Topic: How many tires?

I was thinking at least 4, but should we be investing in some extras? How many people have had some sort of tire failure?

We're planning on getting a fairly durable set of tires, so I don't think we'll have a problem lasting the whole race with 1 set, I'm more worried about flats.

Re: How many tires?

I suggest 6 good tires as a minimum.  That way you can change your outside tires.  Obviously 8 tires are better but not always necessary.

At our most recent race at NPR, the track surface was pretty hard on tires.  Running clockwise, the front left took a beating.  We have fair amount of camber now too which increases our inner tire wear.

We have also raced 2 races at MSR Houston clockwise.  We had less tire wear there but still mostly left side wear.

Going to NPR, we had 8 good tires which had alreay been raced on and 4 crappy tires.  I haven't looked at all the tires up close yet but most of the tires are about finished.

Tire management will help you out and extra tires give you more options.  I flip the tires between races and we changed tires from Saturday to Sunday in New Orleans.

We loaned a set of tires to another team Sunday morning while they were trying to get thier tires back on Sunday. 

We have not blown any tires in the race but I've currently got leaker.

Troy

#35 LRE
1973 Datsun 240Z

Re: How many tires?

trlstanc wrote:

I was thinking at least 4, but should we be investing in some extras? How many people have had some sort of tire failure?

We're planning on getting a fairly durable set of tires, so I don't think we'll have a problem lasting the whole race with 1 set, I'm more worried about flats.

It depends on the track surface. New Orleans track was a cheese grater surface. One set of tire made it, but they are wasted. We brought 2 sets, one new, one 3/32nds. Started on the used set for 3 hours then slapped on the new ones. If the race lasted for a few more hours on Sunday we surely would have had a front tire failure.

MSR Houston is smooth and tires can last 2 races if the drivers don't abuse them.

I guess you could get a flat, that's why I bring a tire plug kit. It's not like the speeds are that great to compromise the tire, IMHO. I only run V or Z rated tires BTW. No 4 for $99 crap. We learned from our first Lemons race that mixed matched used tires are a receipe for off track excursions and the resulting penlties. It sucks to push your race car down the pit lane and back with all drivers on board in 85 weather. The John McCain uphill battle penalty.

Re: How many tires?

Our car came out of MSR with the same tires it rolled in on we are not quite to the wear bars yet and have been doing auto x with it all summer, for the Ohio race we are bringing 8

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Now just another cock with a Porsche
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Re: How many tires?

I think the type of car your racing and how aggressive your drivers are is going to make a big difference.

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Re: How many tires?

BoB wrote:

I think the type of car your racing and how aggressive your drivers are is going to make a big difference.

I agree with Bob
If you have a car that weighs 2000lbs It's going to handle a lot different from one that is in the 3500lbs range.
We drove a 2000 lb Mr2 at Altamont and had two spares. 3 hours into the race we
got t-boned and ripped the sidewall out of our tire. Race the rest of weekend with one spare and finished. (All I could think about was we need more tires.)
We won't go to the track without at least one full set anymore.

Team: V-Ram/Altamont Team: Knights of the Round Track/Reno/Buttonwillow/Thunderhill Team: Death Mobile/Sears 2010/Thunderhill/ChumpCar  Spokane/ MSR Houston/Buttonwillow/Sears. MRolla Project /Reno
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Re: How many tires?

We bought 4... Used 4 for Thill and Reno.  It's time for 4 more

Re: How many tires?

We used 6 $7 tires from u-pull-it and Team whaaa mustang donated us 2 take-offs from their ride for use of our tire machine...and we ate all of them at Reno...on a 3800lb caddy. Were gonna step it up for t-hill though were bringing 10 (at least 420 treadwear) u-pull-it tires smile

Re: How many tires?

C'mon guys!!!  Do a little research here!  Newbies want it all for free, without doing any work.  This discussion has been beat to death:

· Tires by Trevor57  [ 1 2 ]   38    904    2009-05-13 04:29 PM by FreeRange

38 Posts and 904 views (it's on the Lemons Tech Forum).  Don't you guys know how to READ?

John

"Age only matters if you're a cheese."  Helen Hayes

Re: How many tires?

professional.dreamer wrote:

C'mon guys!!!  Do a little research here!  Newbies want it all for free, without doing any work.  This discussion has been beat to death:

· Tires by Trevor57  [ 1 2 ]   38    904    2009-05-13 04:29 PM by FreeRange

38 Posts and 904 views (it's on the Lemons Tech Forum).  Don't you guys know how to READ?

John

Play nice...

