Boca Bearings vs. Acer bearings...ceramic sets.
 

I have Acer ceramic bearings on all my trucks and love them. they are lighter and faster. however, i have seen ads for Boca Bearings and read a little about them and they sound like great bearings. until now, i have never been able to find Boca bearings in complete sets like Acer does. the Acer sets i have bought were $90 but Boca wants like $200 for their set. also, the Acer set is rated ABEC 5. i have seen as high as ABEC 9 on the boca site but according to this kit it says they are only ABEC 1. so, who can tell me which is the better bearing? does it matter? and if they are both ceramic shouldnt the friction coefficient be about the same? why is one rate ABEC 1 and the other rated ABEC 5? i know i am kind of anal about this stuff but for some reason i feel i have to have the best i can get for my rides. so if the Boca really is a better bearing i am willing to pay the extra dough.

has anyone out there actually tried both types of bearings and can tell me which is better?

I use stock traxxas bearings :mdr:

I would say in all honesty the ABEC 5 rated Bocas are more than fine, especially if you are happy with them in your past/current vehicles. I cant even imagine spending $200 just for a set of bearings, you'd have to be bonkers.... http://www.clodtalk.com/images/smilies/icon_shocked.gif

a vote for acer. bocas are too expensive. and acer's are expensive too.
i run acer in all of my 1/10 elects and they are great! never had 1 fail

Just remember no one ever said "thanks to this $200.00 set of bearings I won the race".

The chance you would notice the performance difference is slim to none. I dealt with this in my machinery buying super high end bearings that were supposed to last longer and greatly increase performance. Most of the time they lasted the same or less and no performance increase was notice. I did have some critical applications the required bearings with very little tolerance, but that's a whole different basket of cookies.

I have a set of bushings in my stampede...:surprised: Better change those out...:lol:

but look on the bright side, instead of spending 200 dollars on bearings, I could replace my bushings for like 40 cents.:rofl:

I've had good luck with Avid bearings. $1 apiece.

ok, i get the point. i am a sucker for the tricky marketing sometimes. i have this stupid disease that if it costs more it must be better. i know thats not the case. just going to stick with the Acer. i have definitely noticed that they spin longer, with less resistance, over stock. whether it makes a difference on the track i doubt by much but i already have them and they do reduce overall weight by about 1-2 ounces.

its just the classic i have better stuff in mine than yours. thing:wink:

in my previous job I was in charge of a production operation that was in a high temp enviorment and in my travels I had come across some bearings that were advertised could handle some incredible temps ( exceeding 1000 degs) that usually lasted 9-12 months before they failed, which we felt was acceptable. With bearings as long as the machinery kept turning they were doing thier job....

higher ABEC rating more precise the bearing is and has higher chance to die when dust gets in.
ACER bearings are not bad but are not really dirt/water friendly. Had a set on my mugen and after 4 races half of them died.
I stick to cheap (like 60cents) ABEC 3 steel bearings and will try stainless steel this year that cost like 70cents. They last suprisingly long. of course they are not as smooth as Acer, but i at least remove the grease and put acer bearing oil in.

so i went back and forth on this and after reading up found that the ABEC rating does not mean they are faster. just means tighter tolerances. also, i talked the ebay seller down to $125 on the boca bearings and then found out they were a full-contact seal instead of no-contact seal like Acer so i just went with Acer. i have never had issues with mine. never failed and very smooth and fast. plus i just clean them out every so often and use the Sin lube and that keeps em running smooth.

Wow. I don't believe any of that. I went through 2 sets of Acer bearings last season in a Losi 8ight. I was HIGHLY disappointed. I am running Boca Bearings now with 7 races on them. 2 races were mud, and I mean mud, and 1 one was on an exrtemely "gritty" track thats notorious for tearing up bearings and anything else. I have yet to have one failure. I still don't even have a "crunchy" bearing. Not one. Good luck with your Acers but I'm telling you, save your money and buy the good stuff. You get what you pay for.
For any of those who doubt what I'm saying pm me your address and I will personally send you some used Acers. Its not pretty.The bearings were actually so useless that I was reconsidering ever buying any ceramics again. Boca Bearings 100% or you'll be sorry. Not an opinion, this is fact.

wow, thats good to know dude. thats 2 people now that have had acer problems. i have yet to have any problems with any of my acers but i am going to get the boca set to try them out. thanks for the heads up.

You won't be disappointed with the Boca's. The first "mud" race I had to hit with them I was mad at the fact I had just dropped the $$$ on them, thinking they would get destroyed like the others. Not the case.

For any of you that hit the warmup to the North Carolina state championships at WCRC know what I'm talking about. If they can make it through that weekend, then I don't think there is anything you can throw at them. Same set, not one crunchy. Amazing! :yes:

just playing the devil's advocate here:diablo:

a car needs a teardown anyway after a muddy race, I would much rather just replace the bearings with cheapies as opposed to cleaning/relubing/babying bearings that cost me a days wage. It's more time and cost efficient to use cheapies and replace them at any sign of wear/dirt.
After one lap outside any efficiency gained is lost by the addition of dirt, dust, bugs what have you. Unecessary fluff! Especially for a car driven in dirt.
Save them for the gold plated shelf queen!:lol:

that's just me though.........