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The reinforced plates (Japanese: 補強プレート, Hokyō Purēto) are the crucial Mini 4WD parts that can be attaches to, replaces and/or widen the front bumper and the rear roller stay.
How the reinforced plate works
As the Mini 4WD car was tuned faster, the bumper and the rear stay might not able to withstands the impacts and will eventually breaks apart. This is where the reinforced plates comes to play.
The main purpose of the reinforced plates is to either strengthens the chassis's bumper and rear stay, widen them, or both. For FRP and CFRP-based reinforced plates, applying the super-glue to the edge of the FRP plates will improves their tensile strength.
It is also known that decking one or more of reinforced plates on top of the another plates will improves one parts' tensile strength and yield strength.
The reinforced plates are generally required for bumperless setups.
The materials
Currently, there are four types of the reinforced plate's materials available: aluminum, fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP), duralumin and carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP).
Reinforced plates made of aluminum has high tensile strength, but it is also heavier and might deforms on hard impacts due to its poor yield strength. duralumin-made plates were lighter and has higher tensile strength and yield strength than aluminum-made plates, but still heavier than the FRP materials.
FRP plates, despite having inferior tensile strength characteristic, has much higher yield strength and much lighter than the metal material-made plates. The CFRP plates are similar to the FRP plates, but with carbon fiber instead of the glass fiber of the FRP plates to improves tensile strength.
FRP plates and CFRP plates can be modified with the simple tools (Sandpapers, drills and files), whereare aluminum and duralumin plates cannot be modified due to their hardness. Due to their lightweight and high yield strength, FRP plates and CFRP plates are generally prefered by many racers over aluminum plates and duralumin plates.
List of reinforced plates
Aluminum
- Rear Aluminum Multi-Function Stay
- Side Extension Roller Mount
- Aluminum Front Plate for Super-X Chassis
- Aluminum Rear Roller Stay for Super-X Chassis
- Aluminum Side Extension Roller Mount
- Front Double Aluminum Plate Set
Duralumin
- Duralumin Multi-Roller Setting Stay
- Duralumin Rear Multi-Roller Setting Stay
- Duralumin Wide F/R Plate
FRP
- Reinforcing Plate Set
- FRP Reinforcing Plate for Zero Chassis
- FRP Mount Plate Set
- FRP Reinforcing Plate Set
- FRP Plate for Super X Chassis
- FRP Rear Roller Stay for Super X Chassis
- R/C Mini 4WD FRP Front Plate Set
- R/C Mini 4WD FRP Rear Roller Stay Set
- Mini 4WD PRO Side Extension Roller Mount
- FRP Support Plate Set
- FRP Multi Roller Setting Stay
- FRP Rear Multi Roller Setting Stay
- FRP Multi Reinforcing Plate Set (Short)
- FRP Wide Front Plate (For AR Chassis)
- FRP Wide Rear Plate (For AR Chassis)
- FRP Front Plate for Fully Cowled Mini 4WD
CFRP
- HG Carbon Reinforced FRP Wide Front Plate (For N-03 Unit)
- HG Carbon Reinforced FRP Wide Rear Plate
- HG Carbon Side Extension Roller Mount (Front)
- HG Carbon Side Extension Roller Mount (Rear)
- HG Carbon Rear Stay
- HG Carbon Multi Roller Setting Stay
- HG Carbon Reinforcing Plate
- HG Carbon Multi Roller Setting Stay (1.5 mm)
- HG Carbon Rear Multi Roller Setting Stay (1.5 mm)
- HG Carbon Wide Front Plate for AR Chassis (2 mm)
- HG Carbon Wide Rear Plate for AR Chassis (2 mm)
- HG Carbon Front Plate for Fully Cowled Mini 4WD (1.5 mm)
- HG Carbon Reinforcing Plate for 13/19 mm Roller
- HG Carbon Reinforcing Plate (1.5 mm)
- HG Carbon Multi Roller Setting Stay (3 mm)
- HG Carbon Rear Stay (3 mm)
- HG Carbon Rear Multi Roller Setting Stay (3mm)
- HG Carbon Stay for Wide Sliding Damper