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Post by Reuben on Feb 5, 2009 19:48:24 GMT
So im looking at kitting the car out with a new set of bearings. Now.... who has used Ceramics? and is there a performance increase over metal-balled bearings. As their is a 100% price increase from standard bearings to ceramics, is this worth the cost?
or can a well treated set of Metal bearings perform just as good as a ceramic set?
Also may a hybrid of bearings be the better options? aka Ceramics on the pulley-shaft and in the front and back bulkhead, and steels in the wheel hubs (because they take alot of bashing)
both metal shielded, and the ceramics are Teflon coated.
Views, Opinions and Experiences all welcome.
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Post by Simon Crabb on Feb 5, 2009 19:52:18 GMT
if a mix, for cost, i'd say ceramics in the wheel hubs, because they take the bashing!
Personally i think metal ones are good enough, and cheap enough to bin when dead...
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Post by lesbaldry on Feb 5, 2009 20:06:14 GMT
I've never used ceramics,heard good and not so good stories. As for metal brgs I believe "correct me If Im wrong" they come in "grades" from 1 to 5 ,5 been the highest tolerance/quality,I understand around a grade 2 or 3 is the most common used in the kits...perhaps this is why we get "wobbly" wheel syndrome after only a few runs with some new kits...Better quality brgs might be the answer? Are ceramics ment to run dry or be oiled?...Ive heard various stories  |
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Post by otr on Feb 5, 2009 21:23:44 GMT
Always metal bearings for me. Price of good one is still way less than a ceramic and the performance advantage, if any, of ceramic over a good metal is minimal in my opinion.
Metal bearings are judged by their ABEC rating. As Les said ABEC 5 is almost the best. Most kits will come with an ABEC 3 rated bearing as standard so I understand. I believe you can go to ABEC 7 but they are more expensive than ceramics. Don't go for rubber sealed as the seals increase drag. A good ABEC 5 metal shielded bearing properly washed out and a good quality light oil used will be as good as you can get or indeed would ever need. You need to look after all bearings properly. I check mine after every meeting and will wash, clean, replace and/or re-oil every two or three meetings. If the meeting is wet I will automatically clean and re-oil all bearings afterwards.
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Post by MonkeyNuts on Feb 5, 2009 22:12:38 GMT
I've ran both before when i ran my TC4, Couldnt tell the difference to be honest. Id stick with the metal ones personally, not worth the extra money.
Liam
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Post by Martin Young on Feb 6, 2009 7:58:14 GMT
Like Liam I have run both Ceramic and Metal bearings, I also didn't see (or feel) any difference.
I now just run metal bearings and just change them on a frequent basis rather than spend the extra money on ceramics.
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Post by James Calland on Feb 6, 2009 9:09:34 GMT
In my TC5 i race boca ceramic bearings (not my presonnal choice, came with the car) and carbide balls bearings in my rear diff. and tbh even tho i stripped the car most weekends to give it a good deep clean and flush ALL the bearings the car never seemed to be as "free wheeling" as other cars with penny bearings installed.
As slushbucket/les commented the higher the number "Abec rating" the better the quality and speed of the bearing and i do remebr having abec nines in my skateboard so you can defo go upto 9.
Id say its worth investing in metal bearings Abec 5+ and you will not notice the difference at that level if you switched to ceramic.
James
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Post by otr on Feb 6, 2009 9:32:40 GMT
OK for those techies among you this is the ABEC rating info.
There are 5 rates
ABEC 1 which is ISO Class 0
ABEC 3 which is ISO Class 6
ABEC 5 which is ISO Class 5
ABEC 7 which is ISO CLass 4
ABEC 9 which is ISO CLass 2
ISO is the International Organization for Standards. Both rating systems are widely used.
The ABEC rating is determined by the following:
How close the bore is to its dimension in Microns
How close the outer diameter is to its dimension in Microns
How close the width is to its dimension in Microns
The rotating accuracy in Microns
With ABEC 9 being the highest, and most accurate.
It is suggested for RC cars that anything less than ABEC 5 is not used. ABEC 7 is better but obviously more expensive (maybe twice the price) and dont even think of going to ABEC 9 unless you want to take out another mortgage.
Hope that helps.
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Post by lesbaldry on Feb 6, 2009 10:19:20 GMT
Smashing info,now we know...whos up for buying some quality brgs in bulk...perhaps just hub size??...I can seem to make the diff carrier brgs last at leat 3 times longer than the hubs.
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Post by James Calland on Feb 6, 2009 11:50:57 GMT
id be up for a nice shinny set of abec 7's for my hubs. £10 well spent me thinks.
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Post by saintroeer on Feb 6, 2009 15:32:27 GMT
Smashing info,now we know...whos up for buying some quality brgs in bulk...perhaps just hub size??...I can seem to make the diff carrier brgs last at leat 3 times longer than the hubs. great idea les, if anyone can get them in bulk at a good price, they can have some money out of my pocket, can never have too many good quality brgs laying around, so i hear  |
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