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Re: How many tires?

professional.dreamer wrote:

C'mon guys!!!  Do a little research here!  Newbies want it all for free, without doing any work.  This discussion has been beat to death:

· Tires by Trevor57  [ 1 2 ]   38    904    2009-05-13 04:29 PM by FreeRange

38 Posts and 904 views (it's on the Lemons Tech Forum).  Don't you guys know how to READ?

John

no, i'm illiterate, thanks for reminding me

Re: How many tires?

eljefe17 wrote:
professional.dreamer wrote:

Don't you guys know how to READ?

John

no, i'm illiterate, thanks for reminding me

Don't worry, you'll find your parents SOME day...

Re: How many tires?

professional.dreamer wrote:

C'mon guys!!!  Do a little research here!  Newbies want it all for free, without doing any work.  This discussion has been beat to death:

· Tires by Trevor57  [ 1 2 ]   38    904    2009-05-13 04:29 PM by FreeRange

38 Posts and 904 views (it's on the Lemons Tech Forum).  Don't you guys know how to READ?

John

Actually, John, I thought this horse might still have a little fight left in it.

I was just hoping that everyone would say "as long as you don't beat the hell out of your tires, you shouldn't have a problem" because I don't want to try and track down an extra set of wheels with a 4x140 bolt pattern.

14

Re: How many tires?

you could always pick this up portable tire changer from Harbor Freight

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D … mber=34542

Sure it will take way longer to change your tires but you don't have to buy an extra set of rims and its only $60

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Re: How many tires?

BoB wrote:

you could always pick this up portable tire changer from Harbor Freight

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D … mber=34542

Sure it will take way longer to change your tires but you don't have to buy an extra set of rims and its only $60

I have a scar between my eyebrows from trying to change a tire on a rim myself on a machine like that.... LONG STORY...... NOT reccomended.

Tom Lomino - Proud to be a 23x Lemons Loser, 3x Class B, and 1x IOE Winner!
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Re: How many tires?

RogueLeader wrote:
BoB wrote:

you could always pick this up portable tire changer from Harbor Freight

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D … mber=34542

Sure it will take way longer to change your tires but you don't have to buy an extra set of rims and its only $60

I have a scar between my eyebrows from trying to change a tire on a rim myself on a machine like that.... LONG STORY...... NOT reccomended.

LOL...thats the one we have

Re: How many tires?

JoeGekko wrote:
eljefe17 wrote:
professional.dreamer wrote:

Don't you guys know how to READ?

John

no, i'm illiterate, thanks for reminding me

Don't worry, you'll find your parents SOME day...

I literally laughed out loud.  lol

We brought one set of "good" tires and one set of "backups" to Reno; we wore the "good" ones down pretty well, but there should be a Sunday @ Thunderhill left in them.  Granted, our car doesn't weigh much, but RFR seemed to have a pretty chunky surface.

To the OP's question; four good ones and two spares should be good enough.  The best plan is to have all of your tires (and wheels, if possible) the same so that the car doesn't change when you change a tire.

TST, fool.

It's a Bunny.  With a pancake.  On its head.  Really, is it that tough?

Re: How many tires?

We brought 6 tires to Reno and Saturday night swapped the fronts for new ones. If we rotated all 6 tires at the next race I'm sure we'd have no problem finishing. FYI our car weighs 2800 lbs so it's no Miata but it seems to be pretty easy on tires overall for a 4-door sedan. BTW we also slotted the A-arms for more camber which probably helped a bunch too.

Re: How many tires?

I'm hoping one set of Hankook RS2s last a whole race at the Lamest Day, but it's a true 24 hours so it will use more tires and more brakes than a standard race.  We will have a second set ready just in case.

BRE Datsun (Broke Racing Effluence) formerly Dawn of the Zed Racing
'74 260Z
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Re: How many tires?

