Stainless VS. Plastic Wear Ring Pros & Cons

[Mikegyvereast]

I have found a place that sells stainless steel wear rings for the sea doo for $10.00 more than the plastic ones and wanted to know if they are any better or what to look out for???????

[Mikegyvereast]

Re: Stainless VS. Plastic Wear Ring Pros & Cons

I would tend to think the plastic would be more forgiving with small rocks or sand and the Stainless would be better for performance as it should be truer and maintain its shape.

Just dont know for sure any advice or personal experience? Anyone?

[DaveG]

Re: Stainless VS. Plastic Wear Ring Pros & Cons

I know that the 2 piece plastic ones SD uses suck. I've had more than one seperate. The one piece aftermarket ones have worked better for me so far. If you've got plastic and pick up a stick or piece of rope then you trash the wear ring, it melts from the friction. If you suck up rocks you trash the impeller weather you have a plastic or stainless liner. I believe that some skis come with a stainless liner. I think our '97 Polaris had a stainless liner. I know that it sometimes sucked up sticks and we never had to change out the wear ring. I have to do at least one of the SD's each year. I'd be intrested to know where you found the stainless one.

[Mikegyvereast]

Re: Stainless VS. Plastic Wear Ring Pros & Cons

http://www.oasisperformance.com/contact.html

They are selling them on E-Bay with buy it now for $39.00 with $5.95 shipping.

I paid more than that for my plastic one last year...:o

[Bill O'Neal2]

Re: Stainless VS. Plastic Wear Ring Pros & Cons

I perfer the rubber/plastic wear rings myself for rec boats. No matter what you suck up, you can always change the wear ring for a reasonable cost.
Kawasaki, Yamaha and Polaris have SS wear rings. Very expensive to replace.

When you see big chunks of rubber missing from your wear ring, it is usually caused by excessive cavatation, and typically some major impellor damage.

Flat rocks and shells can get caught between the impellor blades and the wear ring, especially on boats that get beached alot, and that will wear a groove in the rubber wear rings, causing excessive cavatation and further damage to the rest of the wear ring. Bent impellors will cause excessive cavatation and cause the wear rings to delaminate.

But, you should know if your boat is cavatating and get it repaired asap. It surprizes me when customers have pumps, wear rings and impellors that are in such poor shape that the boat barely moves from a standstill and they don't even realize they have a problem. I get some great compliments after their next ride, when the pump is working the way it should.

If you do not ride in shallow waters. If you idle away from shore to deeper waters before throttling up the motor, and if you refrain from beaching the watercraft on the shore, your impellor and rubber wear ring should last for years.