Babolat Pure Storm Tour breaking?

[counterfeit25]

I just demo'ed a Babolat Pure Storm Tour (red and black color), and I am strongly considering buying this racket.

However, I've read that it breaks quite often during normal play. Using the demo racket sometimes I could hear creaks in the lower part of the handle.

I just want to know what experiences people had with the PST regarding the racket breaking during normal use. Also, is there a way to fix the creaking in the lower part of the handle?

Thanks!

 

[darryl_giggs]

I've been using it for over 2years, basically switched over from the Pure Control to the PS Tour.

Never had any problems like cracking or creaking. However, out of the 3 sticks I bought, 1 went dead after awhile a few months. There were no obvious defects to the stick, but the feel was just different. Even my friend, who tried and compared it to the others said the same thing. I tried changing strings and all, but the dead feel was always there.

That said, the other two sticks which I have been using for the past 2++ yrs are just fantastic. The flex provides just the right amount of control, swingweight is heavy though, so I pump iron to strengthen my arms. Kinda used to its weight now, so its ok. I string it at 51-52lbs w/ Topspin Cyberpower which are like the most durable strings EVER!

I do feel that Babolat grommets are not too resilient, so you may wanna consider sticking on some tape protection to reduce the wear.

Let me know if you have other queries. I love the PS Tour!!

 

[Bab01At]

The Carbon Xtrem material used can crack...
If the handle if sounding bad then the whole racket will go bad one day...My son recently experienced this with his PS...He's got the GT model now...

 

[Kevo]

I've seen a lot of broken racquets, and sometimes I've seen it happen during regular hitting. However, of the ones I've seen go during regular hitting, all of them but one were due to previous abuse.

The "carbon xtreme" has been around for quite some time, and it seems only recently people have been complaining about it breaking. I have used the Pure Storm, and the Pure Storm Limited. I'm not trying to brag, but I hit the ball harder than anyone I've encountered so far in 4.0 and 4.5 level play. I've never had any problems with cracking or breaking or frames going dead. Of course there very well could have been a bad batch of frames that got out, but I am pretty sure if you have one of these that Babolat will replace it for you. Send it in if the frame is bad.

The problem with the handle creaking in my experience is the butt cap being loose. You can fix this by taking off the grip and butt cap and wrapping a little tape around the bottom of the handle before putting it back on. This will take up the slack. I had to do this with all 3 of my PSLs and they have been fine since. I didn't have this problem on the regular Pure Storm, the orange and black model from about 2 years ago.

 

[LPShanet]

I just demo'ed a Babolat Pure Storm Tour (red and black color), and I am strongly considering buying this racket.

However, I've read that it breaks quite often during normal play. Using the demo racket sometimes I could hear creaks in the lower part of the handle.

I just want to know what experiences people had with the PST regarding the racket breaking during normal use. Also, is there a way to fix the creaking in the lower part of the handle?

Thanks!

I agree with pretty much everything Kevo has said above. To elaborate, there's nothing wrong with Carbon Extrem...it's just graphite. Some of the Storms have cosmetics that are a little more fragile than Bab's older high gloss frames, but this has no impact on play at all.

Not only do PST's not crack during play any more than any other frame, but as I've posted on other threads, you can be pretty sure that any posts you see about any performance racquet "tending to crack" under normal use are nonsense. There is no current mainstream performance racquet being manufactured today with a major design flaw that causes frequent cracking for recreational players. And if a particular one does crack, all of the manufacturers replace them under warranty for a full year. In pretty much every case of "normal use breakage" you hear about, it just happens by "coincidence" that the players whose frames cracked happen to have very short tempers. Or that they "dropped" their frame once a while earlier. Or it got banged around somehow. It's VERY rare that any frame breaks, and all of the major manufacturers will replace a frame with no hassle at all if it's due to a manufacturing or design defect. Some will even replace them when it's the user's fault, just to maintain good customer relations. When you hear about any frame tending to crack, ignore it.

As for the creaks in the handle, they have nothing to do with cracking. Frames don't creak before they crack. The handle is a totally separate component from the rest of the frame and is attached at a later part of the manufacturing process. In all likelihood, what you heard is indeed the buttcap. But even if it's not, it's probably grip/handle related and easily fixable. Absolute worst case scenario (which is still very unlikely) is that you'd have to fix or replace the handle pallet. But that's pretty rare, too. So to fix your creak, take the frame to the shop where you got it (or any local racquet technician), and have them remove the grip, re-staple or add adhesive/tape to the buttcap, and then put the grip back or replace it with a new one. Chances are that will fix it. And if it doesn't, it should reveal what the problem is. If you have any experience, you can even do this stuff yourself.

So go forth and enjoy the frame. Buy it without fear. But don't drop it, throw it, bang it, etc. and then blame its breakage on "normal use", as that's what creates these fictions on the boards. To paraphrase the "guns don't kill people" saying: Racquets don't break. People break racquets.

