Aluminum or plastic for rock racer wheels?

[ecoli]

Opinions on this? I would think with the faster speeds, to lessen the stress on the drivetrain one would want to go with plastic (or delrin) wheels for a rock racer. Obviously crawling performance would suffer slightly, but I also wonder about the durability issue (is it an issue) with plastic?

 

[WVB]

The thing that worries me with delrin/plastic for shoes would be the amount of times you change tires, etc. Plastic screw holes will wear out. I want to go aluminum for this reason. You can always go delrin/plastic rock rings to help with weight.

 

[Brandon]

1.9 or 2.2?

 

[Trugg]

The thing that worries me with delrin/plastic for shoes would be the amount of times you change tires, etc. Plastic screw holes will wear out. I want to go aluminum for this reason.

Not trying to argue, just letting you know that you can make plastic treads last practically forever.... all you need to do is put a small drop of CA glue on your screw whenever you have a stipped out hole. The CA glue will re-form the treads and make it just as good as new.
I have NEVER, ever had to replace a plastic part because the "threads were stripped"8)

And on the original wheel question, I say Aluminum wheels.

 

[Bermbuster]

you can also use a longer screw.....

With racing... other trucks will crash into you and or cause you to hit stationary objects and if you start jumping and have hard landings Aluminum wheels will get beat up....

 

[ecoli]

1.9 or 2.2?

2.2

 

[Mayhem Eng.]

The problem I have seen with delrin is the center busting out from hard hits. Some of the problem can be fixed in how the wheel is designed.

With alum. you don't really have this problem. You can get the weight of an alum. wheel down close to a delrin wheel depending on how it's machined. Thinner everything and still be stronger then Delrin.

One thing you want to make sure of on a wheel lets say on a rockracer is that both the inside and the outside of the wheel has been machined. If it hasn't you run the chance of that wheel running out of balance, the i.d. and o.d. must be running on the same center line. This is true on any wheel.

I say alum.

My .02

 

[mchester]

Isn't there some hub mod I have seen talked about somwhere, though I can't find it, that you suggest for the Delrin wheels on some models (maybe Berg) to help with the hub issue? Something about trimming the hub end down to increase surface mating area possibly?

I only vaugely recall this, so please correct me if I am wrong.