

Good info I haven't really had any breakages worth mentioning..going on 2 years now. A great truck indeed!! I did have the foams go out on me rather quickly, as did my brothers. Perhaps I didn't seal off the wheels soon enough, not sure. Anyways, I now seal off all wheels and vent tires on all my rc's straight away..
As to saving the stock wheels and tires, I'm still working on foams.. what a shame that no one offers quality foams for 1/5 MT tires.. I've spent hours searching, nada.. we can buy foams from either Arrma or TRX but not without the tires. I bought a slab of 4" thick high density upholstery foam from amazon for $30. Turns out 4" is too thick, and trying to cut a perfect donut from it is near impossible.. I've tried an electric carving knife which cuts the foam beautifully but nowhere near a perfect circle.. or square side to side.. need a jig of some type I think. Heck, I even bought 24" lengths of stove pipe in various diameters. Thought if I sharpened the ends, I could cut through the foam with them maybe? Well, turns out stove pipe is not actually perfectly round, nor can I keep it straight as I cut through the foam while turning it.. LOL.
I'm having overheating issues with my stock motor at the moment.. has a max6, DTX 1/5 SC tires and wheels, 18/50 gearing. Motor hit 215f yesterday in 10 minutes!! Doh!! Not sure what's ailing it. Rolls smooth and easy without a motor in it. Replaced motor bearings.. maybe it's trying to tell me it wants a motor upgrade?

 

[Spidaso]

Good info I haven't really had any breakages worth mentioning..going on 2 years now. A great truck indeed!! I did have the foams go out on me rather quickly, as did my brothers. Perhaps I didn't seal off the wheels soon enough, not sure. Anyways, I now seal off all wheels and vent tires on all my rc's straight away..
As to saving the stock wheels and tires, I'm still working on foams.. what a shame that no one offers quality foams for 1/5 MT tires.. I've spent hours searching, nada.. we can buy foams from either Arrma or TRX but not without the tires. I bought a slab of 4" thick high density upholstery foam from amazon for $30. Turns out 4" is too thick, and trying to cut a perfect donut from it is near impossible.. I've tried an electric carving knife which cuts the foam beautifully but nowhere near a perfect circle.. or square side to side.. need a jig of some type I think. Heck, I even bought 24" lengths of stove pipe in various diameters. Thought if I sharpened the ends, I could cut through the foam with them maybe? Well, turns out stove pipe is not actually perfectly round, nor can I keep it straight as I cut through the foam while turning it.. LOL.
I'm having overheating issues with my stock motor at the moment.. has a max6, DTX 1/5 SC tires and wheels, 18/50 gearing. Motor hit 215f yesterday in 10 minutes!! Doh!! Not sure what's ailing it. Rolls smooth and easy without a motor in it. Replaced motor bearings.. maybe it's trying to tell me it wants a motor upgrade?

Check out your motor fans, I put some cheap (shoulda got protek) on, cool as a cucumber, think I put them in so it's sucking air off the motor....will have to check.
I'm going to try frost king ac foam, think it's 2.5 thick this week, thought about filling them with a spray foam .
Also going to cut down a yoga block to put on the wheelie bar to the truck bed and see if it keeps the bed from creasing.
Probably spent enough testing tire foams I could buy several 7770X (tire and foam only, no wheel, 43 bucks for 2).

 

[Spidaso]

Congrats! I just got mine a few months back and I love it. I'd say use the stock tires as is until they blow up on you and then move to something else. They are not very durable in my experience and fail easily. And they aren't glued well from the factory so they come off the rim. I just got some Proline Mashers and I'm really digging them. They're lighter than most belted tires.

If you're used to Arrma stuff I don't think it seemed quick enough on stock gearing so I went straight to the high speed gears. They're Traxxas metal so they won't last long. I'd go ahead and order your hardened spur and pinion of choice to swap out when that happens.

Like you I wouldn't have chosen the Traxxas batteries and had heard terrible things about them but it was a gift from my wife who threw in a completer pack with Traxxas charger and batteries (I know, she's a keeper) and honestly they're not the greatest thing ever but they're fine. Certainly as good or better than the crap I typically buy on Amazon (like Zeee) because I'm a cheap bastard.

Also the stock servo is really weak. I went with a Perfect Pass but it's really important to do the servo saver mod where you tighten down the servo saver and have a nut on the other side. You can have a really strong servo in these but still not have good steering because the energy just goes into the servo saver which loosens up easily.

Enjoy!

P.S. Shoe goo/drywall your body! The bodies are pretty frail and they aren't cheap to replace.

