"Reading" tires

[ToddD]

I've had track days where my tires look like they spent time with a cheese grater, then I've had days where they look almost as smooth as street riding. What gives? This past Thursday my tires had pea sized balls of rubber coming off, but others in my group (intermediate) had very smooth tires. My first guess would be that I am pushing harder and therefore harder on my tires, but some of the others with smooth tires were much faster than me. I want to get the best wear from my tires and I want to know if those pea sized rubber balls mean there is a problem with my suspension set up. Any help out there?

[Turbo329]

I've had track days where my tires look like they spent time with a cheese grater, then I've had days where they look almost as smooth as street riding. What gives? This past Thursday my tires had pea sized balls of rubber coming off, but others in my group (intermediate) had very smooth tires. My first guess would be that I am pushing harder and therefore harder on my tires, but some of the others with smooth tires were much faster than me. I want to get the best wear from my tires and I want to know if those pea sized rubber balls mean there is a problem with my suspension set up. Any help out there?

Tire pressure and compound has a lot to do with it I'm sure. If they had the same brand of tire, then it most likely has a lot to do with tire pressure.

[adminjeff]

I would agree with Turbo. However, there are other factors in play when it comes to tire wear.
Your bike weight
Size of your engine
Gearing
Your riding style (of course)
tire pressure
tire brand
pavement conditions
tire temp

All of these things contribute. V motors have more low end grunt and therefore are more often putting power to the tire sooner after a corner and when the tire is at a steeper angle. This would cause more side wall heat and ultimately more rubber balls. If your bike is a track only bike I would use Dunlop Medium compound N-tec slicks.

[jackdaripper]

I was Wondering about this also. My last trackday my front and rear tire were all balled up. Didn't know if the tire prressure was wrong

[adminjeff]

What was your tire pressure? !!!!!!!!

Bonehead, I thought I made it perfectly clear that it is vitally important that you know your tire pressure at all times. Knock, knock, knock, Mcfly, anybody in there? It is more important to check your tire pressure than it is to do anything else when getting ready to go out the first time in the morning.

[jackdaripper]

I did keep it at 29-29 like you said but i just didn't know why it was looking melted

[yzfrjim]

melted is gooooood. the tires should be balled up when you are riding hard, that is what you are looking for, tires are not meant to last for ever, especially racing ones, they only really should last one race....yes, one race!! I know its expensive but that is the price for going fast. What they should not be is striated (not sure if i spelled that right) that is a cause for cold tearing, this happens when you get out there and start ripping around without properly letting your race tires come up to temp. This does not happen with street tires because they are meant to operate at all sorts of temps, rain, cold, snow...etc....but race tires need warmth, so if you decide to get out there and rip your first lap one of two things will happen, first you will be pavement surfing and if that doesn't happen you will be cold tearing the crap out of your tires..shredding the carcas, which will have the effect of the tire not working for you when it does come up to temp. the way to avoid this is get a set of tire warmers or take your time out there, don't rip the first lap, it should take about two or three laps for the tires to come up and then you can go as fast as you like, but keep in mind if it is a cold day it will take longer and you have to always do this each time you go out. Now again if you don't have the patience of this like most us, get yourself a good set of tire warmers and bake the tires for about 40-60 minutes before you go out and then you can drop the hammer immediately like all of those racers do.
anyway thats my 2 cents

oh and by the way my dot race tire rear would last only one and a half sprints....thats about 10laps.
the slicks last a bit longer......about 4 races, thats 28 laps, and it does start moving around a bit.
food for thought

[adminjeff]

Ditto, reverend...