Granite The Granite Voltage: RC's Greatest Mixed Bag!

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I love these Voltage models. We bought a Fazon for my boy for Christmas. We both had so much fun with it that I decided to get myself a granite so that we can jam around together. Then he started driving mine more than his because the Fazon was always stuck on all kinds a little rocks and crap. So, we converted theFazon to a Granite.

Issues and resolutions so far:

Rear left shock shaft pulled out of the lower mount- after having to stuff it in repeatedly, I used epoxy from the 99¢ store and Voila. Now it will outlast cockroaches. Cost, $1.07 with tax. These shocks also seem to be overdampened for the weight of this vehicle. I'm going to try lighter shock oil and see what we find.

Black servo saver loose as hell - trying to find suitable replacement. Trying to find an "red" one in the Kimbrough style. In fairness, this was installed on our Fazon, unknown if any Granite models came with the black one. Cost: $0 yet, customer service said they'd mail the "proper" one to us in the interest of customer service.

Stripped differential outdrives - happened yesterday. Customer service is sending a new set. I went to order spares, both Arrma and Tower Hobbies are on backorder. Yikes.Cost: $0 (so far)

Servo gears stripped - this happened with the stock 5 wire servo on the car's 2nd run. Sad ?. Replaced with a standard 3 wire servo, eBay purchase, metal-geared waterproof 7kg Arrma ADS-7V. Cost: $15. It works well but I like stronger steering and recommend the $20/20kg red ones.

Tires out of round - They are super super out of round do to mediocre manufacturing tolerances and/or imprecise installation. The stockers DO have foam in them, I can confirm. We received a set of replacement Granite Copperhead tires and wheels that we used for the Fazon conversion. The replacements are much heavier, 1.4 oz. per, and the foam is also much firmer. Haven't driven it in the dry or off-road to see if traction is improved.

Waterproof electronics not waterproof - While jamming around in a wet parking lot with puddles, my Granite stopped working. I suspected water was the culprit although they call it waterproof. I tore it down when I got home. I pulled the ESC/receiver apart and it has water inside. Dried it out in a bag of rice and reassembled. Worked fine until diff cup stripped out. Cost: probably Amy 14¢ of rice.

That's about all of my observations. I've spent too much time and money on this hobby since December, but we do love these trucks. They're a blast.
Thanks for sharing your experience! Hopefully the problems will subside and your "bash to repair" ratio will be in favor of bashing!
 
I run 2 of these on 2S Lipo's, and, so far, have destroyed 3 spur gears, front control arms on both trucks, blown 2 servo's, blew all 4 shocks on the one, replaced with aluminum ones i found cheap on Amazon, blew both ESC's in light snow, busted a wheel at the hub, stripped the hubs on the blue one, but, to be fair to Arrma, im not what is considered a "normal" basher. We have a creek out back of our house that is about 4 foot deep in spots, that i have sunk several trucks in trying to surf across the water, and, generally, between that and the rutted, muddy field between my house and the creek, my vehicles get used hard. Overall though, i would say they arent bad at all, especially at the price i paid for them. I never expected to find any Arrma for $100 new, but, that is Horizon Hobby's current price. I have only had them 2 weeks, so, as for long term durability, i cant say how they will do.
 
I run 2 of these on 2S Lipo's, and, so far, have destroyed 3 spur gears, front control arms on both trucks, blown 2 servo's, blew all 4 shocks on the one, replaced with aluminum ones i found cheap on Amazon, blew both ESC's in light snow, busted a wheel at the hub, stripped the hubs on the blue one, but, to be fair to Arrma, im not what is considered a "normal" basher. We have a creek out back of our house that is about 4 foot deep in spots, that i have sunk several trucks in trying to surf across the water, and, generally, between that and the rutted, muddy field between my house and the creek, my vehicles get used hard. Overall though, i would say they arent bad at all, especially at the price i paid for them. I never expected to find any Arrma for $100 new, but, that is Horizon Hobby's current price. I have only had them 2 weeks, so, as for long term durability, i cant say how they will do.
Holy cow, that some extreme bashing!
 
