[sanddrag]

Are you talking about the clips that hold the body on? If so, those aren't cotter pins. They are hitch pin clips. I've popped them off only very few occassions. If they pop off too easily, you can get stiffer ones. The traxxas ones are probably the weakes I've seen. Go to your local hardware store (not Home Depot, anywhere else should have them) and you get get some stiffer ones. They aren't too expensive. Paper clips can only bend back and forth a few times before they break, and I think it would be ugly.