 

[miniRafa386]

yea that carbon extreme stuff breaks, one of my friends broke one of his off of a return, not from smashing it into the ground

 

[VinhLam]

The creak or whatever from the bottom of the handle is probably broken buttcap or so? Had the same problem when a fellow from our area demoed it and I hitted with it for a bit.

I demoed it twice. Once I order it, and once a fellow from our area. I don't remember from when I demoed it beside I didn't like it too much. Ball felt dead when hitting, and the demo was new. Came with plastic around the handle.

 

[Pahansuopa]

I've had four babolat pure controls, one pure storm tour, one pure storm limited and now i bought my first pure storm gt. Three of the pure controls had loose buttcap and had to be reattached by technician. Only one of those four PC's had broken buttcap though. Now my new tour gt has started giving screaking. If buttcap is loose it is impossible to serve. You loose all the power and accuracy and the sound is annoying. I sure hope babolat would start to make them stick straight from the shop becose i love this raquet.

 

[tigerstring]

We had two players use the Pure Storm Tour. One of them cracked a ton of Rackets because he threw them. End of story. The other guy never threw his rackets and still cracked a few of them over two years. One cracked up at 1:00 and another the handle completely broke. It's not all that uncommon for our players to break rackets when they play without trowing them. The Pure Storm Tours are not even close to the worst about it though. The Prince Graphites and Head Prestiges Break the easiest, then the Pure storm Tours.

 

[Mercury_J]

I too have been using these racquets for over 18 months now, and have experienced nothing but enjoyment from them. No problems what-so-ever, completely perfect. As mentioned above, no racquet will consistently break because of a fault in the design, obviously is can happen on the odd occasion, but nothing to do with that particular racquet.

Might I also add, though, that in my experience, Babolat tend to blame 9/10 racquets put back on abuse, even where none is evident. :???: From working in a pro shop, btw, not my personal racquets.

 

[tigerstring]

I too have been using these racquets for over 18 months now, and have experienced nothing but enjoyment from them. No problems what-so-ever, completely perfect. As mentioned above, no racquet will consistently break because of a fault in the design, obviously is can happen on the odd occasion, but nothing to do with that particular racquet.

Might I also add, though, that in my experience, Babolat tend to blame 9/10 racquets put back on abuse, even where none is evident. :???: From working in a pro shop, btw, not my personal racquets.

I have to agree that Babolat is for sure the worst company when it comes to replacing rackets.

 

[callen3615]

Ewww, This is turning me off babolat.

 

[tigerstring]

Ewww, This is turning me off babolat.

Chances are your rackets aren't going to break unless you throw them

 

[VinhLam]

We had two players use the Pure Storm Tour. One of them cracked a ton of Rackets because he threw them. End of story. The other guy never threw his rackets and still cracked a few of them over two years. One cracked up at 1:00 and another the handle completely broke. It's not all that uncommon for our players to break rackets when they play without trowing them. The Pure Storm Tours are not even close to the worst about it though. The Prince Graphites and Head Prestiges Break the easiest, then the Pure storm Tours.

Is David Roberts one of them? : )
Just curious. We played his school when he was in high school at regionals a couple of years back. I attended the senior day at LSU his freshmen year and he is on the cover with a Pure Storm I believe.

 

[tigerstring]

Is David Roberts one of them? : )
Just curious. We played his school when he was in high school at regionals a couple of years back. I attended the senior day at LSU his freshmen year and he is on the cover with a Pure Storm I believe.

Yeah, He was the one that didn't throw his rackets, but they still broke.

 

[rscottdds]

I have to agree that Babolat is for sure the worst company when it comes to replacing rackets.

Wow! I've had the exact opposite experience. I've had a number of racquets replaced by Babolat. The only one that was denied was one of my son's sticks that had obviously been abused.
-Robert

 

[soggyramen]

well my pure storm team just broke during regular hitting today. cracked in the upper hoop.

 

[unconvinced]

I have two regular Pure Storms bought from different retailers at different times and both had creaky handles after a single session. To fix them I had to remove the grips & staplegun the **ll out of the buttcaps, annoying and time-consuming.

I also have a friend with a regular Pure Storm who just cracked his frame at 9 o'clock after 6 mos of normal use.

So I've only had direct experience w/ 3 PS racquets, but all 3 of them have had either a creaky handle or apparently poor durability. I love the racquet but this is horrendous quality control from Babolat in this model. This thread confirms it.

 

[DownTheLine]

I felt the same thing with my APDC. Maybe it's a just a thing with Babolat frames? Along with crappy paint.

 

[TensProfes]

It's worth noting that the Pure Storm and Pure Storm Tour are not the same racquet. I don't mean this just in terms of weight. The layups and construction are surprisingly different, even though they employ the same mold and have similar graphics. The original Pure Storm Team was not the most structurally sound frame, but Babolat wasn't overly worried about it, as it wasn't intended for tournament level players when it was created.