Quote:
Originally Posted by ollien
1) Is it really worth it to switch away from the higrip wheels? Is there a large amount of benefit to going to some other wheel, especially if you're being defended against? There also doesn't seem to be much benefit to the other durometers of the hipgrip wheel, considering the low difference in CoF and lower durabilities.
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I've spoken with the engineers about this one at length (short conversations are in short supply in that office). There have been some test chassis driving around on black HiGrips, and they do have noticeably better grip that somehow isn't getting reflected in our CoF calculations--part of that comes down to the tread profile of the HiGrips, since interlocking with field carpet creates more usable grip than the same material not interlocking. I was hoping we'd have this improved by Kickoff, but other priorities had the engineers busy.
For what it's worth, Iron Kings will be running black 4" HiGrips this year and have expectations of swapping them out about once a competition day depending on our driving. The blue HiGrips are more manipulator-oriented; I don't think anyone has been bold enough to use them on an FRC-scale drive system yet because the compound is so darn soft. If you've ever rubbed a thumb on black and blue Stealth Wheels or Compliant Wheels that use the same material, you know the difference. (White HiGrips and gray Stealth Wheels are also the same durometer, just colored differently.)
Botty McBotface (the Team Indiana Ri3D build) has blue HiGrips on there, and I'm hoping to get it going against our own driver before bag day. Should be a hoot!!
(Full disclosure of the painfully obvious: I work at AndyMark.)