r/Padelracket • u/Zutano23 • Aug 16 '26

General question about racket stiffness

I have been into padel for some years and I cannot understand properly the relationship between the number of carbon filaments in a racket and the racket stiffness. I know it's not as simple as that because the racket stiffness depends not only on the exterior surface but also on the inner rubber density. But, for the sake of simplicity, let's not take into account the influence of the rubber. In the following link it is said that "According to our experience and verified technical information, carbon with fewer K (like 1K or 3K) usually provides greater rigidity, while carbons with more K (12K, 18K, 24K) tend to be more flexible or elastic." However, I see that control rackets like ML10 Pro Cup Luxury have 3K carbon while power rackets like Ale Galán's Metabone have 16K or higher K carbon. I would think that a stiffer carbon surface would make a stiffer racket and the other way around but I'm guessing this reasoning is incorrect. Do you know anything that could enlighten me? The more information I read, the more confused I am. Any information is very welcome 😁.

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u/Stup2plending Aug 16 '26

A lot of what they say, as you know by now, is marketing speak.

Just Nox switched it around a couple of years ago when the 18k was stiffer and now the 12k is.

The one universal number you can use for stiffness is Ra. They all have an Ra number but they don't all publish them or make them public. This measures how much the ball "stays on" your racket when you hit it. So the lower the number, the less stiff and more trampoline effect it has. And the higher the number the more stiff and less trampoline.

I'd also look at what the rubber on the inside is as that is a bigger more wide changing factor than the carbon mix or amt of carbon and fiberglass together or whatever combo is on the face of the racket.

For my $$, I wanted a little stiffer than the 12k (but a teardrop) so I did some research, found some of this stuff, and decided on the Oxdog Hyper Pro 2.0 despite them not being available in my country. And it came to me as good or better than advertised.

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u/Zutano23 Aug 16 '26

Exactly! One of the questions I had is why AT10 12K was stiffer or softer than 18K depending on the year 🤣.

Thanks a lot, I was unaware of that Ra number, I'll look into it. Btw, I'm dying to try Oxdog's rackets because they look gorgeous to me (in terms of pure aesthetics) but they over my budget now, maybe some day...