Add rubber edge trim to the body, looks good and helps keep the vertical cracks away. - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09T68F3PD?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

[KnowAir]

Check out your motor fans, I put some cheap (shoulda got protek) on, cool as a cucumber, think I put them in so it's sucking air off the motor....will have to check.
I'm going to try frost king ac foam, think it's 2.5 thick this week, thought about filling them with a spray foam .
Also going to cut down a yoga block to put on the wheelie bar to the truck bed and see if it keeps the bed from creasing.
Probably spent enough testing tire foams I could buy several 7770X (tire and foam only, no wheel, 43 bucks for 2).

Yeah, stock fans and HS. I reversed the fans early on, over a year ago. I didn't notice much difference other than not having debris stuck on the fan shroud constantly. I always thought it makes more sense to blow air up rather than down.. taking advantage of natural air flow.. they seem to be running fine. I'm feeding 7.4v from the max6 to the TRX electronics..they love it!
My original plan for tire inserts was buying 2" pad and cutting into strips and gluing at the ends to make inserts. Maybe a wiser choice.
I did the "Duperbash" mod to my body but used lexan, seems to help. I ended up losing the bed of the body in the end. Well, it was flapping, so I cut it off.. "custom" now!
I used some nylon roundstock to reinforce the body cage, it's tough as nails, never falls off!! Well, almost never. But yeah, reinforcement of the cage is definitely a real improvement to the whole experience. The body rarely "pops" off my Xmaxx now.

 

[Spidaso]

More damage...

I must be jinxed, second run out with the new X Maxx and it's broken again..!!
This time it has broken the C hub, both parts the inner and outer, pretty lucky though but somehow I didn't lose the pin.

I did fit the bolt kit in the arms before this run and I'm wondering if it had been stock maybe it wouldn't have broke the C hub??

I went looking for replacement parts and I found out that the XRT has upgraded tougher C hubs than the current X Maxx.!!
There are currently 3 parts to choose from, stock old version (small bearing) upgraded (large bearing) and last XRT version (tougher and large bearing) I ordered the XRT parts, should be here in couple of days..

Fitted the roof skid and did a really bad job re enforcing the body, and it didn't seem to pop off today at all.?? so maybe putting the skid on stiffened it enough, but hey who really knows..

I have questions for all you guys with X Maxx's, do you use bolts in the arms or run stock pins.??
Everyone I spoke with told me that one of the best upgrades needed doing was replacing the arm pins for bolts..!!

View attachment 320386View attachment 320385View attachment 320387View attachment 320388

ARRMA TOUGH..!!
Seriously though I believe todays outing would have also broken the O8s in just the same way if not more so..

Till next time..

Me thinks you should work on landing more flush than on the front wheels and straighter.. wife breaks the RHF Toe link all the time, apparently she likes landing on the RHF front tire to make me cringe.

 

[KnowAir]

Me thinks you should work on landing more flush than on the front wheels and straighter.. wife breaks the RHF Toe link all the time, apparently she likes landing on the RHF front tire to make me cringe.

Yeah, no rig likes one wheeled landings, LOL. I have not broken any of the front carriers. I did however make the mistake of buying the RPM pieces when I bought the truck. The fronts don't hold up, nor do they break. They just flex so much the pins come out of postion at the front hubs. Not sure what the proper term is for them but I call them king pins. I have TRX v2 on now with larger bearings so far so good. Still rockin the RPM at the rear, fine there.

Probably spent enough testing tire foams I could buy several 7770X (tire and foam only, no wheel, 43 bucks for 2).

Yeah, me too! So far..$30 worth of foam, $25 electric carving knife, wifey got the new, I took the old one to the man cave. Plus around $30 for stove pipe.. the alternative of buying the TRX tires and foams may make more sense. I just have no desire to buy anymore of them knowing the foam inserts will fail long before the tires do.. and, it's not just a TRX thing as I have Arrma 8s tires which have bad foams too. Those were even vented on the outside from factory.

 

[PeighDay]

I just got finished doing ear plugs in center diff, haven't had much time to test it out but while in there reversed drive cups to put some wear on the other surface as I hear these tend to break.

Give these diff cups a try when you ready to replace. They have been holding up amazingly well for me.

S2 Hard Steel Drive Cup for Traxxas X-Maxx 8S 7754X https://a.co/d/gjpGDYY

 

[harith7oe]

Late to the game and haven't read through the thread - but we recently got a fleet of Xmaxx's for the family (only 3 actually) one for the wife, myself and SIL- Wife and I are pretty mild but SIL is a freaking monster on his, he has made me hate Talbot's videos with a passion as Talbot has money and can afford to to tear his stuff up but kids see it and try to duplicate his bashing... Tried explaining to the kid these facts.. in one ear and out the other... Sorry I digress!
The rood skid is the cheapest and best first purchase!
I am sure others have said in this but tape up the holes on the rims- absolutely must do!
I have put a spektrum 160 ESC in mine (went this route cause I wanted 8.4 on the BEC for a reefs 500, max6 only does 7.4)
20/50 gears and did drywall tape and shoe goo on body, I also did the duperdash bed reinforcement and body is holding up well.
Been wanting to do GPM or RPM hinge pins but so far the only pins that have popped have been the front carrier bearing housing, fixed with a RPM carrier set.
Went through a period of time i was stripping pinion and gears, frustrating till i connected a bent drive shaft with along with the gears getting stripped, replaced shaft and then found the motor mount wasn't straight, so replaced it and no more stripped gears for now.
I would keep a spare driveshaft on hand or upgrade to a flexible one. Spare pinion and spur couple of spare tires and toe end links. Then as other stuff breaks upgrade it as you go.

