Wheel Molds

[Crash Enburn]

It used to be that there were faster molds than others. The molds have been redesigned (last year or the year before) so that the hubs are now rounded (which saves some work for me and my kids).

With the old molds, there were definitely mold numbers to avoid, and ones to collect. Does the same hold true with the new molds?

TIA,
- Eric

 

[DNA RACING]

while the new molds are much better, i am not sure which ones are the best.
i think the worst of the new molds is better than the best of the old.

 

[Kinser Racing]

I've heard some people say that the low number molds are better than the higher number molds. I don't know if it's true or not. The new molds seem to be very consistent so I don't know if this matters as much as a well set up car.

 

[36racin]

Having just built a derby car with the new style tires/hubs I can honestly say none of the tires I recieved in my kit were round. In fact all four had a high spot that took some turning to get all of them true. But when all was said and done they all weighted the same. Where is the mold number and I'll check to see what mine were.

 

[Kinser Racing]

Most of us use DD4H's trued wheels. Just out of curiosity what did you use to get them true?

 

[mgh Racing]

I've read that molds #2, 3, 8, 12 and 15 are supposed to be the "good" ones. I had a set of #8's that ran some very good times right out of the box, with only an outer hub double-step removal and a q-tipping...

 

[36racin]

I looked at the numbers on the insides of the wheels. Mine show #1, 5, 7, 11.

I used the DW pro wheel shaver XT to true the wheels.

Are running like mold #'s better?

 

[DerbyDad4Hire]

I looked at the numbers on the insides of the wheels. Mine show #1, 5, 7, 11.

I used the DW pro wheel shaver XT to true the wheels.

Are running like mold #'s better?

Those are all good molds usually. A good set of wheels does not have to be mold matched. The only thing you don't want is the few that have honking big bores but that is a wheel to wheel issue not mold.

I hope your hands aren't as sore as mine were the first time I tried that thing. I would run wheels out of the box before I did that again!

 

[36racin]

Yeah my hand did get alittle sore from using it. Unfortunately I dont have a lathe at my disposal to true the wheels. I was trying something that was better than the sand paper way I had always done it before.

 

[XusrdwP]

I hope nobody minds if I jump in. i use the same tool but it seemed like the wheel would catch and I would have keep taking it down farther and farther. I also found that the wheels were nearly as out of round as when I started because of the slop in the setup. Is there an easier way to do this without a lathe?

 

[Kinser Racing]

I hope nobody minds if I jump in. i use the same tool but it seemed like the wheel would catch and I would have keep taking it down farther and farther. I also found that the wheels were nearly as out of round as when I started because of the slop in the setup. Is there an easier way to do this without a lathe?

Yes there's a far superior way, it's faster, saves you tons of time and in the end, money. Best of all you'll be faster. Buy your wheels from DerbyDad.

I'm really not here to knock anyones product, but the tools that are being refered to are not thoroughly thought out. They're for taking your money.

 

[mgh Racing]

I hope nobody minds if I jump in. i use the same tool but it seemed like the wheel would catch and I would have keep taking it down farther and farther. I also found that the wheels were nearly as out of round as when I started because of the slop in the setup. Is there an easier way to do this without a lathe?

Yes there's a far superior way, it's faster, saves you tons of time and in the end, money. Best of all you'll be faster. Buy your wheels from DerbyDad.

I'm really not here to knock anyones product, but the tools that are being refered to are not thoroughly thought out. They're for taking your money.

+1

 

[Quicktimederby]

I think that most of us when we started out used most of the DW products. They can get you to a certain level and then you are done. I had blisters on my fingers from the shaver and also had some serious gouges in the wheel when the blade caught. Kinser is so right about DD4H wheels. My first set of wheels from him dropped my times from 3.000 to 2.982 in my opinion worth there weight in gold.

I hope nobody minds if I jump in. i use the same tool but it seemed like the wheel would catch and I would have keep taking it down farther and farther. I also found that the wheels were nearly as out of round as when I started because of the slop in the setup. Is there an easier way to do this without a lathe?

