Topic: Tire change for towing?

Question for those who tow with an open trailer. Do you always leave your race tires on the car when towing or do you change to a different tire? My partner says leave the race tires on the car. My friend who raced in the Porsche Owners Club events said they never store or tow with the race tires on.
I do not know.
Regards,
Philip

Re: Tire change for towing?

? we tow with the same tires as we race. Not sure why you would not.

"get up and get your grandma outta here"

Re: Tire change for towing?

? we tow with the same tires as we race. Not sure why you would not.

45+x Loser.....You'd think I would learn......
5x I.O.E  Winner   1 Heroic Fix Winner   1 Org Choice Winner
2x  I Got Screwed Winner    2x Class C Winner
(Still a Class B driver in a Class A car)

Re: Tire change for towing?

just a follow up, are you not using a trailer or flatbed? It you are old school towing, meaning 2 wheels of the car will be on the ground I can see swapping those.  If you are storing the car for a long time then you might want to swap them out, or put the car on jack stands to make sure you don't "flat spot" the tires. They usually come back around after a few warm up laps.

"get up and get your grandma outta here"

Re: Tire change for towing?

Mr.Yuck wrote:

just a follow up, are you not using a trailer or flatbed? It you are old school towing, meaning 2 wheels of the car will be on the ground I can see swapping those.  If you are storing the car for a long time then you might want to swap them out, or put the car on jack stands to make sure you don't "flat spot" the tires. They usually come back around after a few warm up laps.

/agree

The sedan is on the open trailer and we load it up one the race tires, strap it down and go.

1992 Saturn SL2 (retired) - Elmo's Revenge -  Class B winner, Heroic Fix winner x2
1969 Rover P6B 3500S(sold) - Super G-Rover - I.O.E Winner, Class C Winner
1996 Saturn SW2 - Elmo's Revenge (reborn!), Saturn SL1  Dazzleshipm Class C x2 and IOE winner
1974 AMC Javelin - Oscar's Trash heap - IOE,”Organizer's Choice" and "I got Screwed" award winner

Re: Tire change for towing?

I think this is sorta like the belief that "a Porsche needs to be run at higher revs or you'll ruin the bearings".  There was some truth to that with the 4 cam 4 cyl Carrera engine that had a roller bearing crank.  But there were very few of them.  Racing tires remained bias ply for a long time after the radial was introduced for road tired.  Bias ply tires are much more prone to developing flat spots from sitting than radials.  I wouldn't sweat it with the type of tires we run in this series.

1990 RX7 "Mazdarita"  1964 Sunbeam Imp (IOE 2013 Sears Pointless) 2002 Jaguar x-type (Winner C-Class 2021 Sears Pointless)
Gone bye-bye
1994 Jaguar XJ12 (Winner C-Class 2013 Sears Pointless)  1980 Rover SD1 (I Got Screwed 2014 Return of Lemonites)

Re: Tire change for towing?

Serious racer is serious. Parked my car for 1 year once. Started it and moved it around the lot three times during that stay. Handling/tire wear was no different from any other race.

I’ve encountered Michelin race tires discarded near my work shop that are marked “transit” and if they were a size smaller, I’d put them on my street Jag. Transit tires are a real thing for the IMSA guys at the race prep place, not so much in our world.

Tradewinds Tribesmen Racing (The road goes on forever…)
#289 1984 Corvette Z51 #124 1984 944 #110 2002 Passat
Gone but not forgotten, #427-Hong Kong Cavaliers Benz S500
IOE (Humber!) Hell on Wheels (Jaguar)

Re: Tire change for towing?

keycat wrote:

My partner says leave the race tires on the car. My friend who raced in the Porsche Owners Club events said they never store or tow with the race tires on.

You could have left out the Bold part, and we still would have known that your friend was in the Porsche Owners club based on his comment.

#33 Ford Festiva - We Are Not Really From Iran (Retired)
#928 Porsche 928 - West German Pushrodders (Retired)
#3 BMW E36 - The Internet says this is correct

Re: Tire change for towing?