Wifes is stock except the 20/50 gears and upgraded Toe links- she still manages to break the rod end every so often but i keep a supply of those on hand as well.

Mod wise, when you do the spring use a longer bolt on the saver and put a nut on the end and cinch it down, steering will be way better.

I just got finished doing ear plugs in center diff, haven't had much time to test it out but while in there reversed drive cups to put some wear on the other surface as I hear these tend to break.

I enjoy working on the trucks as much as driving them- but i hate replacing tires at 70 bucks a pair so new project is working on a easy and expensive way to replace foams as tires do fine but foams are crap.

On the flip side, for me, the Xmaxx has been nothing but a rollercoaster of trouble. First time out, I took it bone stock, and it felt slower than a snail on vacation.

For my second bash, I thought I'd liven things up by switching to an 18/46 gear ratio. But lo and behold, before I could even drain a full battery pack, the spur and pinion gears called it quits. Then I Invested in an HR hardened steel spur and an unbranded pinion to get back in action.

On 3rd bash, after a few jumps, I noticed the motor was making a weird buzzing noise, and it was very hot (190+-). Turns out both of the motor fans had a busted blade. That put an early end to my bashing fun. So, I ditched the stock motor heat sink/fan and went for a simpler motor fan setup with two 4028 turbo fans.

On 4th bashing session, The center driveshaft decided to join the party, bending itself out of shape after a few jumps. My Xmaxx started sounding like a flippin Panzer whenever it does a pass by. Lmao By this point, I was fed up, but I kept on bashing

Funny thing, though – despite all the hiccups, those stock tires held up pretty well. I did gave 'em a little vent holes and taping the insides. Just when I thought I'd seen it all, out of sudden every time I took a right turn, a mysterious clicking sound would chime in, and I'm still not sure where did the sound came from. Maybe servo is about to be gone.

On a side note, my trusty two-year-old Outcast 8s was outperforming the Xmaxx by a long shot. The Xmaxx had this strange and unstable feel to it. Perhaps that's how monster trucks are supposed to drive, isn't it?

Luckily, someone in my area wants to take the Xmaxx off my hands, and I couldn't be happier. I'm eyeing up a Kraton 8s or the Losi DBXLE 2.0 now, which I had originally passed on because of the Xmaxx. No hard feelings, though. I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade; this is just how things panned out for me. Maybe I'm one of the few who hit a streak of bad luck. And, by the way, I made sure to land jumps cleanly on all four wheels every time, no nose dives or weird landings. Well, I've got to say, Im surprised. I mean, I was kind of banking on the Xmaxx to be tougher than my O8S, but turns out, it didn't live up to the hype in my book.

 

[KnowAir]

On the flip side, for me, the Xmaxx has been nothing but a rollercoaster of trouble. First time out, I took it bone stock, and it felt slower than a snail on vacation.

For my second bash, I thought I'd liven things up by switching to an 18/46 gear ratio. But lo and behold, before I could even drain a full battery pack, the spur and pinion gears called it quits. Then I Invested in an HR hardened steel spur and an unbranded pinion to get back in action.

On 3rd bash, after a few jumps, I noticed the motor was making a weird buzzing noise, and it was very hot (190+-). Turns out both of the motor fans had a busted blade. That put an early end to my bashing fun. So, I ditched the stock motor heat sink/fan and went for a simpler motor fan setup with two 4028 turbo fans.

On 4th bashing session, The center driveshaft decided to join the party, bending itself out of shape after a few jumps. My Xmaxx started sounding like a flippin Panzer whenever it does a pass by. Lmao By this point, I was fed up, but I kept on bashing

Funny thing, though – despite all the hiccups, those stock tires held up pretty well. I did gave 'em a little vent holes and taping the insides. Just when I thought I'd seen it all, out of sudden every time I took a right turn, a mysterious clicking sound would chime in, and I'm still not sure where did the sound came from. Maybe servo is about to be gone.

On a side note, my trusty two-year-old Outcast 8s was outperforming the Xmaxx by a long shot. The Xmaxx had this strange and unstable feel to it. Perhaps that's how monster trucks are supposed to drive, isn't it?

