December was no doubt a huge month for Exotek and the Kyosho RB6. With a wide range of nicely assorted upgrade parts to choose from, Exotek has been releasing new products with their “prototype happy” attitude and I got to say…… I’m lovin’ it. This was one of those parts that I kept saying to myself, “Gosh, I wish someone would make this piece in aluminum!” Yep, they did.

In my 1st review, I’m going to be testing out the new camber plate for the RB6 to see if this is something worth having in the pit box and/or permanently finding a home on your rider. In your classic choice of Kyosho “battle” red or incognito gloss black, Exotek delivers another stunner of a piece and I’m very happy to see an aftermarket company working hard to further progress the car to an even higher level.

     Having known this for a while now, this is arguably one of the RB6’s weakest points; especially after a few rear end spacer and camber changes. Fortunately, I never broke a rear camber plate, but witnessed a few firsthand before I even put my RB6 kit together. In HARD crashes, the ballstud would either rip out leaving you a stripped hole (thinking which glue to use here) or the ballstud hole would break thus leaving you stranded with a broken rear camber plate. With a broken hole, you could try mounting the ballstud in a different camber location, but you’re probably aware that could fatally change your entire setup….or perhaps make it better?!?!? Naaaaah……

Here’s a little fact you might find amusing (or noobish)……….. I built my car with 1mm spacers and used the middle camber location and NEVER TOUCHED IT AGAIN! I knew if I played with it too much, it would just inevitably strip out so I always made my rear camber adjustments from the hub side of things.

As you can see, I was extremely pleased to see a company like Exotek step up and release a very durable, high quality part just a few months after the car’s initial release. The day RedRC posted news about it, I ordered mine straight off the website and got the front alloy steering rack as well. I haven’t broken anything on the car (knocking on wood), but figured there would be nothing wrong with a backup plan. So just after a few days, I GOT MAIL!

Here’s what I wanted to test…..

1. Would this break ballstuds instead of camber plates?
2. Is this gonna make my car looser now b/c of the aluminum “no flex” rigidity?
3. It looks awesome, but how’s the fitment and durability?
4. Lastly and most importantly……. is this piece worth the money? $21.95 isn’t a whole lot of dough, but on top of $450.00 it can add up for sure.

The only way to know is to run it and test it to see if this is all hype or does it add value for the racer? So let’s look at the results.

Fit and Finish – The quality and craftsmanship of Exotek is really starting to win me over. I do not have their entire line of upgrades, but from what I’ve seen so far… their work is top notch. The rear camber plate looks gorgeous! I didn’t even want to install it fearing I might scratch the perfect gloss black finish! Something I’d like to note is that I really like Exotek’s thought process behind the design. It’s not an exact copy of the original Kyosho camber plate and if it were, I think there’d be way too much unnecessary material causing it to be heavier and stiffer than it needs to be. The Exotek part much resembles the plastic U-brace on the B4 and much more “U” shaped than the OG kyosho piece. This leaves me to believe that, yes it’s stiffer but not too stiff and NOW THERE’S MORE ROOM FOR YOUR ESC WIRES! With the Orion R10 and the stock fatty 12 gauge wires, it’s really a snug fit under the rear shock tower. With the Exotek rear camber plate you get a little more room for your wires to tuck under! For those wiring neat freaks out there, this is a huge BONUS!

Performance – As most of us know, ultra stiff chassis (chassi?) and components have benefits as well as drawbacks. Too stiff, you sacrifice consistency and traction in looser conditions. Pretty much you throw away the car’s drivability on looser surfaces and let’s face it, none of us wanna deal with donuts and S whips while we’re trying to win a race……nobody! Too flexible and you could end up with unpredictability, too much “locked-in” feel, and inconsistency in high grip situations. My 1st pack with the aluminum camber plate on medium indoor clay with a bit of dust ……was delightfully positive. The car drove more consistent meaning if it the tires were gonna spin b/c of too much throttle input, it would spin more consistently in the same corners with the same amount of throttle input. This I noticed mostly in the sweepers and low speed 180 degree turns on exit. It didn’t add any nasty whip, but at the same time it didn’t lock down the rear as if it were on AstroTurf. My overall impression is that it did feel better to me mainly b/c it gave the car a more “tunable” feeling in the rear….. a more predictable feedback. I felt the shocks were doing more work as the car leaned into the corners at high speed.

Value – So is this part worth the duckets? I say yes. Not because it may or may not give you .2 tenths across the board, but b/c it’s a quality part that allows you to tune your car without worry. Now, I can make infinite ballstud location and spacer adjustments without wondering if this is the last time I use this hole before I strip it out or worry if they have the plastic part at the hobby shop this time b/c I just ripped the hole corner off. For medium to high bite, I can really see this piece becoming of great value as it positively adds to the car’s drive characteristics. However, with that said, I’ll be keeping the stock plastic piece in the pit box for those ultra dusty, loomy, non-grooved, and my tires are garbage days.

Overall – So after a few days of testing, I give this part a 9/10. For me, it’s not a “must have” item b/c the stock RB6 is awesome out of the box, but for sure makes life a lot less stressful and I definitely welcome it being a tuner friendly piece. The bling factor is also nice and the craftsmanship is pretty much as good as it gets (CNC art!). The only way this could have been better is if it were (IF this is possible) cheaper and even more innovative in design (I’ve got ideas!). Nonetheless this is a wonderful upgrade and worthy of a look for all the RB6 guys out there. I personally can’t wait to see what else they’ve come up with. Awesome job Exotek!

One last thing, “What if I break ballstuds? Is this piece going to be totally junk?” Nope! Making the camber plate more durable is gonna shift the weak point somewhere else in the rear. Perhaps, ballcups related, hub related, or ballstuds….. Kyosho ballstuds are really tough. I haven’t broken many, maybe 1…..but if you break off the head of the ballstud while using the Exotek rear camber plate, you can unscrew it from the bottom as long as you’re using the L size ballstuds! It sticks out enough to grab with pliers or needle noses and back on the road you go. Just plain awesome!

You can purchase it off their website or I can recommend getting it from the super nice guys at SpeedtechRC.