Holy cow, that some extreme bashing!
Thats actually mild. We have to rebuild our track each year, and this year, we are going for insane, so, i get to see if a Fazon Voltage and a Redcat Pirahna can really fly, even though, in one of my favorite movies, they repeatedly stress that cars cant fly.
 
Thats actually mild. We have to rebuild our track each year, and this year, we are going for insane, so, i get to see if a Fazon Voltage and a Redcat Pirahna can really fly, even though, in one of my favorite movies, they repeatedly stress that cars cant fly.
Dooood, I think you'll need a lot more traction on one of these Voltage models to use the speed the have and a lot more power to make em fly. Ours constantly oversteers, habitually, on any not paved surface. Hell, even on the asphalt.
 
Dooood, I think you'll need a lot more traction on one of these Voltage models to use the speed the have and a lot more power to make em fly. Ours constantly oversteers, habitually, on any not paved surface. Hell, even on the asphalt.
I have a lot of experience with Tamiya and Kyosho 2WD buggies, so getting them to work isnt much of an issue. Oversteer or understeer can be corrected by shock settings and toe-in/toe-out usually, but, im not sure how adjustable the suspension is on either vehicle. If it isnt adjustable, there are multiple ways to solve that issue. More or less weight or shock travel, adjustable control arms (several models have them, and they shouldnt be too hard to adapt to either car, or, adapt a set of aluminum adjustable turn buckles in place of the control arms), heavier or lighter shock oil. Traction can be solved multiple ways, from tire choice, to weight in the rear, to shock settings. 2WD buggies have always been a favorite platform, because they are more susceptible to changes and non factory parts. I have a Tamiya Hornet that half the parts are sourced from either knock off brands, or other cars i salvaged parts from. The only 4WD stuff i have found that you can change that much are some of the Redcat stuff, because they arent as touchy about swapping to non standard parts like some 4WD's are (i have a Redcat volcano, that has been adapted to fully adjustable suspension, but still has 2 shocks on each side in the rear, but only one on each side of the front, and has a buggy body on it now with MT tires).
 
You are right that the are a million ways to tune.

In these cars, as with any, nothing works if you're without traction. With the stock tires it's constantly like being on marbles everywhere except carpet. Alignment adjustments would change things to an extent but one simply won't get there from here, to big jumps I mean. It just can't put the power to the ground. Softer springs would let the car pitch, transferring weight to the rear under acceleration, aiding grip and all. Changing rear toe and camber could help too.

But now we can put the power down! We just installed Duratrax Lockup wheels & tires. 1/2 additional offset. It made an enormous difference in the car. We were driving in damp, gravel-embedded dirt. Before it was difficult to even hit a jump because it was fish tailing everywhere, forget climbing a hill. Now it grips but doesn't much go as the 20t brushed motor does not have the power to send it.

Several others have stated these Voltage models come alive with more power or speed and that they handle well with it. We're hoping to see if that's our experience too. A 15t brushed motor is on the way for one of ours. Likely a brushless system is too for our other car. The shocks seem to work well enough but could probably use lighter oil OR another hole in the plunger disk.

As for all of that tuning you mentioned, we're gonna put proper rubber on and power in and then evaluate. Hopefully we're not buying differential outdrive cups forever.
 
