Redwood Plastics offers multiple grades of their Redco Tuffkast product and recently a customer came to us asking about the differences between the grades. In this case, the customer had been using the standard Tuffkast 025 for carriage wheels and then noticed a special 020 grade just for carriage wheels existed. They were wondering if they had been using the wrong grade and if it was affecting their product life: a very fair question! The reality is that either grade will work but are not optimal under the same conditions. The Tuffkast 020 (carriage wheel version) was specifically formulated to take higher impact than the standard Tuffkast 025.
There are a few points to make here. Firstly, Tuffkast 025 already is one of the best impact-resistant materials on the market. It can function very well as huge marine bumpers for example. It was found, in certain applications, that the carriages took too hard of an impact and did manage to damage the wheels. However, to be more impact-resistant Tuffkast 020 is softer. This means it will wear quicker if the carriage wheel rails have defects and also at quick speeds it starts to wear faster than the 025.
To not over-complicate matters think of it like this: if you haven’t used Redco carriage wheels before and you don’t think you’re running them fast then go with Tuffkast 020 to start. If you find they’re wearing quicker, than try the standard 025. If you run your wheels fairly quickly (and want a slightly lower cost product) then go with the standard Tuffkast 025 as you will pay a slight premium for the 020.
If you have questions about the Redco Tuffkast carriage wheels please do not hesitate to contact us.