Track Tac

Plastic vs. Fiberglass

Mac_49

Mac_49

Member
I'm curious peoples experiences with FG and to why they choose it?
I've ran up on karts, had karts run up on me...I've twisted and turned my plastic body in every direction but have yet to replace it.
I've cut it with ease where needed, heated up and molded to accommodate tires as well as many other things.
So what's the benefit of FG that I'm missing? If you actually break it, then yes get a patch kit and fix it...but is that it?
I've seen sooooooooooo many FG bodies break this season and have forced racers out of a race because of it....I've only had 1 experience that stopped me where the plastic folded down inside my tire and all I had to do was stop, pull it back up and run like normal. Besides that, that thing has taken a beating and with heat I can get it back to normal if need.
I remember running in the south with a FG body and hated it to the point where I wouldn't get super aggressive because I didn't want to do FG patching throughout the week.
 
I'm glad looks aren't that big to me :/
Points look at lot better than a spicy paint job that caused me the race because 1 small hit and it all broke lol
 
Most of the time it's karts hopping up on each other....it happens quite a bit actually. But they usually come off each other and are back to racing if so. I know I've had to whip the kart back and forth to get a guy off of me. Nothing the flag man can control, it's just driving. Note: I'm speaking for Hoosier TREADS which will pull a kart up on itself if it catches correctly. Last big race was a field of 20 of those out there and there was a lot of hopping going on.
 
I agree, love the plastic bodies just hate the fact that they won't hold graphics and decals well nor look as nice when decked out (needed if you have sponsors!)

My son raced his plastic body for his first two full seasons of Jr2 and even though beat up and rough looking, it was still very usable. This year he talked me into a nice new white FG body, 3 races in and its trash! I've already patched and reinforced the bottom of the nose, the side panels have cracks in them and one bump on a restart put a bumper bolt right through the nose. Never again! We're going back to plastic. Hoping the Pro Series from M&M looks a bit better and will hold our decals. vs the regular tuff series that looks like a rubbermaid trash can :)
 
The pro series m&m are no better than fiberglass they break just like fiberglass. Get a new m&m raptor in the tuff use a heat gun and warm the body up before putting graphics on then as you put them on heat the graphics with a heat gun and work them in with a squeegee or card. I haven’t had any problems with them coming off
 
1fasttiller said:
I agree, love the plastic bodies just hate the fact that they won't hold graphics and decals well nor look as nice when decked out (needed if you have sponsors!)

My son raced his plastic body for his first two full seasons of Jr2 and even though beat up and rough looking, it was still very usable. This year he talked me into a nice new white FG body, 3 races in and its trash! I've already patched and reinforced the bottom of the nose, the side panels have cracks in them and one bump on a restart put a bumper bolt right through the nose. Never again! We're going back to plastic. Hoping the Pro Series from M&M looks a bit better and will hold our decals. vs the regular tuff series that looks like a rubbermaid trash can :)
Click to expand...

One thing to consider is what material they're using for the adhesive.
Basic 3M is so so I'd say....but some use the adhesive like the sticker you put on your license plate......those little things are a pain to get off BUT that's the intent.
Something to consider when looking I'd say? 🤷‍♂️
 
Three years on the same pro series m&m nose. Not broke yet. Only took it off because we made our own nose. Maybe it’s the the way people are racing not what the bodies are made of?????
 
I'm on my 6th year with the same plastic body. It looks like a Rubbermaid garbage can that got run over and drug a few blocks too many times by the garbage truck. I have heated it to reshape it, cut it and wired it back together like a Franken kart. Ugly has become part of its charm because everyone hates to lose to an ugly kart.
My motto has become "all you have to do is beat the old man in the ugly kart"
 
Because I enjoy working with fiberglass and make my own bodies so I make them for next to nothing, I change up my colors and graphics, and I sell a few to help fund racing 🤙🏼
 
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