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Old 03-07-11, 08:04 PM   #1
ruasoonerfan2
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Default Super Tuning a Curado ?

Is it worth the trouble or the expense to Super Tune your Curado? What I read about Super Tuning it takes about 2-3 hours per reel if you do it yourself or $ 40.00-$ 50.00 to have it done for you. Has anyone had it done and was it worth the trouble?
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Old 03-07-11, 08:15 PM   #2
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personally I don't mess with my reels or have someone change out gears unless they start failing or making a lot of noise..you may get some more distance out of them, but keep in mind the further you cast the more difficult it can be to get a good hookset and you give the fish a better chance to get hung up on something.
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Old 03-07-11, 08:20 PM   #3
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The Curado and Citica both can benefit greatly from supertuning. There are different levels of tuning that can be done, and each has its associated costs. Some of the things you can have done are, replace/upgrade the spool bearings. Upgrade the drag, polish the ends of the spool shaft, polish the inside of the pinion gear, polish the contact areas on the spool shaft. It is kinda up to each individual to decide if it is worth it or not. Most of these things can be done yourself and don't involve a great deal of time, but you will need some materials. You can also send your reels to someone who specializes in this type of maintenance. Pro Reel is a great guy and provides top notch service, if you decide to send your reels in, I would highly recommend giving Kevin at Pro Reel a ring.
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Old 03-07-11, 08:58 PM   #4
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IMHO it is definitely worth having your reel (especially a Curado) supertuned. You will be pleasantly surprised at the performance gained.
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Old 03-07-11, 09:05 PM   #5
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some people charge rediculous amounts to do what they call a super tune. A super tune is simply the polishing of friction points to reduce friction and make a casting reel spin easier. That will make casting easier and give you more distance or the same distance with less effort. I prefer to go for the same distance with less effort and more accuracy. You have to be very carefull when you decide to have someone do any tuning to a reel. Make sure they have a solid reputation and get referals from customers that have had reels tuned before. I often get reels sent to me for repairs after someone tuned them. What I often see is that the person used coarse sandpaper to do the sanding and removed thickness instead of just polishing the parts. When that happens the gears get sloppy and wear out fast. The only cure is new gears and a new spool. I have refined the art of tuning a reel to the point that I can highly polish the spool shaft without removing any measurable thickness. The gears stay tightly meshed and smooth. The trick is to use super fine paper that is used for sanding minor imperfections from a fresh automotive paint job before buffing. Many shops start with 800 grit paper and finsh with 1500 to 1800 grit paper. I start with 2000 grit and then finish with 2500 and 3000 grit paper to very lightly remove the grain from the steel parts and then polish it to a mirror finish. There are several other little tricks including custom blends of oil for the bearings that I also do. The actual extra work of a super tune when it's done right takes me about 15 to 20 minutes. The sites that say it takes several hours are just trying to justify the inflated cost. Most of the time to do the reel is already included in the base charge of the cleaning, so the extra time is not much. I charge $16.00 to clean and lube a reel. The charge to clean super tune and lube the reel is $20.00 I also offer a pro level tune. The pro level gets the same polishing but gets extra work done to the bearings and uses some extra products that make the bearings spin a lot smoother. The pro tune is $24.00. The pro tune is not recomended for magnetic brake only reels. It just flat out makes them spin so free that the mag brake will not stop them from backlashing.
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Old 03-07-11, 10:58 PM   #6
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An when you are done it is still a Shimano.
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Old 03-11-11, 10:08 AM   #7
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Any reel with a one piece spool shaft design (like Curados) will benefit form Super Tuning. The extent to which performance will improve depends on the model and condition of the reel starting out. The older Curados and Ambassaduer reels are prime candidates and can outperform many new reels when done. As stated, the idea is to polish, not remove material. As part our tuning service I also polish the metal drag washers. Combined with Carbontex fiber washers, this makes for a nice smooth and possibly stronger drag. Again, it depends upon what you're starting with.
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Old 03-11-11, 10:36 AM   #8
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Thanks guys for the info, going to send a few to Kevin at Pro Reel to see if it makes a difference.
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Old 03-11-11, 05:10 PM   #9
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As a young man I was a tool and die apprentice before I spent 31 years in the Army and the first thing I learned was do not mess with close design tolerances if you want the item to function as expected. I cannot believe someone would take course sand paper to any thing on a reel, but I know that type is out there. Wow!
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Old 03-11-11, 05:38 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BrownHL View Post
As a young man I was a tool and die apprentice before I spent 31 years in the Army and the first thing I learned was do not mess with close design tolerances if you want the item to function as expected. I cannot believe someone would take course sand paper to any thing on a reel, but I know that type is out there. Wow!
You wouldn't believe what i see sometimes in reels that were " tuned " by others. I'm sure there are lots of good reel guys that do a fine job, but some don't. I had some a while back that I had to get new spools and pinions for because the person that worked on it thought the idea was to reduce all contact with the spool shaft, main gear and the pinion gear. He used a file to cut the spool shaft contact humps down to the same size as the rest of the shaft. If you search for articles on super tuning reels you will find one from a guy named Jeff nielson who claims to have invented the process. Most of his info is pretty good until you get to the point where he states that you start sanding with 600 grit sand paper, then 800 and so on. By the time you are done you will have reduced the size of the parts to the point that they are very sloppy and it will tear itself apart in one season.
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Old 03-12-11, 12:34 AM   #11
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would it be better to just buff out the parts instead of using coarse material like sandpaper? like buffing out a freshly applied wax on a car's hood for example?
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Old 03-12-11, 11:49 AM   #12
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to get the most benefit, you have to smooth the grain of the steel. One spot is the side of the shaft where it contacts the inside of the pinion. Some reels have a large contact area, some just have a small bump that it touch's. Ultra fine sand paper isn't coarse. We are refering to the grits that auto painters use to smooth paint before buffing. Some of these papers are actually less coarse than some buffing compounds.
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Old 03-12-11, 01:49 PM   #13
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aah good to know. i just recently purchased a new curado 301. since it's brand spankin new, would this reel benefit from a pro tune? i read before also that these reels do not come lubed or oiled from the factory. would the pro tune include oiling? every shimano reel includes a small bottle of oil in the box. is that for maintenance only or am i supposed to oil the reels prior to using it?
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Old 03-14-11, 05:23 PM   #14
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I tried a full "super tune" and it was too much for my thumb lol. I took some advice from an article by Pro Reel on another forum. I used the polishing wheel on my dremel and lightly polished the shaft and nub on my spools. I think their perfect now and only took a few seconds. Definatly a night and day difference.

