Review. PN Tri damper system. Update 1.

Finally got these kits.
First up for review is the 98mm version.

The hardware looks to be good quality.
It is a bit time consuming to mount correctly, but this is mainly because of three things.
- I wanted to use the Kyosho oil filled shock.
- I wanted to use the Reflex Racing side damper bracket for body mounting. (All my race bodies are configured for this)
- Routing the motor cables.

Parts included are:
- Top mounting plate.
- Lower mounting plate.
- Side dampers.
- Screws
- Plastic nuts

Additional parts used:
- Kyosho oil filled shock
- Kyosho red spring for MM
- QteQ lock nuts
- M2 x 16 screw
- M2 x 12 screw
- Reflex Racing side damper bracket. Modified.
- PN Racing Center shock spring set. 2 pcs.

Mounting was straightforward as long as you think a bit of what you do.
The only complain under installation was that the plastic nuts are of poor quality. They will not tighten at all. They seem to big for the screws.

I see that most people mounts the side shocks on top of the upper mounting plate. I tried that and found that the angle of the side shocks was quite steep. I have a feeling that this will make the rear end a bit to progressive for my taste. Although i did not try this on the track (yet).

As you can see from the pictures, the angle now is as close to flat as possible without making problems with binding in any way.

This car has always used a side damper setup, so I kept it as it was as far as the rest of the setup goes.

Pro's:
- Very simple to adjust tweak
- Easy to tune spring load side to side together with T plates.
- Easy to adjust dampening with different grease etc.
- The quality seems to be very good. Everything fits very well together.

Con's:
- More weight.
- Not easy to lay the motor cables.
- The rear end becomes a bit cluttered.
- The plastic nuts that came with it was a joke. The holes are to big to even make threads in.

This rear end actually works very well. I have not used anything other than side dampers since Reflex Racing came out with their version. I just love this system. Nothing is faster on our tracks.

The TDS setup behaves very much like the RR side damper. I adjusted the spring tension on the side damper to zero. On the track it just worked exactly as the old system. The main benefit I see is that you are able to adjust tweak much easier than before.
I loaded it with Kyosho 15000WT grease. In the RR side damper I use 30000WT. I will try out some more on the next track test.

I will add to this review when I have done some more testing with it. I have a feeling that this could be as fast, if not faster than the old setup. It adds some 5 grams to the total weight, but I think it could be worth it with respects to the added adjustability. Time will tell.

Track test 1: 

First run was as suspected. I had to adjust a little on the spring tension in the rear

The feeling of the car was almost exactly as it was with the RR side damper. It almost seemed as the same setup.

I tried with almost every T plate I had to see how it responded to these changes, and it was as it should be. 

The springs from the spring set is not very good regarding how equal they are. They differ in length and in the rates. But I could adjust it to where the car behaves neutral to both sides.

After some dialing in, I was able to extract a little bit more from it. I adjusted the springs to zero preload, and regreased the dampers. 

Now it started to work really good.

Turn in at full speed is extreme. Not to much, but exactly as I like it. The corner speed in long on throttle corners are just as with the RR side damper. Bumps are absorbed as before. This is a tribute to the yellow Kyosho oil shock. This is in my view the absolute best out there.

On throttle steering is also the same as with the RR side damper setup.

Now to the best part. The speed I can carry to the chicane is noticeably higher than before. I have so much grip in the fast transitions. I guess this is because of the side springs helping to counter the chassis roll in these types of corners. It changes direction so predictive and easy, that it is a blast to drive.

All in all I can say that this is just as good as the Reflex Racing side damper, and even better in some aspects such as the chicane speed it can help produce. The added weight is no problem regarding modified cars, but i suspect it can be a bad thing on stock cars. Time will tell.

It really shines regarding direction changes and the added adjustability.

Regarding lap times. After 334 laps at our permanent track, I was able to get within 0,022 seconds of the lap record. It was actually the next fastest lap ever.

This product gets top rating from me.