 

[derby freak]

I would have to say that the fastest and easiest way to get a good quality wheel is to buy them from someone that sells quality stuff such as DD4H. I haven't used any other wheels other than what he sells so I can't tell you if there are any better wheels out there or any worse ones. I will tell you this, once I find something that works well for me I generally stick to it.

 

[mike clem]

We used the no.2 mold wheels on our car this year . No. 15 molds miked out well also . We were able to find several sets with a 'big' wheel diameter ,small bore and less than a thousandth run- out stock . We can not lathe turn our wheels per the rules . I'm not sure I could do much better than that on my old South Bend.
The different color wheels seem to have the most run-out . A set of blue no.4 molds were nearly .008" out of round to start with !!
DD4H products really do work well .. My son and I prepped a set of wheels using his stuff last Saturday morning before our Pack race . In quick testing , again before the race , we went .07 of second faster by using his prep . Despite the major mistake we made to the car the nite before, it ran well at the event . Thanks DD4H !!!

 

[quadad]

I don't think you can assume anything about the recently made 2009 version BSA wheels. When those wheels came, they were phenomenal compared to where the 1999 mold wheels had degraded to. Very early on it seemed like 1/2 were quite good and the mold numbers mentioned here were some of the best. (My primary checks always were slow spin test and bore size.) We expected the new mold would be good for a long time too, but I have seen a much more rapid decrease in quality.

I wouldn't expect better than a 10 % yield of Pack-winning quality wheels today, and that's assuming you can do something with the initial out-of-round (we preferred ~ 1.170 final OD). If you can't hand or machine lathe, then you are really stuck looking for near perfect wheels. I will just report that I have seen better 2's (always the tightest bores), 3's and 13's in a couple of people's batches lately, but YMMV. The 12's and 15's have really gone south. The 8's which used to spin excellent, don't any more - but they still have the largest bore diameter. Just what I have seen.

 

[Crash Enburn]

Thanks, all! Sounds like I will need to go through all of our wheels individually and see what I can find for best wheel. Maybe spend a few more dollars at the scout shop and get some more spares.

Last night, I was playing with the wheels I pulled out of our stash (to weigh the cars pre-paint), and found that one of the #4 wheels (which, of course, is the mold that I have two cars worth) was visibly out of round. The other #4 wasn't. /images/boards/smilies/rolleyes.gif

Last year, my daughter's car, with matched #9 molds proved fastest out of the family, even though I'd focused the prep work on mine and my son's wheels. For the record, I set the track speed record with my car before the Pack finals brought that time down (Dads and sibs don't compete outside of their bracket). Her car, while not having a faster run than mine, averaged out better. My son's car, sadly, didn't win, place, or show -- when using the dremel to 'burn-in' the graphite, he turned the tool almost 90 degrees and burned a wheel. At the time, I thought, 'learning experience', and let it go. In hindsight, I should've given him one of my wheels as a replacement.
Thanks for the suggestions on buying prepped wheels/axles, but, our interpretation of 'Do Your Best' is that the cars should be a result of our best work.

- Eric

 

[Crash Enburn]

The Max-Velocity blog just posted a new article about BSA wheels: http://pinewood-derby.blogspot.com/2012/02/wheels-go-round-and-round-or-do-they.html

The article linked to their own test results where they measured ten randomly selected wheels from each mold number (http://www.maximum-velocity.com/wheelaxleqav2.htm#bsamold) They found that #s 2, 3, 6, and 15 were the best.

 

[ZZ Racing]

I helped my son with wheels for cub scouts the other night and what we found was the number 8's are the best. We used the DW wheel shaver on them and had them good with very little effort. Has anybody else seen this?

 

[quadad]

We used the DW wheel shaver on them and had them good with very little effort. Has anybody else seen this?

No, never heard that was easy before. (Couldn't resist that

.) Historically the 8's were great molds for everything except bore size. Not by much, but a thousandth's less makes a difference, especially if your scout sands his axles too much.