As for all of that tuning you mentioned, we're gonna put proper rubber on and power in and then evaluate. Hopefully we're not buying differential outdrive cups forever.
Outdrives are probably cheaper than an entire rear diff, especially if you have to do it multiple times (Kyosho Raider early models would blow diffs if the wind blew wrong), and i got one of those up to roughly 40MPH, then i made the mistake of trying to jump it at full speed. Lets just say, they explode into pieces spectacularly. I know it probably wont do what im aiming for, but, im odd in that way. I will mess and tinker until it either does it, or it dies very dramatically, then i will either get another one, or find another cheap car and find its limits. Its why i like the newer cheap stuff. There are a ton of vehicles in the $100 range to experiment on, unlike when i first started. As for motors, it all depends on the motor and how its geared. Ive been beat by guys with 20T motors, when i was using hot 15T setups, because i geared it wrong. For tires, i have a bunch of monster truck tires and wheels, including a couple sets of Dboots Fortress, some from a Redcat Blackout and a set of spares i had from a destroyed Redcat Volcano that only lasted a couple weeks. The Volcano ones hook up pretty decent on a Quanam Vandal i have, so, i might try them. I buy the cheap cars to beat hard (and for my kids and my nephews and nieces to hammer on), and use my better stuff (Arrma Fury, Arrma Senton, Losi tenacity SCT) for mild bashing and racing. I also run all my stuff on 2S, which does help the power issue some, at least until the motor smokes. I haven't tried swapping the tires on the Fazon or the Redcat Pirahna i have yet, because it makes them slide all over in snow, so the kids have fun with them. I just bought another Pirahna today, to see how well it handles 2S and a 3300KV/60A ESC combo i picked up. My guess, either the diff explodes, the rear axles get twisted like pretzels, the tires blow up, or, all of the above.
 
Hello I am new to Arrma and the granite voltage. I have had the truck for a week and ran total of 30 minutes: the rear shock got busted (not even bashing, just running around my yard, and the spring is lost). Can anybody post the brands of upgraded shocks they have used with their voltage please.
 
Hello I am new to Arrma and the granite voltage. I have had the truck for a week and ran total of 30 minutes: the rear shock got busted (not even bashing, just running around my yard, and the spring is lost). Can anybody post the brands of upgraded shocks they have used with their voltage please.
Almost any 85 to 90MM shock will fit, as long as they arent excessively oversized big bore shocks, or overly stiff. I ended up replacing mine with a cheap aluminum set i found on amazon for less than $20. These are the ones i used, with 40WT Losi oil: https://www.amazon.com/RCAWD-Aluminum-Absorber-K949-010-Climbing/dp/B01N9FFRJ1
They say they are for crawlers, but, i use these on quite a few of my cheaper fastish vehicles (Redcat Volcano, Redcat Blackout, Quanam Vandal), since you can find them in lengths to fit almost any vehicle, and even have a set on my Arrma Fury. They do tend to be a bit on the soft side, but, i have all my vehicles set up to run more like dirt track modified's, so they work well for that. Its a trip watching people run my Fury, that never have before, because every time you corner fast, it lifts the inside front wheel, and they almost always think they broke something on it.
 
Hello I am new to Arrma and the granite voltage. I have had the truck for a week and ran total of 30 minutes: the rear shock got busted (not even bashing, just running around my yard, and the spring is lost). Can anybody post the brands of upgraded shocks they have used with their voltage please.
Which one did you break?

I've got two cars and had a rear one break too, early on. Actually, the shock rod came out of the bottom mount somehow. I simply epoxied it back in. I used to party epoxy from 99¢ store. Repair cost: you guessed it, 99¢.

Since then, the only shock issue was a bent shaft when I got reamed from behind another Voltage with a TBR bumper.

They're actually not too bad for the application, IMHO. Though I hate the thought of paying for replacements at $20/pr.
 
Dooood, I think you'll need a lot more traction on one of these Voltage models to use the speed the have and a lot more power to make em fly. Ours constantly oversteers, habitually, on any not paved surface. Hell, even on the asphalt.
Thats actually mild. We have to rebuild our track each year, and this year, we are going for insane, so, i get to see if a Fazon Voltage and a Redcat Pirahna can really fly, even though, in one of my favorite movies, they repeatedly stress that cars cant fly.
So, we went to a skate park last Sunday.

GF's first trigger squeeze almost knocked off some 21 year old skateboarding gals head. I had to apologize profusely before we ended up on Worldstar.

That aside, I took both Voltages. One with the 550 15T and the other a Castle 1406 3660. They will fly with the additional grip and power that even the 550 offers.

This was same day.
And normal speed
 
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