Do ceramic bearings make much of a difference?

[Mike Keely]

Wondering if anyone noticed a difference when they installed them?

[mleemor60]

Other than less disposable income?

[mugler]

Originally Posted by Mike Keely

Wondering if anyone noticed a difference when they installed them?

comments below regarding performance gains all apply to at least "upper half intermediate" to experts driving levels who experience close competition racing environments.

If we're talking about stock class motors either in the form of nimh or lipo with restricted gearing you bet your bottom dollar they do and if your talking race lengths of over 6 minutes with nimh power then even more so, also larger the track the more the advantage...not only the car will be clearly faster all around it will also handle smoother on the corners in general...for the smoothness to be noticed as much as the speed gains the bearings will need to be super clean. Even when using cer's with open geared 3500 lipo power plants the speed gains are clearly noticeable but i never used them with full blown mod cars so far.

At exactly 5 times the cost of a regular bearing they are craAZZZEEee expensive and curiously their prices are not going down for anything so far and seems like they wont either. Sticking with good regular bearings, de-greasing them when you first buy them, running them dry and then cleaning and replacing the bad ones on a regular basis should be fast enough in most situations.
BTW ceramic bearing also need these maintenance routines for their full potential to be realized, so again unless your shooting to get on the podium at a PNWC or a huge big race then regular bearings with good maintenance are the way to go.

[mleemor60]

As I already said.

[byebye]

I prefer them over the steel. They last longer in my opinion. At the end of the day however all mine are mixed up. I just toss them when they are no longer smooth.

Ray has those ceramic sets in the cabinet for dirt dirt cheap.

[Mike Keely]

I did not think that they are ceramic???

[arch2b]

No, the cheapest set from Boca while on sale is about $7-8 and not ceramics. I’m happy to get some the next time they have a sale, otherwise, I don’t go anywhere near them. I only buy when they have sales.