dedicated track tires? man or machine to heat cycle?

[Bruce Jibboo]

OEM set of track wheels have been ordered..
Set of TPMS sensors ordered..
Need to find the best hookup on Michelin's, but this question came to mind while browsing tirerack.com

Competition Tire Heat Cycling Service
(Lea en español)

Many tire manufacturers use very aggressive tread compounds for the Track & Competition DOT-legal tires they've developed for autocrossing, track days and road racing. And just like other high performance parts, these tires will provide more consistent performance and last longer if they are properly broken in.

The first time Track & Competition DOT tires go into service is very important. All tires deflect under load, and their tread rubber compounds repeatedly stretch and relax as they roll into and out of contact with the road. This stretching breaks some of the weaker bonds between the tread rubber molecules, generating heat. If new Track & Competition DOT tires are initially run too aggressively, too hot or too long, some of the stronger bonds will also be broken, which reduces tire grip and wear.
Picture of tire on heat cycling machine spinning

Putting new Track & Competition DOT tires through an easy initial heat cycle and then not running them for a minimum of 24 hours allows the rubber bonds to relink in a more uniform manner than they were originally manufactured. Heat cycling actually makes Track & Competition DOT tread compounds more consistent in strength and more resistant to losing their strength the next time they are used.

While it's important to heat cycle tires, how it's done isn't as important.
On the Track

Heat cycling can be done by installing tires on the car and running 10 to 15 minutes on a racetrack. Start with easy laps, and build up speed as the session continues. End up running 5-10 seconds off your normal pace and be careful not to spike the tire temperatures by spinning, sliding or locking the tires.

An important step in tire heat cycling is that after being brought up to temperature, the tires require a minimum of 24 hours to relax and relink the bonds between the rubber molecules. Drivers attempting to heat cycle tires in the morning for use a few hours later in the afternoon will not experience any benefits from the morning attempt at heat cycling. Heat cycling tires on Saturday means not using them again until the same time on Sunday.
By Tire Rack

Close up of heat cycle stamp

Our heat cycling service begins by mounting the tire on an appropriate-width wheel and inflating it to the desired pressure. It is then placed in our heat cycling machine which has three rollers positioned at the corners of a triangle. The tread flexes where it comes into contact with each of the rollers, stretching the rubber compound enough to progressively bring it up to temperature all the way around the tire and across the tread. There is no artificial heat added by an oven, forced air or heat lamp.

The tread temperature is monitored with a pyrometer to confirm when the tire has reached the desired 170-180° F temperature. The tire is then dismounted and stamped as Tire Rack heat cycled. Since the minimum 24-hour waiting period typically occurs while the tires are in transit, the tires are ready to use when they arrive!

The only thing our heat cycling service doesn't do is scuff in the tires.
Choices

While both ways will get the job done, many driving enthusiasts have chosen Tire Rack's heat cycling service because it allows them to maximize their time on the track. They don't have to invest in extra sets of wheels to manage multiple sets of tires, nor dedicate early weekend sessions to heat cycling new tires for the following days.

We've compared tire heat cycling done on our test track and in our heat-cycling machine. Measuring the tread temperatures with a probe-style pyrometer has confirmed we can't quite duplicate the heat cycling machine's controlled process with tires mounted on a car. We found on-the-car heat cycling was challenged by different driveline configurations (front-wheel, rear-wheel or all-wheel drive), vehicle weight distributions and competition camber settings that made it difficult to generate even tire temperatures on front and rear axle positions, as well as across the entire tread. Our heat-cycling machine allowed us to achieve appropriate and more consistent temperatures across the tire's tread without causing treadwear.

The cost of heat cycling is $15 per tire and is recommend by competition tire manufacturers.
Related Links

Air Pressure for Competition Tires

Getting More Out of
Competition Tires

Shaving Tires for Autocross / Track Use / Competition

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=66

Click to read more...

 

[10sec]

Honestly, you aren't competing for shit you're just out to have fun. There's no reason to overthink any of that stuff, just get them and go beat the shit out of your car. There's guys I race with breaking track records that don't do any of that nonsense. That's some shit the Chris lady would do though.

 

[10sec]

Also, by the time the tire "lasts longer" it's usually bald, so WGAF?

 

[Bruce Jibboo]

I'm still running on my factory pilot sports for street/track, so thats 7-8k miles in 4 years, but figure 6-7 track days/heat cycles have significantly impacted the tires performance even though I have tread left.

So its really thinking about how to extend and properly initialize these tires so buying another set is delayed as long as possible.

It also leaves me with these original pilot sports that I'll wear into the ground street wise as long as the tread sticks around.

 

[10sec]

Tires get hard after that many heat cycles, I don't care how they're broken in. I wouldn't waste the time or money, but that's my opinion. My RE-71's have finally started to lose grip but they're also garbage now. I usually get a season out of a set of tires, which is perfect.

 

[Bruce Jibboo]

I'm pretty sure I agree, but just making it a point of topic. Its really hard to weed out marketing/up charge BS. "Shaving" was the other service they can do to tires prior to shipment and haven't even looked up what that is.

 

[10sec]

They shave tires like NT01's and similar tires to take them down to being bald, where they would have the most grip instead of the tire treads that come with them.

 

[Intel]

Tire shaving was a bigger deal a couple of years back because you would get tread squirm with the 200 tw tires to use for the track. Take it from 10/32 down to maybe 6/32 tread depth. Most of the newer super grippy track tires that are 200tw now come at 7/32 - 9/32 already so you don't hear as much about it. It is more of an autocross thing where you are fighting for 10ths etc.

This is mostly my experience with Direzzas, RS-4's and Toyos as that is what our team runs for endurance events.

As for heat cycling. I believe in it at least for our endurance races. If we get the chance to run our new tires on friday practice for half an hour and leave them overnight they tend to last a bit longer and we can get more hours out of them. Doing it yourself is more effective and cheaper if you can do it. I wouldn't say it affects our track times, just how many hours we can get out of them. We drive our tires to the cords pretty much luckily the RS4 and Direzzas are good until the last drop for us.

 

[Bruce Jibboo]

yep but without permission to show up at a track day only to heat cycle, the track day itself would be a waste.

Tires have been ordered from discount who will do the install. Wheels/sensors should get here monday'ish so should have the track setup ready by mid week.

Now to try and lock in which remaining track days to hit.

 

[Bruce Jibboo]

so in summary I am not doing any shaving or heat cycle process unless its an attempt to heat them up on the street. It is what it is because they will get raped hard on the first track day.

 

[sickmint79]

i wouldn't bother doing this unless racing like intel. i don't feel like the amount i've cycled them has mattered at all. turning right all the time eats dat front left tire though even when i've got -3.5 camber up there.

 

[Bruce Jibboo]

Only after that last cool track day (the one prior to 7/24) I noticed they were holding up pretty strong. I had a decision of forcing these 4 year old tires to the cords (either more track days or epic burnout), or keep them for street as there is decent tread and dedicate a set of wheels/tires. Randomly came across a used set of OEM wheels today (same color/style) on ebay and that sealed the deal. $800 less than an OEM wheel package by a volume reseller, and probably 75% off MSRP

 

[Bruce Jibboo]

 

[Chester Copperpot]

:eaglestacks:

 

[sickmint79]

dats a lotta meat

 

[Intel]

One of those tires costs more then all 4 of my RS4's