I almost got rid of my Glacier Express because it was playing…well, horrible.
It was catching on everything. Random binds, failed regen, weird hesitation mid-combo, and the string would always rub badly on the pads. Just constant drag, like it was constantly fighting me. It honestly played badly, and I was already mentally putting it in the sell pile.
Before I did, I swapped out the stock snow tires for flowable silicone just to see… and wow. Completely different yoyo. Smooth, predictable, way more controllable, and actually fun to play. Night and day difference. The snow tires protrude out FAR too much on this particular model, as well as a few others.
If you’re struggling with yours or have experienced the same thing, try a silicone swap before you move it along. It straight up saved the yoyo for me.
More like PSA for anyone that has a similar issue with their yoyo, not just the glacier express. So many people write off yoyos because of bad or non-preferred response, when siliconing fixes the issue right away.
I feel like it’s not always obvious it’s the response that’s the issue. I swear sometimes I just think it’s a bit grabby/slippy but then changing it out awakens a completely new yoyo, other times it just plays the same but with slightly better response.
I’ve ready somewhere on here that snow tires are consistently found to be on the thicker side. It’s might be by design, but regardless, summer tires are sold out everywhere, so people see a want/need for them. If you search “summer tires” here on the forum, people rave about the performance of their caribou yoyo after, and silicone is the best alternative. I just did half of my Leaf in ultra grey, and it does feel WAY better. Thinking about doing the other half, but I’m enjoying it as is.
Yeah, I have summer tires in almost all of my CLYWs and I can attest to the fact that they are awesome. I prefer silicone but summer tires are for sure the second best option. I wish all CLYW came with them stock. I truly don’t know why snow tires are so thick when every yoyo is better without them.
I’d totally recommend either siliconing or putting summer tires in both sides of your Leaf. I have one Leaf with silicone and one with summer tires and they’re both amazing, completely changed it.
Summer tires do take a bit of breaking in, though. When you fully install them in both sides, they’re pretty slippy until you rough up the surface through play. They come very slick, but once broken in they’re almost perfect.
I had a similar experience with the D7 I got.
It came with Snow Tires and I hated the yoyo; way too grippy. I did some research and it seemed like Summer Tires would solve my problem, but I couldn’t find them in stock anywhere. A little more research revealed that RSO actually made a pad specifically designed to fix the issue. They are the white Landing Pads (CLYW Slim/G grip pads, specifically), and are still in stock (only in packs of 6 or 20 though) on YYE. Solved my issue and breathed new life into the throw.
I’m lazy; I put slim pads on all my clyw. It becomes REALLY unresponsive, and it’s a delight to play with; spintime improves in about 1,6~1,7x (not joking).
I like the stock CLYW pads. This is also an issue with the Creep; but will a nice stretched poly string and extra play it will definitely brake in nicely…
Snow Tires are something we order by the barrel, and it seems like this last batch of them had some QC issues. The batch overall runs a little thicker than they should…not all of them, but enough that I’ve heard this feedback a few times and it’s really bumming me out.
Summer Tires will be restocking soon. Funny story about those….they were a mistake! Our supplier just didn’t pay attention to something somewhere and they used a material that was thinner than what we ordered. But it was more of “happy accident” and so we packed ‘em up and folks seem to really like them.
I’m also looking into a third option for a softer Snow Tire that has more of that old flowable silicone feel to it…won’t be as durable as the current Snow Tires but also doesn’t have the break-in time.
I feel like the three of those together kinda solves the problem…something for everyone.
Sorry you had such a frustrating experience with the Glacier Express out of the box, though. I know that I don’t mind the longer break-in time for this current batch of Snow Tires but then again…I’m not doing the tricks y’all are. We’ll work on improving the first throw moment for everyone.
This is great to hear. Summer tires really are close to perfect, I have them in like 10 of my CLYWs lol. I’m definitely intrigued by the idea of a softer snow tire, that could be really interesting. It sounds like you’re aiming to have all bases covered, which is awesome. Have you ever considered switching to summer tires, or maybe that softer snow tire, as the default pads in new throws? Thanks for the clarification.
I took a pic of my Borealis when it came in (before I did my ultra grey to it) just to have a record of how much they stuck out! That small protrusion of pads is probably what’s giving people a tough time, especially if they like thicker strings.
I really haven’t considered Summer Tires as the default because to be honest I don’t personally like them, or feel like that that level of bind is what I want a first throw to feel like with our yoyos. Realistically I just need to get the Snow Tires sorted.
I’ve been gods most unlucky CLYW consumer. Most of the CLYW yoyos I’ve ordered have come with pad protrusion. Off the table from Nats, from YYE, and from other online stores, I just get unlucky.
