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• They track better
  Because there is less friction between metal wheels and metal rail, they roll easier and have less drag when pulling long consists around curves. Before changing to metal wheels, the longest train we could pull up our 2% grade, going around two curves (it's the curves that do in long freights on a grade), was about 60 cars. Any more than that required a pusher to keep from pulling the cars off the track due to drag caused when going around the curves. With metal wheels, we easily pull 70-car freights up the grade, and have pulled 82 cars up the same grade without a pusher.
• They look better
  With the tread buffed shiny, and sides left blackened, these wheels look more like real train wheels - especially on tank cars with the wheels fully exposed. We recommend cleaning the black off the tread for two reasons. First, they look better. But more importantly, the black will come off sooner or later, and we think it's better to take the black off before using them so that it doesn't come off on your track and have to be cleaned from there later.
• They don't dirty the track
  When we changed to metal wheels, we noticed that the tracks needed much less cleaning. As plastic wheels age, bits of plastic will slough off onto the rails. Since plastic is an insulator, it has to be cleaned off to keep good contact between loco wheels and the rail. Since metal wheels don't leave plastic slough on the rails, it requires less track cleaning. However, the blackening will slough off of the tread, onto the track - needing to be cleaned off. But once all the blackening is gone from the tread, there will be no more of that. Some people use a wire brush in a Dremel tool to take the blackening off the tread to start with.
• It's the best way to provide power pickup and/or block detection
  If you want on-board sound on a freight car, you need power pickup. While you can have power pickup with shoes that drag on the track, having power pickup via metal wheels is more esthetically pleasing. Even if you just want current-sensing block detection, metal wheels are still the best option. More about both of these later.

You can see that there are many reasons why metal wheels make sense - from better operating to better looking.

We carry two brands of metal wheels for freight cars: Jay-Bee and Kadee. There are reasons for both.

The main reason we carry Jay-Bee wheels is because they have a non-magnetic axle. The main reason we carry Kadee is that they are lower in cost.

Power Pickup:
If you need power pickup for lights or a sound unit, metal wheels with a metal axle make it easy to rig power pickup - with wipers rubbing on the axles. Power pickup can be achieved in other ways, but wipers on the axles are the quickest, easiest, and most esthetically pleasing way of doing it. Jay-Bee offers a kit (JB-ELEC) made specifically for this. This kit comes complete with the metal wheel sets and wipers. We do, however, have a suggestion to make this power pickup more stable. See below.

While "hanging" resistors on axles is a very cost-effective way of getting freight car detection, you can also purchase Jay-Bee wheel sets with resistors already in them. This costs a little more, but is a whole lot faster and easier.

But do you use one resistor or two?

Current-sensing block detectors generally require a certain amount of current to be drawn in order to trigger the detector. This is where the resistance requirement comes in. The higher the resistance, the less current is being drawn. Ultimately, with DCC, you want to draw the least amount of current possible and still have your block detectors work reliably. Also, block detectors, once triggered, will stay triggered with less than half of the required current - which is twice the resistance.

The theory is that if you use two resistors of twice the resistance, you'll be drawing the full current most of the time, but only half the current if either one of the wheel sets loses power - such as with dirty track or wheels. This is irrelevant while the train is moving because block detectors take this into account.

This really only matters if you have a single detected car on a detected block and it is not moving. In some cases it's better, in other cases it's worse. In any case, I think this issue is irrelevant. I don't see that you gain or lose one way or the other. That being the case, I vote for one resistor - it's cheaper and easier to do.

Non-Magnetic:
Having non-magnetic metal wheels and axles keeps you from having false uncouplings wherever you may have a Kadee uncoupling magnet. With a magnetic axle, the magnetic force can pull the car forward to create slack right when the couplers are over the magnet. As you know, if you have slack when the couplers are being pulled apart by that magnet, the cars will uncouple. Having non-magnet wheels and axles avoids this problem.

Jay-Bee vs. Kadee:
All of Jay-Bee's wheels and axles are made of non-magnetic metal.

Kadee metal wheels are made of non-magnetic metal, but their axles are plastic. It's the plastic axles that allow them to be less expensive. So if you know you'll never need to have power pickup or block detection for your freight car, you can use Kadee wheels to save some money: Kadee's 12 pack is less expensive per wheel set than Jay-Bee's bag of 500.

Kadee metal wheels are just as good as Jay-Bee's. The only difference is the axle material. But one option Kadee offers, that Jay-Bee doesn't, is ribbed wheels. Ribbed wheels were generally pre-war, while smooth wheels are post-war.

The bottom line is, if you need power pickup or block detection for your freight car, you need Jay-Bee wheels. If you don't need a metal axle for that, you can save some money by using Kadee wheels.

Athearn Loco Wheels:
Changing stock Athearn loco wheels to Jay-Bee Nickel Silver is also a good idea.

When an Athearn loco is new, its porous wheels will grip the rail better than smooth Nickel Silver wheels. But, as gunk and oils saturate those wheels, they will begin to loose traction. But, more importantly, Nickel Silver wheels will transfer power from the Nickel Silver rail better, allowing the loco to run smoother, better, and with less cleaning.

One important advantage of Jay-Bee replacements for Athearn locos is that they are solid Nickel Silver, not Nickel Silver-plated brass. So, cleaning and normal use will never wear it off.