I've already expressed some concern with thehigh amount of rear shock shaft wear with the TLR shocks and I've continuallylooked for a new a new o-ring package to address the limitations TLR low friction o-rings (TLR5074). To my surprise Jimmy Wright owner of Track Star RC had already seen the need for better o-rings and has begun distributing them from his website attrackstarrc.com (product link). This weekend I began testing these new o-rings to see if they offered any performance advantages over the TLR offerings.


Installation
The Track Star o-rings visibly have a smaller inner diameter and are a bit thicker in comparison to the TLR low friction offerings. Since I don't have an accurate way of measuring them I will not attempt to offer dimensions. I first installed the Track Star o-rings with the stock 3mm spacer. I found this to cause a bit too much shaft friction from the seal pack than I like. Backing off the lower shock cap about a half turned helped and could be run in that manner. I ended up spacing the o-ringsin the seal pack with a 2.5mm spacer. I tried a 2mm spacer as well with hardly no difference in shaftfriction so I stuck with the 2.5mm to get the best possible seal. Ideally you want the friction of the of the shock shafts caused by the seal pack to be as low as possible while the seal pack performsall its other functions. Overall I found these o-rings to have slightly more friction than the TLR low friction offerings but the difference was very minimum.

Shock Oil Weep
Shock oil weeping is very common from all shocks in the R/C industry. The better theseal pack seals the less weep you have. Less oil coming coming out means less air entering the shock (if you loose oil it's replaced by air). I found these Track Star pistons to have very little oil weep in comparison to the TLR low friction shocks.

Another advantage with less oil weeping from the shock also means less oil on the shock shaft to attract dirt. Less dirt means there should be a reduction in shock shaft wear as the dirt acts like sandpaper against the titanium-nitride shock shaft coatings.

On Track Performance
While I started the weekend with the new seals I set another set aside to give to a friend to try as well. He ran the first round of qualifying with TLR low friction o-ringsand then switched to the Track Star o-rings. He ended up goingfaster every round. While I don't really contribute that speed directly to the o-rings I do think it's important that he seen no negative performance in his car. The design of the seal pack in the shock has a direct relationship to the amount of traction a car's suspension can produce. These new o-rings showed zero signs of affecting the shock negatively in any way.

After each qualifying round we both noted the shock developed very little rebound compared to the TLR low friction seals. Typically after just one round of qualifying with the TLR low friction o-rings the shocks would produce between 8-10mm of additional rebound. The Track Star o-ring only had about 3-4mm of developed rebound and after the 2nd and 3rd run only gained 1-2mm in additional rebuild. This means less air has entered theshock during the run making back-to-back runs feel very consistent.

I raced both Friday and Saturday with the new seals which equated to about 15-18 runs between practice and racing. There was no noticeable break down that warranted me wanting to replace the o-rings. I also noted there was very little dirt build up at the bottom of the lower shock cap after each run which confirms that there is less oil weeping from the seal pack. The new shock shafts I had also showed no signs of wear after the weekend's racing.

Overall I feel this product addresses the negatives we've been dealing with from the TLR o-ring product offering and can recommend them.

Link to Track Star RC product page.