Luckily, someone in my area wants to take the Xmaxx off my hands, and I couldn't be happier. I'm eyeing up a Kraton 8s or the Losi DBXLE 2.0 now, which I had originally passed on because of the Xmaxx. No hard feelings, though. I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade; this is just how things panned out for me. Maybe I'm one of the few who hit a streak of bad luck. And, by the way, I made sure to land jumps cleanly on all four wheels every time, no nose dives or weird landings. Well, I've got to say, Im surprised. I mean, I was kind of banking on the Xmaxx to be tougher than my O8S, but turns out, it didn't live up to the hype in my book.

We all do it differently.. what's really crazy is my motor has been well over 200 soo many times.. I got tired of worrying about it,LOL. If she goes, she goes? F-it. I put the split driveshaft in mine early on, the one from AJC mods, no issues with the center shaft aside from the bearing seizing up. A nice long bath in PB blaster brought it back.. then packed with red HT grease.. still going almost a year later. I did snap the rear diff input coupler. Now I have 2 spare center driveshafts, wtf am I supposed to do with these?
My brother's steering servo gave up right quick after throwing belted DTX tires on.. I stayed lightweight with tires and my servo thanks me by working like a champ..
I hear of folks having good luck with Xmaxx tires.. IDK why, but they're taboo for me. I'll keep trying to resurrect what I have, but never buy a set. Shame, cuz I keep eyeing the Gravix tires for the XRT, I know they'd be great where I run but..damn. Do I really want to voluntarily be frustrated?
Handling is definitely in favor of the Arrma's, at least vs the Xmaxx, not sure how the XRT compares. I would think it's better, not interested in dropping a "G" to find out though.
I'm hoping Amain comes through with the O8S roller I have ordered, if not, an Arrma 8s is out of reach for me.

 

[Spidaso]

On the flip side, for me, the Xmaxx has been nothing but a rollercoaster of trouble. First time out, I took it bone stock, and it felt slower than a snail on vacation.

For my second bash, I thought I'd liven things up by switching to an 18/46 gear ratio. But lo and behold, before I could even drain a full battery pack, the spur and pinion gears called it quits. Then I Invested in an HR hardened steel spur and an unbranded pinion to get back in action.

On 3rd bash, after a few jumps, I noticed the motor was making a weird buzzing noise, and it was very hot (190+-). Turns out both of the motor fans had a busted blade. That put an early end to my bashing fun. So, I ditched the stock motor heat sink/fan and went for a simpler motor fan setup with two 4028 turbo fans.

On 4th bashing session, The center driveshaft decided to join the party, bending itself out of shape after a few jumps. My Xmaxx started sounding like a flippin Panzer whenever it does a pass by. Lmao By this point, I was fed up, but I kept on bashing

Funny thing, though – despite all the hiccups, those stock tires held up pretty well. I did gave 'em a little vent holes and taping the insides. Just when I thought I'd seen it all, out of sudden every time I took a right turn, a mysterious clicking sound would chime in, and I'm still not sure where did the sound came from. Maybe servo is about to be gone.

On a side note, my trusty two-year-old Outcast 8s was outperforming the Xmaxx by a long shot. The Xmaxx had this strange and unstable feel to it. Perhaps that's how monster trucks are supposed to drive, isn't it?

Luckily, someone in my area wants to take the Xmaxx off my hands, and I couldn't be happier. I'm eyeing up a Kraton 8s or the Losi DBXLE 2.0 now, which I had originally passed on because of the Xmaxx. No hard feelings, though. I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade; this is just how things panned out for me. Maybe I'm one of the few who hit a streak of bad luck. And, by the way, I made sure to land jumps cleanly on all four wheels every time, no nose dives or weird landings. Well, I've got to say, Im surprised. I mean, I was kind of banking on the Xmaxx to be tougher than my O8S, but turns out, it didn't live up to the hype in my book.

Between 3 of them you pretty much matched up with us.
On our tires, i know the issue- I get real anal about cleaning after a session, tried several methods but i know i got water and most likely WD-40 in them a destroyed the foams (new and didn't realize vent holes in the rims).

We have a O8S as well and love it but if and when it breaks something the price tag is a wee bit higher- I do like the xmaxx as parts are pretty low on parts Plus sounds weird- I love to work on stuff- tinker, tweak etc etc and I get plenty of that with these trucks!
Oh, the clicking noise Wife had bent toe link put the knuckle closer to the ribs on the inside of the rim and they would make contact when turning - quick fix was to adjust her end points... no more clicking.. ended up getting her the pretty aluminum ones cause they well " are pretty and match the body".

I think i have at least 3 sets of mx43 on rigs right now. That's how much I love them

Do they help or hurt air control over the stock tires?