The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Tech → Used or New Tires
Hey,
Have a tire question. Do most people run used or new tires? How many sets do you go through in a race?
It all depends on the car, the track, and how hard you drive, but one to two sets is usually enough. If your alignment and/or car weight causes you to chew up tires, that number could go higher.
Used tires are only good if you know how old they are. Anything over a few years old could possibly fail catastrophically and create a bad situation for you and other drivers around you. Stick with new tires. Search old threads here to see what tires would work best for your needs. If your car is light and fast, buy stickier tires, but if it's going to simply lumber around the track anyway, harder rubber might last longer.
please, PLEASE do not rely on used tires that you don't know the history of.
it's one thing to go out on a set of tires you didn't use up in the last race, but another to go out on some tires you just picked up from the salvage yard. this stuff can be dangerous enough...please don't make it more dangerous for the rest of us.
I've run five races on used tires and never had a tire problem, but I've been very selective about which used tires they are. I wouldn't recommend buying them from a junkyard. Tires have a date code molded into them. I just can't remember how it breaks down at the moment.
I think that this is one of those situations in life where if you have to ask the question, the answer is "no." 
Cheers.
Well there is a pimped out pair of white walls with only 500 miles on them on ebay right now 8).
please, PLEASE do not rely on used tires that you don't know the history of.
it's one thing to go out on a set of tires you didn't use up in the last race, but another to go out on some tires you just picked up from the salvage yard. this stuff can be dangerous enough...please don't make it more dangerous for the rest of us.
+1
Get some new tires that can handle the weight of your car. Some wider wheels can't hurt either.
bigds01 you can paint whitewalls on any tire.
I'd also say no to used tires.....think about the safety risk for basically unknown tires...and tires are somewhat cheap anyway
I was all for using GOOD used tires until just about everyone on here slammed the idea (as well as all my mates). So what we did is buy a brand new set for the race and the 4 really good used tires I bought will be our test tires and back-ups if we fry or ruin a primary tire. So we have 8 mounted tires, 4 all new and 4 used.
I buy a new set for every race and use old ones from race before for spares .
Just get a 200 treadwear if your car is 2500 lbs or less .One race I had 200 treadwear in front and 450 treadwear in rear on FWD honda and its was drifting like a rwd car .So I sipped the rear 450 treadwear with a sawzall and made it better .So I agree no junk yard tires !!!
On date codes:
Four digit. First two is the week ( 01-52 ), second two is the year ( 98-09 )
So a date code of ( 0508 ) was made in the first week of Febuary of 2008.
So used tire that is only a year or two old that isn't cracked, flat spotted or shows sign of any other damage is probably safe. ( still undesirable, compared to a set of new 200 TW rubber )
KT
I was all for using GOOD used tires until just about everyone on here slammed the idea (as well as all my mates).
and there is the crux of the issue...how do you know it's "good?"
I define good based on a close visual inspection (incl date of manufacture) remaining tread depth and the reputation of the tire based on tests and consumer opinions on web sites like Tirerack. I usually buy them from known dealers or a private party, never from a "junkyard"
I have raced on 2 sets of new tires on a 1 set of used tires. The used set we raced on were the exact same tires as the new tires with stubs still on them.
I bought a really cheap used set of Azenias to try out, like $20-30 for the set. They are one of the most common tires in Lemons. They were pretty worn and looked old. They were 5 seconds a lap slower if you were real careful. They didn't grip worth a damn and my best driver spun twice trying them out.
We did decided the size was good in regards to gearing and new tires would probably grip better. It was a cheap way to try them out and I can use them as rollers.
The money you save on cheap tires and crappy brakes will probably cost you track time. It could cost you your car or a body part though.
Racing on crap is a quick way to an expensive seat as a spectator. You could save a lot of money by just watching and avoiding a car all together.
I bought a really cheap used set of Azenias to try out, like $20-30 for the set. They were pretty worn and looked old. .
