Track Tac

ceramic bearings..... are they worth it.

M

mike_bob1986

New member
Getting things done for indoor concrete this winter. Let's talk bearings. I've been told by a hadfull of people there guaranteed .2/.3 tenths. I run champs at Columbus and fort Wayne. Very competitive class. Is $400 worth it and my curiosity?
 
I can't believe they are worth the money. Keep your regular ones clean and spinning free and spend your $400 somewhere else
 
There ain't no way in .... a kart is that much quicker with ceramics than a good standard precision roller bearing, providing the bearing is cleaned and lubed PMT and not worn out.
 
The only time ceramic bearings will actually help you gain any time off your laptimes, is when you have perfected everything else and have the driving, motor, tires and chassis setup to consistently win races, if you have all that and are looking for that extra tenth that might give you a better qualifying spot or something like that at a big race. I dont see anyone gaining more than a tenth of a second from just ceramic bearings, or any kind of bearings, that sounds like an exaggeration to me. If your friends gained .2-.3 tenths when switching to ceramic bearings, id be willing to bet the time gained was from something else, like track getting faster or they changed to a better driving line around the track, or even got better at driving, something like that would make more sense to why their lap times went down.
 
If I was building engines, I might try ceramic bearings in the engine, just to see what happens. I think you would have to do a lot of dyno work to prove their worth.

I think most bearings are rated to 25,000 RPM, and at those rpm's ceramics might make a difference, but kart axle bearings are turning quite a bit slower than that. I would be suspect of anyone that said they were worth 2 to 3 10ths.

From the desk of Al Nunley
Comments compliments criticisms and questions always welcome.
If the data does not support the theory, get a new theory. (Al Nunley)
 
I've used them in both applications (inside engines & on the chassis) and not. Didn't see a whole lot of difference (certainly not .2-.3 sec per lap - and at C'bus that would be a HUGE advantage!)

Are they worth it? That really depends on the level of your competition. If your competition is using them, then you may need to. (No different than tire preps, tire brands, chassis brands, engine builders, pipe and cam of the week, etc etc.) Personally, I'd spend the $400 on tires or something else (especially for indoors.)

Ceramics do roll freer. Is that worth the expense to you? Maybe. Don't expect night and day differences though.
Keep in mind there are several levels of ceramic bearing quality (as there are in steel bearings) as well. If you're going to go ceramic, don't go cheap - been there done that too. The "cheap" ceramics don't roll any better than good steel bearings - (China hasn't figured out how to clone quality yet.)



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Nope not unless your pockets are lined with gold. Seen many people on the top level of karting with out it. Spend your money on tires, chassis then engine. If it was $400 for .2 I think we would all be over it lol
 
They last a lot longer IMO. Not worth the money though unless you have the money to spend on them. If it was between ceramics or buying tires, I would go with tires
 
Heard Yfswwyk Co Ltd inventing a lexan / teflon ball bearing in Japan should cost same as the reg. single steel ball bearing, stronger, no lube and live time ..................?
 
@ ChainDragGone we use ceramac bearings for one reason, Ceramic dosen't rust......! Over a period of three years the wheel bearings in the Exorcist wheel which uses ceramic bearings never had to be replaced and that is a lot of rpms when you think of a guide wheel, and the loads it gets forced on it. The only benifit I can honestly consistantly see is mag cloride or calcium cloride does not alter their function. Scott@chaindraggone
 
If their claim were true, there wouldn't be steel bearings as a standard. Every chassis manufacturer on the face of the planet would be forced to incorporate ceramics as a standard or be laughed off the track.
 
I don't think ceramics are a threat to become a "standard", however they are offered as an option on nearly every chassis' top model out there today.

The RC world may see more benefit from ceramics with their light weight cars and higher rpm than karts. That's why they are as popular as they are in RC racing. As technology improves, we could see a day when we all wonder why anyone would run steel anymore. :)
 
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