Acer Bearings-not so happy

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HumboldtBlazer

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Well if any of you remember a few weeks ago I bought some Acer Racing cermaic nitride bearings for my clutchbell on my new Sirio .21. Well they failed after 2 quarts and this caused my clutch to melt as the cltucbell could not spin idependently of the flywheel.

Not so clear picture but you can see the damage on the inner ring. Its is crushed on the inside and that bearing still has some good movement. The one on the outside looks fine but has major drag like some of the balls have broken inside the bearing case. I paid 8$ per bearing so its not the end of the world at $16 bucks but I tell you I dont think I want the $160 kit for my buggy now. Lets see how Acer's customer support is. I will update after I contact them.

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By the way I did use the correct size and placement of the 2 washers. the thin one on the outside of the flywheel nut and the thick one on the outside of the clutchbell before you screw the end bolt in.

Here is the email I just sent @ 10:18am PAC time. They claim on their website to have very quick email response time so lets see.

My letter:
I bought two cermaic nitride clutchbell bearings for my Storm Pro as I just bought a Sirio .21 and wanted some top notch bearings for my top notch engine. The bearings lasted 2 quarts and then they froze the clutchbell so it would not move independly of the flywheel. I installed it correctly with the correct size and placement of the 2 washers. I am wondering how come this happened? Dont these bearings last longer than that? I was so impressed when I installed them as the would spin forever with the slightest spin in my fingers. Here is a picture of the inside bearing where the casing seems to be smashed. Its not clear I know but I think the damage is decipherable. The front bearing appears to have no damage cosmestically but it will not spin more than 180 degrees without stopping.

I was planning on buying the whole set for my Storm so I am really hoping you can shed light on what happened and why. Thanks for your help in advance.
 
Last edited:
Ouch, thanks for being the guinie pig. Maybe they will take care of it quickly. I've only played with my clutch bell a couple of times. If I recall, there are two bearings in the bell. Both are fried? or just one?
 
one spins alright when it used to spin great and it has dents in the bearing casing. The other one looks fine but spins 180 degrees then binds and stops.

is that you Rob in your avatar, your so cute, and you got a pretty mouth too.
 
Maybe the first failed because of a factory defect and the second just got banged up in the process. I doubt $8 bearings are designed to last only 2 quarts.

Did it cause any other damage to the buggy? I could see them hooking you up with a new pair or bearings but that wouldn't fix anything else.
 
fried the clutch as a result. Clutch 9 bucks, springs 3 bucks
 
Have Acer refund you for the clutch and springs also. I thought Acer bearings were supposed to be the shizznit. Hopefully you get a good response from them. Keep us posted.
 
I'm still waiting buts its only be about an hour and a half. I will let you know. Yeah I am kinda disapointed to as they are suposed to be the poop when it comes to bearings. I think the clutchbell was the perfect place to test them for durability. I hope it is a factory defect as I want Acers stuff to be good. We will see as it all pans out.
 
ok its 2:30p thats 4 hrs. They say on their website that email is quicker than the hone so does that mean I would have been on hold for more than 4 hrs?
 
UPDATE:

Email from Acer and there cust support is good. I get new ones yeehaw. And they are the updated bearing that dont have metal sheidls!!!

Thanks for your email. Please email us whether the 5x10 bearings you had
had the metal shield or the red seal. We have recently redesigned the
internals of the clutch bearing and can send you a new pair for free.
Please also verify your ship to address.
Thanks!
Alexis
ACER Racing
 
Thats good customer service. Hope everything goes well for you.:tank:

Steve
 
Ok they are AWESOME! Grat cust service! Here is their latest email:

No problem, thanks for the address. The new ceramic clutch bearing has the
red polyamide seal, but more importantly it has a completely redesigned
internal construction which is the best for high rpm high heat
applications. We have had no failures with them yet.
Hopefully manufacturers will redesign clutch bells to use larger bearings
such as 5x11 or bigger because the 5x10 is too small generally to handle the
high heat and load of todays strong 3.5cc engines.
Best of luck!
ACER Racing


Here is my response:

Thats some awesome info and please be assured that I will be ordering a set for my Storm Pro and my T-maxx (if you make them havent checked). That really makes sense about the size of the bearing. I wonder with all the power race engines produce why they don't make them. If you guys did I would buy them. I appreciate all the quick help you guys rock!

Good company! They explained everything and have an updated product to take the abuse. Acer is A+ with me.
 
That is very good, tell us how you think the bearings are. What buggy are you upgrading?

Steve
 
Its good. I do like it a lot. I think I will be moving to a Mugen soon though, but I still roll the Storm Pro also. I suggest the kit as it has all the hop ups and you can chose your engine , pipe and t ires. It is weighted and balanced really great. Fly's smooth and can take bad driver's (like myself) abuse. Parts are easy to find as most lhs's carry Horion Hobby stuff and plenty of aftermarket support for the Storm.
 
Ya, I heard that it is a very good buggy and comes with a Killer Radio.

Steve
 
I had the same issues with the same ceramic bearings. I emailed Acer and they said they will drop the revised bearing in the mail and replace them for free.
 
Sounds like very good customer service.

Steve
 
This makes me wonder about a story Eddy was telling me. Bottom line is this:

Metal bearrings should work better for our application
Grease is better than no grease
Maintainable bearrings are better than permanantly sealed

Now I have thought long and hard about this and this is what I come up with: (keep in mind this is just my opinion)

In VERY high RPM environments I would prefer a good solid metal bearring, such as the clutch bell. Reduced friction of course is better. So maintenance is key IMO.

In moderate RPM environments I would like to use the ceramics with the polyamide shielding. This would be at the ends of the axles and in the axle carriers. Possibly in the diffs as well. The shielding to me is what is MOST essential next to the badass balls.

What do you guys think?
 
makes sense to me. Lets see how these redesigned ceramic bearings hold up in the clutchbell this time. I think what better engine than a Sirio.21 to test high rpm's on a bearing.
 
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