Xtra Speed 1/10 RC Aluminum Stealth Body Mount (Blue)

I bought these because I’d always wanted to use magnets to hold my bodies in place of traditional pin-type mounts that come with most RC kits these days.

I settled on these because the pictures actually show them mounted onto a Tamiya TT-02, of which I own two. Specifically, I wanted these for my Yeah Racing TT-02 RWD drift chassis.

Upon receiving this kit (which for some reason arrived in my town from California and then again from Tennessee…), I was actually surprised by a lack of instructions. I get that these mounts are custom fit to whatever chassis you’re fitting them to but to not have anything to tell you how to assemble the adapters was slightly deflating. The only reference I had were the pictures found here at Amain and those found through Google. Even then, it was still fairly easy to put together but not knowing what goes where from the included bag of hardware… kinda took longer than I thought it would. So Xtra Speed if you’re reading this: PLEASE INCLUDE INSTRUCTIONS WITH THIS KIT!!!

Next, once parts were identified and sorted (an ordeal in and of itself), came the assembly. Again, this one required reference of whatever pictures I could find of these mounts. For whatever reason, the adapters are threaded but the posts they mount to are not… Why Xtra Speed had decided to show in the pictures mounting it the way they did but thread the adapter but not the post seems rather odd as though the post should be threaded instead of the adapter. On top of that, the posts used in the rear are not threaded to the same depth. Luckily, I had purchased an M3 screw kit from Amain and used 2 M3x8 screws to mount onto the TT-02 shock tower/body mount bracket, something one needs to be aware of if buying this kit. Pick up either an M3 tap and bore the mounts out deeper or use shorter hardware than those included with the kit.

After that came the assembly of the rear posts. The kit has a really fancy bracket that you assemble and use specifically for the rear that is held in using 4 M3x3 set screws. One word of caution: be VERY careful moving these around and adjusting them with the set screws installed or you will leave a nice permanent gouge onto your mounts! One tip when installing these is to use BLUE thread locking compound. I use Loctite 242 gel but use whatever blue thread locking compound you prefer so that the mounts don’t slack while racing.

Now… this is the bit that kinda really irked me: you are meant to use both plates within the kit on the chassis. Yes, you’re supposed to be able to use ALL the parts in the kit to mount any body onto your chassis. However, the adapters are two different sizes, 70mm and 75mm. You have two different mounting posts, one that is fully adjustable and one that utilizes your old posts AFTER you’ve cut them to length. Yes, you can get both of the plates to fit onto a TT-02 and the kit does provide spacers to offset the adapters onto the posts perfectly. I use that term loosely because I’m my case, the rear mounts are still too wide for the adapter even with about 5mm of spacers on each side. On top of all of this, Xtra Speed has no option to buy JUST the plates that attach the body to the adapters. You heard that right: you have to buy your own magnets and fix them onto any other bodies you intend to use with this mount unless you plan to buy two of these kits. Not a big deal as you could Shoe Goo or double-sides tape ceramic magnets into place underneath any other body you intend to use but it sucks that the beauty of this kit are the plates that you can’t buy separately.

All in all, it is an option to get that “realistic”, pin-less look that everyone is after. Could I recommend this kit to anyone? I would but only with the caveat that they understand that they will have to really invest more than they thought they’d need to for this kit.

If you have the need for magnetic body posts and the patience to deal with adjusting them and making them fit YOUR project, these aren’t a bad option. I’m not saying they’re your only option, only that they are an option, though not exactly the best one.

EDIT: Since writing this review, I’ve since purchased a second set as there was a specific way I wanted to mount my body and well… it required buying a second set. In hindsight, if I had an opportunity to do it over again, I’d have bought the Killerbody version instead which offers a slightly more flexible way to mount the body and you can use their mounts with a body that has post holes drilled into them (as the post adapters are open) whereas this… doesn’t. Sadly, Amain does NOT yet offer the Killerbody mounts but again, for the price, it’s a better option.