Nickel plated axles

I think we all start there as we do research and hear that NPA and FTE are the hot setup... but I think you will find that the consensus is a highly polished and properly lubed standard axle is a high performer and possibly preferred in many instances. Testing is your friend... Enjoy the ride!

A host once shared privately with me how a blister fresh very recent modern casting absolutely smoked the previous record time set by all manner of custom built cars. Nothing is guaranteed by either the FTE or NPA, those can just offer a slight leg up if your other tuning skills are not so established. 

I use a lot of FTEs simply because I bought a lot of them when I first got into this hobby. I mainly like them for the wheels which seem to be better than average, plus I have a disability and FTEs save me the step of polishing. They're good solid choices but definitely not the magic bullet they were once thought to be. A good polishing and lube job on a standard axle will work just as well if not better. To me, it's all about the wheels.

it seems there is one set of cars with plated axles

the zuru's. (metal machines)

the color shifters are thae same axles as the normals

just bigger (0.037 v 0.027)

dr

NPA axles are a short cut that could save you some polishing. They're a better place to start than without if you're in learning mode and trying to figure out combinations that work.

My attitude was always, if you have 'em, great, if not, don't sweat finding them - just take some non-NPA and smooth/polish/improve. Wheels & weight can have more impact on performance in my experience seeing a lot of build cars over many years.

From what I've heard/learned, Color Shifters have NPA beacuse they are resistant to damage from the cars being submerged in water. Hot Wheels NASCAR Pro Racing castings with the black wheels with yellow lettering are NPA, and most of the Modern Classics series have them.  Like everyone else says, they are ok, but will need the same amount of effort and skill to be competitively fast as any other axel/wheel setup. I have a few fast FTE castings like the Honda Spocket, newer model Dodge Charger, and the Chrysler 300. Anything else is just average for me.

FTE wheels also tend to have mass reduced wherever possible which isn't insignificant. Just simple moment of inertia math, and often times being faster off the line is more important than being fastest overall, because then you can block other cars and get pushed by them...

But yes Color shifters are NPA, you'll see for example a lot of color shifters wheels from a lancer EVO used in the GTR Ultimate Evo Championship. People also like color shifters because they have a metal chassis I believe (lower CG). Unfortunately this isn't a secret so they aren't easy to find in stores, at least where I live...

My fastest car so far that holds a top-5 lap record at the Lord's Racing League was FTE, unpolished, with oil lube. I hope to recycle it, maybe polish them a bit, give it new weights, and see how much it improves with polishing. With that being said, i'm also going to just start polishing the crap out of standard axles because I'm fully convinced the fastest cars/builders are just using standard axles that have been polished a LOT. Like, way more polishing than you'd expect any sane man to do. That's my working theory, at least...

If you don't have lots of money to throw at axles, I wouldn't advise FTE. You can only get them on ebay and the supply/demand scale is constantly tipping against our favor since they are no longer produced. And you'll probably be bidding against me or other guys on this forum, LOL. This is why I'm starting to shy away from them--feels like way too much money. If you go thru ebay, buy multiple from the same seller and request an invoice for combined shipping. You can usually get them for $5/FTE car on ebay as opposed to, like, 1-2$ a car for a normal hot wheel from a store. Worth noting only about 25% of the FTE axles you buy will be really good out of the box, and many times you'll only get one good axle from a car, so you have to mix and match.

My advice to you would be whatever axles you go for, adhere them with JB Qwik. This will allow you to re-use the axle, can remove the JB with pliers really well. Any other adhesive may be impossible to remove cleanly. I lose sleep thinking about my best axles that I cannot recycle because I used adhesive that's impossible to remove. Don't make the same mistake I did :(

P.S. the Slanman/RLD wheel alignment jig is worth the investment, unless you wanna build your own 

FWIW, here's an older list of which lines came with FTEs. Certainly hasn't been really kept updated but hopefully folks can share and add anything new.

redlinederby.com/topic/which-carsbrands-have-fte-nickel-axles/2766

for the record, I think the science of straightness, axle wise,

is more important than finish, some axles have a "screw" to them at the head

axles need to be straight, and can be straightened, and most should be, if not all. 

but IMHO, if a screwy axle spins a wheel, it (wheel) will always be screwy, too

even when the axle is straightened later

the axle makes the wheel what it is once it spins on it a while (cough sanding w/ no lube, cough)

rolling an axle between 2 flat metal pieces will flatten it, which makes it more round

dr