Track day tire question

[gogreen09]

Need fellow Barfer wisdom here... my first year of riding track and I'm not too sure about how long to keep the tires. I've had 5 days on my Dunlop Q2s, running C pace. On their 6th day, I was running considerably faster than the first 5 days. Not to mention it was about 100deg at THill. Besides tire wear, what else should I be looking at when it comes to tires. I feel like I'm getting better, and I'd like to try pushing more. I just want to be confident that the tires are still going to hold up. I also don't want to fork out $$$ if I don't have to.

 

[r6_wheeler]

Lets see some pics

 

[dkcwenge]

i'm not a tire guru, but some tire stuff id consider is:

- have you been using the tires outside of trackdays and how many miles?
- the kind of wear (depending on suspension / psi's / your pace) and profile of the tire (if it's at thill, you could get uneven left/right wear)
- wear bars

 

[kyles here]

yea post some pics and remember tires are a very cheap insurance considering everything that can happen from worn out tires

 

[megaspaz]

you don't need pics... let me introduce you to jraice. he is the tire expert. he's read every single manufacturer's tire brochure and can probably tell you from the electromagnetism being channeled by electrons from your brain to your screen how much tire life you have left and when the optimal time to change your tires should be right down to the nanosecond.

 

[norcalpirelli]

you don't need pics... let me introduce you to jraice. he is the tire expert. he's read every single manufacturer's tire brochure and can probably tell you from the electromagnetism being channeled by electrons from your brain to your screen how much tire life you have left and when the optimal time to change your tires should be right down to the nanosecond.

LOL that be so tru!

I should hire Jordan he will freak every track day rider out in to buying new tires.

Jordan if you see this I'm just joking (about the job)

 

[gogreen09]

you don't need pics... let me introduce you to jraice. he is the tire expert. he's read every single manufacturer's tire brochure and can probably tell you from the electromagnetism being channeled by electrons from your brain to your screen how much tire life you have left and when the optimal time to change your tires should be right down to the nanosecond.

I'll post pics later today - the iPhone pics were too dark. Now about jraice...I'd love to hear what he has to say since I started to think about trying different tires. Sounds like I need to devote a day for the discussion though I almost bought new Pirellis at the last trackday from CT, but I got cheap and walked away. Maybe I shoulda just done it.

 

[afm199]

They are probably good unless you are riding a literbike. Joe Kerr will ride Q2s a thousand miles to a track, run them two days and ride them home. A pace.

You can probably run them a lot more. When they start sliding you know you are reaching the end.

 

[damian]

you don't need pics... let me introduce you to jraice. he is the tire expert. he's read every single manufacturer's tire brochure and can probably tell you from the electromagnetism being channeled by electrons from your brain to your screen how much tire life you have left and when the optimal time to change your tires should be right down to the nanosecond.

 

[jraice]

Hmm I'd say you probably have 3 more sessions left in them but they will probably get a bit greasy halfway around turn 6 on the 3rd session's 4th lap.

 

[Lovedoc]

How fast you going? Timewise.

 

[gogreen09]

How fast you going? Timewise.

I didn't have my laptimer, so just from videos - somewhere around 2:40-2:45. Before this, I was at about 3min.

Hmm I'd say you probably have 3 more sessions left in them but they will probably get a bit greasy halfway around turn 6 on the 3rd session's 4th lap.

thanks man! btw, read your great Pirelli review!!!

You can probably run them a lot more. When they start sliding you know you are reaching the end.

thanks! I'll try them one more day and see how they do. Aug 23-24 Keigwin's Novice School!

 

[Lovedoc]

I didn't have my laptimer, so just from videos - somewhere around 2:40-2:45. Before this, I was at about 3min.

!

Glad you're loving the track, and Keigwin's school will knock your socks off. At your pace I would just look for the wearbars, don't think you have to worry much about heat cycles or anything with the Q2's. All my early crashes, and most of my recent ones, have not involved tires, more just bad line selection, braking errors, stuff like that.

 

[gogreen09]

Glad you're loving the track, and Keigwin's school will knock your socks off. At your pace I would just look for the wearbars, don't think you have to worry much about heat cycles or anything with the Q2's. All my early crashes, and most of my recent ones, have not involved tires, more just bad line selection, braking errors, stuff like that.

thanks doc!

 

[RedMist]

I'll add this, at one of my first trackdays 5 years ago Lance Keigwin was talking about how much life you can expect to get out of your tires, Lance basically said if your a C grouper doing near 3:00 laps then you can expect your tires to last forever. Obviously it was a joke but not really, if your in the C group and just on the cusp of looking to get quicker then I would agree with you don't need to even think about it untill the wear bars and even then your most likely ok till you see the cords.

 

[afm199]

I'll add this, at one of my first trackdays 5 years ago Lance Keigwin was talking about how much life you can expect to get out of your tires, Lance basically said if your a C grouper doing near 3:00 laps then you can expect your tires to last forever. Obviously it was a joke but not really, if your in the C group and just on the cusp of looking to get quicker then I would agree with you don't need to even think about it untill the wear bars and even then your most likely ok till you see the cords.

That's why Shawnery never buys new tires!


Just fucking with you man. I had fun riding with you at Thill thanks for backing off on the straights.

 

[jraice]

At that pace you are probably not pushing the tires much harder than an aggressive street pace. I would say as they approach the wear bars you should replace but with street tires and 2:45 laps they shouldn't lose too much grip from heat cycling.

Oh and thanks Vince... I actually just got a PM from someone asking if they could send me pictures of their tires for me to evaluate whether or not they are good for 2 more days. Considering the info they gave (tire type front/rear, pace etc...) I think they were serious .

 

[jraice]

I didn't have my laptimer, so just from videos - somewhere around 2:40-2:45. Before this, I was at about 3min.


thanks man! btw, read your great Pirelli review!!!


thanks! I'll try them one more day and see how they do. Aug 23-24 Keigwin's Novice School!

Yeah these new Pirelli Rosso Corsa's are awesome street tires! I have ran three tire types/brands at the track but only one DOT race (Michelin Power one front race rear)... After riding these Rosso Corsa's I'm really excited to try a Pirelli race tire (either the Diablo or the Superbike pro slick) on the track! Hated my OEM Pirelli tires on the Buell but love the new ones.

 

[Ferd]

+1
at that pace you can run them a long long time...that said, as you learn you will be pushing harder and probably making some slightly bigger mistakes, which is best to do on good tires. Can you feel a difference yet? I would use my tires until I can tell they aren't working as well as they used to..when the "feel" goes...

At that pace you are probably not pushing the tires much harder than an aggressive street pace. I would say as they approach the wear bars you should replace but with street tires and 2:45 laps they shouldn't lose too much grip from heat cycling.

Oh and thanks Vince... I actually just got a PM from someone asking if they could send me pictures of their tires for me to evaluate whether or not they are good for 2 more days. Considering the info they gave (tire type front/rear, pace etc...) I think they were serious .

 

[#1Spies Fan]

In my opinion...if you are asking if you need new tires then you probably do. I was in your shoes back in June. I was running the Q2's at T-hill and my lap times were around the 2:17 mark. They were gone after 2 days. I then went to the GP A's and within 2 more days I was able to get into the 2:06's. Having faith in your tires will help you go faster and push your limits. I rode just as hard when I was doing the 2:17's as I did when I got into the 2:06's on my sv650. If your intentions are to go as fast as you can everytime you are on the track then buy new tires...being cheap on tires will cost you a lot more in the future (rode an old rear tire at sears last weekend and now it will cost me $1200 to fix the bike..o and also I still had to buy new tires!)