Well that pretty well sums it up why they were so slow. You didn't buy GOOD used tires, you bought some cheap, old, crappy ones by your own admission.
If you're going to do multiple races, buy mulitple sets and switch Sat. night. The car I drove in Houston was on it's third race with the same tires ... a set of Falken Azenis purchased new. If you look, you can get them on closeout (in 15") for around $55/tire. So the initial $400 investment on that car has lasted 3+ races.
Troy wrote:I bought a really cheap used set of Azenias to try out, like $20-30 for the set. They were pretty worn and looked old. .
Well that pretty well sums it up why they were so slow. You didn't buy GOOD used tires, you bought some cheap, old, crappy ones by your own admission.
You're right, I didn't think they were very good to start with.
Used is factual.
Good is subjective.
My friend thinks Toyo R888 suck compared to RA1s. They are both new and rated the same. One persons interpretation of good may be quite bad in another persons mind.
Most guys racing on Azenias have good luck with them. I mostly bought them to try out the size and they are Lemons legal spares. They are a couple inches taller than my T1Rs so they are better rollers for moving the car around between races. That and they were damn near free.
Just cause I think they are a bit old and crappy doesn't mean someone else would feel the same way. They are probably better then the new Douglas Xtracs Rum Runners raced on in October 2008.
Here's something you left out of your quote:
The money you save on cheap tires and crappy brakes will probably cost you track time. It could cost you your car or a body part though.
Racing on crap is a quick way to an expensive seat as a spectator. You could save a lot of money by just watching and avoiding a car all together.
There was a bck order on falken azenis 195 60 14 and the hankook tire is discontiued.
I liked the the hankook better. I just got some 185 55 15 Federal ss595 with a 260 treadwear hope they work out .Igot like 8 spares for hondas if anyone runs short on tires for thill
So a slightly different question, do people run racing tires like the azenis or street tires mostly?
not sure what you mean...they're all street tires. The Azenis are high-performance summer street tires. They are legal for highway use. They are stickier than most generic passenger car tires (but not as sticky as other hi-po street tires), but there is no fundamental difference between them and, say, a set of General all-seasons.
are you asking whether people generally run summer tires vs. all-seasons? in that case, i'd bet the former, but don't have any hard data. we run Dunlop Star Spec summer performance tires...they are relatively inexpensive (for that class of tire) and work really, really well.
When most people say "race tires," they mean tires that aren't approved for highway use, like Hoosiers. they are not street tires, and are not legal for Lemons.
we run high-performance street tires. we always buy new, do our research, and determine the best balance of price and performance. A fresh set of decent tires can mask a really old, crummy suspension pretty well, and can help $100 brakes act like $400 brakes. Fresh rubber you can track wear, determine suspension issues, and potentially run more races more easily with some fresh stuff over used.
not sure what you mean...they're all street tires. The Azenis are high-performance summer street tires. They are legal for highway use. They are stickier than most generic passenger car tires (but not as sticky as other hi-po street tires), but there is no fundamental difference between them and, say, a set of General all-seasons.
are you asking whether people generally run summer tires vs. all-seasons? in that case, i'd bet the former, but don't have any hard data. we run Dunlop Star Spec summer performance tires...they are relatively inexpensive (for that class of tire) and work really, really well.
When most people say "race tires," they mean tires that aren't approved for highway use, like Hoosiers. they are not street tires, and are not legal for Lemons.
So I did mean the Hoosiers. Because of the weight of our car (3800 lbs), there is not enough money in the stimulus plan to cover what it would cost to run soft summer tires. I have a feeling we will wind up with a softer all season.
We ran 225/60R15 Azenis on the Caddy at Nelson... tire wear wasn't a problem but then again, we weren't out on the track a whole lot, either.
We ran 225/60R15 Azenis on the Caddy at Nelson...
You sure you got that tire size right? I don't see it listed on the Falken site, either in the Azenis ST-615 (the sticky 200 treadwear tire) or the Azenis ST-215 (lower performance luxury tire or something).
We would love to run this tire if it exists.
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