Pinewood Pro Lightly Lathed Speed Wheels (Set of 4) - High Performance Replacement Wheels for Pinewood Derby Cars - Perfect for Racing, Competition & DIY Projects

These helped my son's car win the derby!I hadn't helped build a Pinewood Derby cars since my grown sons were Cub Scouts. I was amazed at all of the aftermarket parts available but didn't want to simply buy a winner. We used the original block of wood for the body. I used the nails that came with the kit and polished the heck out of them. I did purchase one 1.5 degree steering axle and this set of wheels.Grandson's Cub pack had 88 cars show up to race. His car was in the first race and set low time for the night until the very last den competed. He won his Tiger Cub Den first place trophy and then had to wait until the very end to race for Pack Champion. Our race was organized so that each four car group ran four heats alternating lanes, then averaged the four times. We ended up second fastest out of 88, losing to the fastest car by an average of .003 of a second for the four heats.I couldn't be happier with the wheels. When coupled with polished axles they spin forever. We beat a lot of aftermarket bodied cars much to the chagrin of their owners. Grandson is already talking about next year's car.These are lighter-than-stock wheels, and depending on your Pack's rules they may or may not be allowed.Honestly, while there are lathing tools available (even our local Scout Shop sells them), I think these particular wheels work better than the homebrewed version. I found these to be from good castings (not all of the stock wheels are perfectly round), with dimensions that make them allowable for my son's Pack. Used with graphite and a properly smoothed axle nail, you will notice a difference in speed...assuming you do your part and make sure the axles are installed nice and straight, with proper spacing between the wheel and the car body. These wheels won't mitigate poor installation, but they will enhance proper installation. If you want to do every little bit to get that car as fast as possible, lathed wheels are an essential component. These are good wheels.So I weighed the wheels they are 2.23 gramsUntouched BSA wheels weighed in at 2.65 grams. So that's shaving 1.68 grams of reciprocating mass. You can tell they were lightly lathed and trued to a flat surface.The only reason I'm giving them a 4 star and not a 5 is I feel for what they are the price is a little high. But my nephews scouts are pretty strict so I didn't want to risk a set of super light wheels, these should easily pass tech inspection. Other than the price im happy with the product.had one wheel slightly out of balance and the hub where the nail head meets the wheel was inset too much, they almost disqualified my boys car because of it. But car made first place out of whole pack!I really like these wheels because they don't have the the burrs and seams that standard wheels have. These wheels saved me a lot of time while helping my son build his car. With standard BSA wheels there can be so many imperfections in the wheels that you either have to fix through sanding--or you have to accept the imperfections and get slower results from your car.The "ball-reamed axle-slot" is important in decreasing friction between the wheel and the axle--and ultimately makes a difference in speed. Serious car-makers with standard wheels will spend a lot of time with a dremel tool or something similar to make these subtle improvements to the wheels. With these, the work is already done.I'd definitely buy these again. ...And they're BSA approved!We just took first place. During trial runs we were .1 ounce over and coming in second place. I decided to purchase these wheels and the polished axles to see if it would make a difference. It did! We weighed in at exactly 5 ounces. The wheels dropped our weight exactly. I did buff the axles with steel wool and a dremel tool so I am not sure if that helped as well. I recommend this product if you are trying to squeeze out that last little bit of speed for an edge over the competition.Excellent product, and as described. Only trouble is that some Scouting Units prohibit altering the inside of the wheels ( these are thinned) for their Pinewood Derby. Check to see what your regulations allow....if they allow this type of modifications..this product is definitely for you!