Mr.Yuck wrote:

...old school towing, meaning 2 wheels of the car will be on the ground...

...or all four wheels.

1982 MG Metro 1300: IOE 2015 Pacific Northworst GP, Longest Distance 2010 Cd'L Box Wine Country Classic
1980 KV Mini 1: Worst of Show and Fright Pig Supremo 2009 Concours d'Lemons
1978 H Special: Second-Round Elimination 2010 Lemons Pinewood Derby at Sears Pointless
1967 SAAB 96: IOE 2012 Pacific Northworst GP, Organizer's Choice 2022 Hell on Wheels California Rally

Re: Tire change for towing?

I guess this kinda depends on what you're calling "race tires." The 200+ TW tires run in Lemon's won't really care since they're technically a street tire. Street tires are engineered for ~6 years past production date and can tolerate UV exposure to a reasonable extent. Hoosiers are supposed to be used within 2 years of production date and not left out of the sun. In FSAE, we'd store the car on stands so that the tires aren't flat spotting and we aren't putting weight on the carcass during storage. Personally, Hoosiers or not, you'll never find me switching out wheels to trailer unless I'm the 0.00001% that actually makes money on racing.

Full Ass Racing
#455 Piñata Miata - 1990 Miata
#735 BMDollhÜr 7Turdy5i - 1990 735i

Re: Tire change for towing?

Thanks guys. I come from a motocross background, so I did not have a clue. I did see someone change their tires at a Buttonwillow track event. My gosh, some of those people have money! That is what really brought up the question. My post did not have any bold words.
Regards,
Philip

Re: Tire change for towing?

keycat wrote:

My gosh, some of those people have money!

Just remember, for every stacker trailer pulled by +$250K toter you see, there are at least two teams that brought their car to the track on Uhaul tow dolly behind a 15 year old SUV.  In between are the bulk of the teams that start out with cheap open trailer, their older pick up and not much else...but the addiction sets in and next thing you know it is a cheap enclosed trailer, followed by a better truck to pull it.

Re: Tire change for towing?

OnkelUdo wrote:
keycat wrote:

My gosh, some of those people have money!

...teams that brought their car to the track on Uhaul tow dolly behind a 15 year old SUV.

Let's not forget some of us keep our race cars street-legal so that, among other things, we can just drive to the track and/or flat tow. The "no trailer at all" approach is still an option.

1982 MG Metro 1300: IOE 2015 Pacific Northworst GP, Longest Distance 2010 Cd'L Box Wine Country Classic
1980 KV Mini 1: Worst of Show and Fright Pig Supremo 2009 Concours d'Lemons
1978 H Special: Second-Round Elimination 2010 Lemons Pinewood Derby at Sears Pointless
1967 SAAB 96: IOE 2012 Pacific Northworst GP, Organizer's Choice 2022 Hell on Wheels California Rally

Re: Tire change for towing?

mharrell wrote:
OnkelUdo wrote:
keycat wrote:

My gosh, some of those people have money!

...teams that brought their car to the track on Uhaul tow dolly behind a 15 year old SUV.

Let's not forget some of us keep our race cars street-legal so that, among other things, we can just drive to the track and/or flat tow. The "no trailer at all" approach is still an option.

Even more an outlier than stacker trailer guy...but we could do it with tow or three of our racecars.

Re: Tire change for towing?

OnkelUdo wrote:
keycat wrote:

My gosh, some of those people have money!

Just remember, for every stacker trailer pulled by +$250K toter you see, there are at least two teams that brought their car to the track on Uhaul tow dolly behind a 15 year old SUV.  In between are the bulk of the teams that start out with cheap open trailer, their older pick up and not much else...but the addiction sets in and next thing you know it is a cheap enclosed trailer, followed by a better truck to pull it.

