Bonfire or Glacier Express for returning thrower

In an interesting turn of events, I ended up going with the 28 stories leaf! I’ve never owned a chief and I’ve heard only good things about it, and I also wanted to finally get something in the 28 Stories colorway. I would definitely love to get a Bonfire soon enough though.

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I realize op made their decision but I want to correct something you wrote so that the misconception doesn’t spread.

The reason these respond differently is because of the softness of the silicone, not because of the thickness of the pads. I am not saying that there are not qc issues sometimes. I have seen pads come too thick and protrude (a qc issue), but both of those options should be flush and the pads should be the same thickness.

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Are you sure because in the 3 sets I’ve done the summer tires all sit more shallow in the pad seat? I still have a set of both, I will measure and compare and post my findings to make sure I’m not spreading misinformation, as I’m pretty passionate about how much they have improved my throws lol.

The compound is definitely different, no arguing that haha

Also found this

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Okay yeah cool. Snow tires are definitely not intended to protrude into the gap.

Well SOMEBODY has been messing up my CLYWs lol. It’s a shame because it really hampers performance imo

Guess this just means I gotta buy the entire lineup and compare, for science.

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They was designed for flowable silicone, the pads was a after thought so they didnt have to FS every yoyo. Flowable silicone can be messy but it makes the clyw feel the way they was meant to feel

It can happen with all pads. Either as adhesive breaks down or when manufacturing variance leads to a slightly thicker production batch. They’re not meant to protrude.

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I’m serious when I say that all of my CLYW when got them, both new directly from CLYW and YoYo expert and also second hand, and look down the gap, the natural gum colored snow tire protrude just a bit. This is across 4 models.

My beater, which I personally half swapped, was the only one that the snow tires sat completely flush, both halves. One brand new one second hand. When I put the summers in they were too shallow and I had to use a very thick string. I ended up swapping back.

So IDK… I’m not trying to be argumentative, CLyW is my very favorite manufacturer tbh, I love them dearly. But if what you guys are saying is truezc they reaaaallllly need to work on final QC, because the throws I have are over the span of a few years (including the “previously enjoyed” models), so it’s an ongoing thing.

I’m really really not intending to cause controversy here, or making anything up to deride my favorite YoYo makers, it’s just something that when I noticed it was like “I need to shout this from the roof tops, it’s like sport mode for CLYWs, why is no one talking about this?”

They sell out ALL the time so clearly I’m not the only one who prefers them lol. They’re stocked like 40 pair at a time and always end up going before I make an order lol

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Lol bro, grab some flowable, red with fat string is grippy. Clear with fat string is loose. Jake from g2 made a video a while back on his method which is what I use. You will never grab tires again

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Yeah that’s my next move tbh. I just get dirty all day everyday at work, so the last thing I wanna do is work with MORE chemicals and all that when I get home, but I really do need to give it another shot. My Dif went… okay, but it was clearly a “first attempt” lol

The only point I’m trying to make here is that CLYW stock response leaves something to be desired, and they can be improved with other-than-stock response. I will leave it at that and may mute this thread because I feel like a loon at this point

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I’m glad OP was able to make his choice tho lmao

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Factory snow tires on my leaf

Yes pad tolerances can vary and this is annoying. This happens on many throws across different brands and isn’t a unique issue to snow tires. It’s an issue with pad production variance. The most recent batch of snow tires seems to be very slightly thicker than the response groove but hammering this idea in that there’s something inherently wrong with the pad size as a whole seems a bit misguided.

If your pads protrude, replace the pads. Most yoyos aim for flush response, summer tires offer recessed response. Neither should protrude, but there’s a big difference between the two. Nobody is insisting that everybody should be using HKMT grip-c or OD slim pads on all 19mm yoyos because they’ll sit recessed.

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You can use an exacto and make them flush pretty ez also but yeah…protruding pads stink!!!

To end this discussion on a funny note, one time I ordered an NQP from one drop and got a Thruline, and really enjoyed it but it would barely bind. I tried multiple strings and still couldn’t get a consistent bind, so I peek in the gap and it was missing a pad entirely lol.

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This is why silicone has been making a come back. Can dial in exact shore hardness and thickness you want

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I’ve been a big proponent of silicone on here for years now. It’s worth the marginal effort.

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I have confirmed with Steve that snow tires are not intended to protrude, you are correct.

I suppose I have just been really unlucky.

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Here’s a great thread made by Spence that I generally agree with.

The leaf is better than the chief; it’s meant to be.

Also confirmed by Steve that summer tires are thinner than snow tires. Most of my CLYW yoyos have arrived stock with Snow Tires, and they almost always stick into the groove. Summers don’t. Almost never had this happen on non-clyw yoyos unless it’s a yoyo from BST and the last owner doesn’t know how to pull the clear backing out of the groove.

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