Motopreserve
Drone Enthusiast
I soldered the connectors to the solder pads, but the center pad lifted slightly. The center connectors wiggled when I plugged/unplugged the motor leads in. I was afraid they'd tear the traces off the circuit board when connecting or disconnecting them or a crash. All the ESC's had the same issue. Always the center solder pad.
I think it would probably be safest to solder the wire directly to the pad (as intended). The stress that the connector would take in a crash (as you mentioned) could definitely recreate the issue you are having. You could always eave the connectors on your PDB and solder connectors to good gauge wire coming from the ESC.