I'm just getting into track days and getting away from the streets. My question is about tire life. I know DOT requires a certain amount of tread depth. When running strictly on track though, how far can I take these tires on a novice pace? I'm looking more for a mm range on the tread and edge of the tire depth indicator holes. Can I run them safely to the point of almost slick as long as I'm riding a dry track? Surely they don't need to be changed for the track because the tread is to the wear markers, am I correct? Thanks in advance for your input.
What, so your saying you want to run your street tires till they look like a slick,and if this is the hot setup for the track.
Change them at the wear markers. Hypersport tires are not that expensive and they’ll last forever at novice pace.
Before everyone jumps your shit, tires don’t last as long on the track, and all those idiots you see with cords showing on the street would have crashed themselves to Timbuktu a week of trackdays earlier if they ran those things even at a medium pace. If you’re smooth and consistent in your riding, the tires will tel you when they’re going off. They will go off well before the tire surface looks like the forehead of @Steeltoe.
Thanks for the feedback guys. Just trying to figure out if I need a new tire before I do a track day on the 28th. I don't want to take off a tire with some life left, but as stated above, not that expensive, so I think I'll go ahead with a new one. It's very close to wear markers, but I didn't know if those were basically to tell you that your DOT life is over, or if the tire in general is finished.
if I were paying $40 to mount a tire I could see some reservation about the expense. Thats where a 2nd set of wheels comes in handy. If youre just getting into trackdays you should have enough tread for roughly 75-95 laps.
Generally the track day providers recommend that the tires be in good shape and no more than half worn. If you're new to Trackdays and are in the c group it's not as critical. Also you don't want to run old tires, as they age they tend to get hard.
I've certainly thrown away every non-endurance race tire well before it was truly done. I don't regret any of it.
As a tire wears the tread rubber does heat cycle and tends to get harder. But more importantly as the tire looses tread thickness along with the bizillions of flex cycles that weakens the carcass this causes a big loss of performance.
Less rubber also has less material to hold heat. Heat's needed for grip. And nobody's said it, yet...but if your tire is almost to the wear marker, there's a chance you won't pass morning Tech.
I’m a cheap bastard, I’d have a new tire mounted on a spare wheel and run that tire till it gets squirmy then swap it out. You can run tires a lot longer than most people do.
Is the rear squared off? Most street tires will get a flat center section with that mileage. It jacks up the handling..
No, it has most tread in the center. I have done my very first track day on them as well in June. I live at the foot of the "Back of the Dragon" in Virginia. That is basically the extent of my riding is twisties. I think I'm going to order a new set and ride these in the mountain for a couple more weeks and call them good, mount my new set a few days before the 28th and get them scuffed in before the track day.