The addiction sets in, you don’t even notice how it creeps:
2011: wrenching with a team
2012: A&D with IOE win
2013: assemble team and car
2016: team breaks up
2017: race old car with new team
2019: start building new car with same team
2020: bought old F250, we got multiple cars to tow here
2021: try new race series, brought both cars

2022: might only run one race, we’re building two faster cars!

The road goes on forever and the party never ends…

No stacker trailers here,  just look for the old pickups and the shantytown of EZ-ups, that’s our pit!

Tradewinds Tribesmen Racing (The road goes on forever…)
#289 1984 Corvette Z51 #124 1984 944 #110 2002 Passat
Gone but not forgotten, #427-Hong Kong Cavaliers Benz S500
IOE (Humber!) Hell on Wheels (Jaguar)

Re: Tire change for towing?

200 TW tires just don't care. These aren't race compounds. Hell Drive em on the street a bit if you can and you'll get BETTER life out of them due to cycling on the new rubber.

We usually get one race out of fresh tires, but got 2 races off tired we drove the car around on to go get an alignment and around. Couple exits on the freeway will do it.

Mistake By The Lake Racing (MBTL)
88 Thunderbird "THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!", Ex Astris, Rubigo / Semper Fracti
A&D: 2014 Sebrings at Sebring (NSF), 2014 NJMP2 Jurassic Park (SpeedyCop), 2012 Summit Point J30 (PiNuts)
2018 Route Sucky-Suck Rally Miata, 2019 World Tour Of Texas 64 Newport

Re: Tire change for towing?

I have 2 guesses:
1-After a heat cycle, on tires you plan to use again, resting the tires off the car can have marginal benefits. 
2-What they really mean is wheels.  Tow straps can damage wheels and it's easier to just put on a different set. 

Neither of these are applicable to Lemons.  We sometimes put on 17s to avoid ripping the gas tank off when rolling on/off the trailer.

Re: Tire change for towing?

Tow straps on the wheels? I wonder if my teammate who always crawls under the trailer knows about those? No sense telling him now.

Mistake By The Lake Racing (MBTL)
88 Thunderbird "THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!", Ex Astris, Rubigo / Semper Fracti
A&D: 2014 Sebrings at Sebring (NSF), 2014 NJMP2 Jurassic Park (SpeedyCop), 2012 Summit Point J30 (PiNuts)
2018 Route Sucky-Suck Rally Miata, 2019 World Tour Of Texas 64 Newport

Re: Tire change for towing?

Guildenstern wrote:

Tow straps on the wheels? I wonder if my teammate who always crawls under the trailer knows about those? No sense telling him now.

Choking the wheels is so nice when you are set up for it.  The wheel basket style are pain if you have multiple size cars but still better than what we used to do strapping down on questionable subframe mounts, wrapping a-arms, etc.

Re: Tire change for towing?

Guildenstern wrote:

Tow straps on the wheels? I wonder if my teammate who always crawls under the trailer knows about those? No sense telling him now.

Since I'm the guy that crawls under the car and straps it down. They are an option. I do like being able to secure the car to it's "real" tow spots
especially since so many wheels go flying off at our races. I've yet to see a rear axle or front subframe come off during a race :-)

MBTL Racing

Re: Tire change for towing?

I've yet to see a rear axle or front subframe come off during a race :-)

Well, this is Lemons, so keep an eye out next time you race....lol

1991 VW Jetta #38 - cuz Whoopie Pie!

Re: Tire change for towing?

We had previously welded on tie down points that we would chain the car down.  However, I decided to spend the money on some Mac tie downs.  It takes us a fraction of the time to load the car.  These are what I'm refering to:
https://www.macscustomtiedowns.com/coll … 4634647626

Re: Tire change for towing?

We have extra wheels so we can leave the last race's tires mounted and run for practice day at the next race. They become the street tires in between races. 

I'll have to try running the new tires on the street for a few days before Atlanta.

We drive our cars to Barber since we're local and they are street-registered. We tow one or both elsewhere just in case we can't drive either one home.