Jeff,

We run the same chassis 240Z.  Our first race at MSR we wore the outer half of our tires, mosty on the left but had a lot of rubber left.

Then we added camber.  I think we may have too much now.  We put way more wear on the second set of tires in the second race at MSR.

No Problem has been pretty accurately described as a cheese grader.

Two set of tires allows you to change tires half way and flip them at the end of the race which will prolong your tire life.

Regarding brakes, we have 4 wheel discs with more or less first gen 300ZX rotors running R4 pads.  The brake are a bit aggressive but they showed little wear after the first couple of races.

Other guys running Z's at No Problem wore out rear pads on the Low Budget 280ZX.  Between there 280ZX and anoter one, two of them had hydaulic failures, one was a front brake hose the other was a front caliper.

So to the guys that think just throw on pads, flush the brakes and go.  You need to check your hydraulic system.  Replace old rubber lines, calipers and your 20+ year old crappy master cylinder.  They do crap out from this kind of use.  No, they are not engineered for endurance racing!

Troy

#35 LRE
1973 Datsun 240Z

Re: How many tires?

I got 1 AMP and 1 Thill  on Hankooks.  Then RFR  killed 4 Falkens in one race .
I did run 205 40 17 for one race and 3 tires got killed going off course.Almost had to put my wifes space saver spare on it because I was out of spare and Krider loaned me a tire if I needed it.

buy one good set 200 treadwear and bring your spares.

Its all about your budget.

Pit Crew Revenge Racing   Rolling chicanelimo,95Lamdspeeder,Gimp Pimp Cadi,300zx Car show kaboom!! 90 Wagovan, mazda v8 Lemons LOGO TATTOO!  Aces 84 Cadi Eldo Briattz I O E WINNER
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Re: How many tires?

If you are coming to the Lamest Day bring plenty of tires.  The Nelson's track surface is pretty rough (plenty of bumps) and reasonably abrassive.  I've run a number of the original Longest Day races using sticky (treadware rating of less than 100) tires.  It wasn't unusual for us to eat 12 tires or more in 24 hours.  Granted the tire were soft and we were running stiffer suspensions at 10/10ths.   

Lemons tire wear will be less due to a) crappy suspensions b) higher tread ratings c) lower cornering speeds due to traffic and chicanes.

Most Lemons races are only 14 hours or so of track time.  Lamest Day is a full 24 hours. Factor that in when you ask folks how many tires they use at a race.   If in doubt.... bring extra's.

Oh, and be sure to bring extra front brake pads and plenty of fresh brake fluid.

Spud

Remember, it's never too early to start embellishing the past.

"so there I was, 90mph, sideways on the brink of death ..."

Re: How many tires?

I hate bumps and rough surfaces!!:(

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Re: How many tires?

JoeGekko wrote:
professional.dreamer wrote:

C'mon guys!!!  Do a little research here!  Newbies want it all for free, without doing any work.  This discussion has been beat to death:

· Tires by Trevor57  [ 1 2 ]   38    904    2009-05-13 04:29 PM by FreeRange

38 Posts and 904 views (it's on the Lemons Tech Forum).  Don't you guys know how to READ?

John

Play nice...

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c281/ … llfree.jpg

Uh, yeah. John, I think you can imagine what Jay will say if I tell him you're giving people a hard time on the forums. It probably starts with "Oh for the love of...." and ends with "Hey, let's crush that Miata over there."

(Also, I'd add that the single biggest variable as far as tire wear is whether or not your car is running. Sounds simple, but you will forget about it. Like, "last time, we didn't even use a single set!")

Re: How many tires?

Troy wrote:

We have fair amount of camber now too which increases our inner tire wear.

Inner tire wear caused by negative camber?  What do have , like -10 degrees or something?  Inner tire wear is caused by the toe being anything other than zero 99% of the time.  Without negative camber, the outside shoulder of the LF tire will be shreaded to the cords pretty quick on a track with mostly RH turns.

FYI, we ran -2.5 degrees up front in our E30 and the tires wore pretty even.  Well across the tread that is.  They were pretty much square at the end of the race after many, many lock-ups.

Captain
Team Super Westerfield Bros.
'93 Acura Integra - No VTEC Yo!