Head to head

Dunlop Explosive Synthetic 16 vs Klip Kicker 16

Kicker 16 leads on 5 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Explosive Synthetic 16 is 46 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Dunlop

Explosive Synthetic 16

Nylon · 16 ga

Klip

Kicker 16

Nylon · 16 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
18046th pct
17945th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
2120th pct
1914th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
9386th pct
9388th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
3.621st pct
3.723rd pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.44452nd pct
0.3625th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.12284th pct
0.09759th pct

Bars are percentile against all 791 strings, and the marked side is the one that measures better, which is not always the one you want. A firmer bed is worse for your elbow and better for your control, and no measurement knows which of those you came for.

Which one wins, by problem

Each string's standing on the site's rankings, out of every measured string in the database. This is where a comparison stops being arithmetic and starts being a decision.

Swapping between them: what tension?

Bed stiffness is published at one reference tension, so the only honest conversion is to scale it. These are starting points from 52 lb, not prescriptions. The calculator takes your own tension.

Coming from Explosive Synthetic 16 at 52 lb

String Kicker 16 at 54.4 lb 24.7 kg

Coming from Kicker 16 at 52 lb

String Explosive Synthetic 16 at 49.2 lb 22.3 kg

Hybrid: what if you used both?

Estimated, not measured. No hybrid combination has been tested as a bed. These figures are the two strings' own lab measurements weighted by how much of the bed each one actually is. Treat them as a guide to which way a pairing moves, never as lab data.

Explosive Synthetic 16 mains / Kicker 16 crosses

Stiffness45th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss18th pct · 1 measured
Energy return87th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential22nd pct · 1 measured
Ball bite46th pct · 1 measured
String friction80th pct · 1 measured

Kicker 16 mains / Explosive Synthetic 16 crosses

Stiffness45th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss16th pct · 1 measured
Energy return87th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential22nd pct · 1 measured
Ball bite10th pct · 1 measured
String friction68th pct · 1 measured

Open this in the hybrid builder

Which goes dead first?

Estimated from tension loss, which is the only thing the database measures about ageing. This is when the bed stops playing the way you strung it, not when the string breaks.

Explosive Synthetic 16

~34 hours of play

Kicker 16

~36 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Dunlop Explosive Synthetic 16 Nylon16find18021933.60.4440.122
Klip Kicker 16 Nylon16find17919933.70.3620.097

Add a third string Explosive Synthetic 16 in full Kicker 16 in full