1. Can superbraid lines damage foul proof guides?
2. Is it important that guides keep the line off the blank of a bent rod when using superbraids?
Thanks

Well, first waht do you mean by foul proof guides. Second, it is always important to keep the line off the blank for whatever line is being used. The lind should not ever touch the blank.

The kind of guide I'm calling foul proof are single pieces of heavy wire that are coiled once to make a ring for line to go through and where the ends of the wire are wrapped to the rod.
Thanks

Most likely, any line would cut those at some point (this has always been one drawback of steel or monel type guides). Braid only accelerates the wear.

It all depends on frequently you use the rod and how long you'd like to go between re-fitting and re-wrapping it. If you only use it a few times per year, it might be years before you'd see any problems. If you plan to use it weekly, you could be re-fitting the rod every couple of seasons.

.........

Hey, Bill - Welcome to the Forum at RodBuilding.Org.

Q1: - Can superbraid lines damage foul proof guides?
All of the metal-ring guides, like the chrome-plated, foul-proof style guides, or any of the other brands of coiled or looped wire or spring steel, or even the newer steel-band guides, will wear more quickly than even the lower grade ceramic guides, as Tom Kirkman said, whether the line is super braid or nylon monofilament. I think most of the super braids are a poly-aramide, which is the type of fiber used in bullet proof vests. Super braid has a high tensile strength; therefore, it concentrates the same line tension on a rubbing area about one-third that of a nylon monofilament line. So, it is reasonable to expect super braid line to cut a groove into a metal
ring several times faster than a monfilament line would. Ceramic guides (aluminum oxide, Hardloy, Alconite, silicon carbide (SIC)) are all able to withstand the superbraid lines. Visit these links below for a string of comments of this subject:

Guides and Super Lines?? Jim Rippe 01/24/05 05:09PM
[www.rodbuilding.org]
How well do guides with alconite rings hold up with super lines
like Spider Wire? What rings should not be used with super lines?

Re: Guides for a Casting Reel on 10' Surf Blank
Posted by: Cliff Hall Date: February 10, 2005 10:35AM
[www.rodbuilding.org]
As far as the guides' ring material is concerned: With respect to the use of super braid line, even the Hardloy aluminum oxide ceramic guides' rings are well able to withstand the abrasion ... [contains measures of hardness based on Mohr & Vicker Scales]

Q2: - Is it important that guides keep the line off the blank of a bent rod when using super braids?
Visit this link below and extrapolate to address your query.
MANY excellent contributions to this Thread, well worth reading

Re: Kind of a survey...What's so bad about the line touching the blank.
Posted by: Cliff Hall Date: January 31, 2005 10:32PM
[www.rodbuilding.org]
Friction --> Abrasion --> Heat --> Weakened Line ... --> POP!
And line rubs / slices into the blank, ...

A Dios, -Cliff Hall-

Bill,
I think that the posts above have given you good advice. I would like to add one additional point. It is my feeling, although I have no evidence to support this, that the abrasion of the guides from the line comes primarily from abrasive material that the line picks up during use. The line during use will pick up very small particles of sand, dirt etc. that are much more abrasive than the line itself. To mimimize guide wear I think that it is important to keep your line as clean as possible and to change it resonably often.

I may be wrong here, since things always happen in real-time, and I'm rather static, but this statement:

"Hardloy, Alconite, silicon carbide (SIC)) are all able to withstand the superbraid lines"

If memory serves, I read on the Fuji sight the Hardloy's are not recommended for braids, but the Alconites, SiC's, and TiSiC's (and the expensive Gold ones) are suited for braid.

With that said, I've fished two St. Croix Premiers w/ Hardloy guides for years and have never had a problem.