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With all of the Thunder talk as of late... I am going to go ahead and ask this question... Does anyone else think that some of the wheelbite issues or difficulty to break in Thunder bushings could be solved if Thunders would just come stock with a barrel bottom bushing instead of the conical bottoms they come with? Even a barrel bottom aftermarket that geometrically matches with Thunders would be cool. This has been on my mind for many years now and I just figured I'd see what ya'll think.
I really think that for a truck that already has a much sharper geometry than Indy, Venture, or Ace (all barrel bottom bushing trucks) that it would make sense for Thunder to have a barrel bottom bushing to off-set the already drastically sharp geometry.
Somewhere in the Thunder timeline, like pre 2000 they had barrel bottoms...
Just like putting conicals in indys quicken the turn, putting barrels in thunders slow it down; however, truck and wheel height is still the biggest contributing factor for wheel bite.
Stock thunder bottom bushings are really tall, like ace/krux tall, even bones/indy stock/aftermarkets, with a washer are shorter than stock thunders with a washer. I find leaving them stock is best, even tho the bushings aren't responsive compared to the others.
Yeah man thanks for taking a look at what I wrote and providing some insight. I was legitimately interested to find out if anyone else has ever thought about the benefits that a barrel bottom bushing in Thunders could provide. I know I am probably a minority in this though, but in my mind it would make sense to have a barrel bottom stock or even an aftermarket Thunder branded option...
My main points of reasoning are...
1. Thunders already have a distinct and dynamically more quick/sharp geometry than Indy, Venture, and Ace.
2. Thunders are the lowest standard height of all of above listed brands 52.3ish mm. I'm talking about 149's of course.
3. From my own personal experience/preference, and again maybe I am in the minority opinion with this one... For me it seems that barrel bottoms feel more stable when new than conical bottoms. I believe that decreases the amount of time it takes to break them in and thus gives more time to enjoy your ride.
With all that said, I do really like Thunders. Thunders are a smooth operator. When I skate them I keep the bushings stock and the kingpin nut flush or slightly looser than flush and that seems to give me decent results. I think I would just prefer barrels though. I also think that alot of the people that experience major wheelbite issues, think Thunders are too twitchy, or whatever kind of things I have heard people say about them would benefit if there was a Thunder branded compatible barrel bottom option... I'm not here to complain or ask Deluxe to reinvent the wheel, in this case the bushing or anything. I'm just some dude and Deluxe is Deluxe so I'm sure somewhere there is some reasoning for what they do