Not sure if this is the right place to post this, sorry if it's not.

I've been building a track now for about a month-still have a bit to go, but I try to race the cars as often as I can. The track itself is raceable. I purchased the International Challenge set by Tomy which contains 4 Super G Plus cars. After only a few laps, and yes derailments, two of the cars came up with a cracked Magnet Retaining Clip. Apparently this retaining clip also helps hold in the engine. I came to this conclusion because I noticed that on one of the cars there was a bit more play in the rear. That misalignment caused the pinion and crown gears to grind down the teeth rendering the car useless and in need of repair.

I went out and purchased three more cars, two of the three suffered the same Magnet Retaining Clip Failure. These were returned to HobbyTown USA, but not easily. They wouldn't take back the cars in the set.

Then, I contacted Racemasters and they said that they would send me two new rolling chassis for my trouble. They arrived today and both had the magnet retaining clip broken. Note that these seemed to be refurbished chassis and not new. Also, the lady at Racemasters said that there was a defect in the plastic formula that makes the chassis more brittle.

Bottom line, 9 cars total, 7 failures. Is this just bad luck, or have others experienced this failure? Does Tomy know about this if in fact it is a defect?

Note that I went ahead and purchased some G3 chassis in hopes of a remedy as I do not think an immediate solution will be found through Racemasters or Tomy.

Extremely common problem. Don't bother getting stock replacements, just get the G3 chassis. The chassis cracks shortly after you replace the clip......

But the G3 chassis creates other problems......

1. I think the axle holes are slightly lower in the chassis. That or the traction magnets are higher, maybe a bit of both. There is more clearance from the track to the magnets now.....So now you need to run smaller diameter tires to get the car to handle as well as stock.

2. And my biggest gripe......the axle hole is too small for the stock rear axle. I had to get a .063 drill to ream the holes out so there was a smidge of clearance. The cars were very noticable slower before reaming......

But, the cars are quieter on the track. Pretty cool.

Unfortunately, this is a well known problem that Tomy is doing nothing about. The plastic is bad, and in a lot of cases the plastic is not thick enough in critical areas. I've had quite a few brand new chassis break right behind the magnets. Same with body clips. They're all junk - plain and simple, and Tomy is fully to blame yet continues to ship this inferior product.

For all the heat we placed on JL/RC2 for their slot cars, at least they tried to improve their product and fix deficiences over time. Tomy/Racemasters does nothing to improve the product or fix critical defects. If everyone who bought a Tomy SG+ over the past 5 years actually ran the cars and took the initiative to send broken junk back the return rate would easily be over 80%.

A class action lawsuit against Tomy or Racemasters would easily prevail for the complaintants. And I'm sure Racemasters would promptly fold up and cease to exist. At this point I'm not sure whether that would be such a bad thing. They need to get their act together or get out of the business.