From my experience:
Pro Reel is pretty much considered the best at what he does. His name consistantly comes up when talking about reels with any of the pros and most people who consistantly fish the bigger tourney trails, reguardless of the brand. Not advertising, just saying he's the one everyone goes to. I'm old enough to know when people like that decide to talk, it's good to listen lol
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Old 03-14-11, 06:44 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lvitch View Post
I tried a full "super tune" and it was too much for my thumb lol. I took some advice from an article by Pro Reel on another forum. I used the polishing wheel on my dremel and lightly polished the shaft and nub on my spools. I think their perfect now and only took a few seconds. Definatly a night and day difference.

From my experience:
Pro Reel is pretty much considered the best at what he does. His name consistantly comes up when talking about reels with any of the pros and most people who consistantly fish the bigger tourney trails, reguardless of the brand. Not advertising, just saying he's the one everyone goes to. I'm old enough to know when people like that decide to talk, it's good to listen lol
too much for your thumb in what way? it would cast smoother & further? yes i figured proreel was the guy to send reels too as i've seen his name come up a few times also
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Old 03-15-11, 09:28 AM   #16
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It was just too fast for me. Back lash city. Very smooth, but the spool reved up to quick and was hard for me to control. It wasn't done by pro reel, I got the reel used from a friend. It was done by a local shop. Very "free spool" like.
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Old 03-15-11, 10:57 AM   #17
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Thanks for the glowing referals. The decision to tune or not to tune and what level of tunin g to do is a tough one. First, you need to be honest about your skill level. If you can cast your reel with little to no tension and just a couple of brakes set, and almost never have a problem, then you could probably do a lot of tuning to the reel and it will be fine for you. If you still need to use extra tension and several brakes or a high number setting on dial brakes, then you probably just want a basic cleaning, because even that will make the reel spin easier. The other factor is the design of the reel. Some reels can take a lot of tuning and still are easy to use, some can't. Case in point would be a pre 2010 revo stx or premier, with mag brakes only. Those reels already cast very free and the mag brakes are weak. If i tune the heck out of those, very few anglers could use them without constant backlash. Pin style brake reels or dual brake reels seem to be the easiest to use with lots of tuning. The Daiwa mag brake reels also work fine after a tune because they have a stronger mag system. If you have a tuned reel that is too free for you, they can easily be slowed down by adding a drop of thicker oil to the spool bearings.
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Old 03-17-11, 11:21 AM   #18
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Non-believers often use the argument that Super-Tuning is a waste because it makes the reel hard to control or has little real world benefit. My response to this is usually a comparison to high performance cars or motorcycles. For example, there are a lot of shops that specialize in Corvette mods. 99% of the people that drive them will never see speeds close to what a stocker can do. But they are enthusiasts that enjoy the thought that they COULD go 200+ mph if they wanted to. An appropriately Super Tuned reel is a pleasure to fish with, but is also fun to just have.
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Old 03-17-11, 10:05 PM   #19
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Couldn't have said it better Mike. Can't wait to get my first 3 Curados back from Pro Reel. Sent them last Friday.
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