ceramic bearings

[BRAKKIE]

Hi....

Can anyone tell me what difference ceramic bearings make as oppose to normal bearings. is it worth the $$$$$. Will I see a difference in track time???

[terrible-t]

Steel bearing, or ceramic bearings? You want longevity, go with Steel. You want longevity ceramic bearings. They both are equal. But ceramic they fail, they fail hard. Steel they start getting noisy, you can clean them up and relube them. Ceramic they are like your mother porceline china, they break, its in pieces. Same with ceramic in pieces. The only way to describe the two.

[B4 Stealth]

yeah ceramics are only really worth the dough in on road oval and maybe pan, where such a small weight and high speeds would magnify the bearings impact on performance. but any thing involving dirt or outdoor ceramic bearings just cant handle the stress. I have rubber sealed bearings and as long as I blast them with a bearing blaster:
http://rpmrcproducts.com/products/tools/fixtools.htm
every time I rebuild the car they run like new.
but buddy bought a set of acer ceramics and after 3 months of offroad 2wd mod with regular cleaning, they started shattering inside the sheilds during wrecks in the hub carriers. and these were costly replacements that didnt affect performance on the track, just the dyno. so he switched back to steel rubber sheilded and he hasnt worn one out yet.
(if an rc one existed :D )

[highroller]

The ceramic bearings are freer and a bit smoother. I installed them in my pan cars (1/12 and 1/10th) as well as the TC3. Since the moving parts are rotating smoother you might see some lower lap times. The ceramic bearings still require maintenance and replacement like regular bearings.
A set of ceramic bearings for 10L4 $35, good quality steel $12.50, TC3 $100 for ceramic about $29 for set of steel.

[rezenclowd3]

Ive never used ceramics, but I use Boca Bearings Green seal in my on/offroad nitros. For my 1/10 scale vehicles, the cost is about $90 per vehicle. They are very smooth and last ages compared to the stock bearings. I feel its a worthwhile investment.