I'm headed to Jennings here soon and there is a lot of rain in the forecast. I have a friend that is offering his michelin rain tires to me for $200. They have two trackday sessions on them, but they are like 2 1/2 years old. How long are these compounds typically good for?
http://forums.superbikeschool.com/index.php?showtopic=2530 "Your 2 year old rains are an issue if the tread cuts have lost their sharp edges from use. If the tire was new, you have no problem in a tire that is a couple of years old. Its how sharp the edges are that is the biggest factor in a rain tire being good or bad."
i run NOS $100 michelin rains from the last millenium. they've proven themselves worthy on roadcourses(wet) and the dragstrip.
I don't know where you are from but I'm thinking ohio.. I live in Columbus, and have Pirelli rains with like 3 laps on them.. I'll give them to you for $150.. they are almost new, and not OLD! :up:
You will learn far more in the rain than in the dry, I can promise you. We get plenty of the stuff up here in the NW and you learn a ton more about smoothness and control.
Everyone seems to say that, but at the last TD I was at in the rain all I seemed to see were people crashing while going at even a snail's pace ??? Do you really learn better/more when you are nervous and timid and uptight?
Well, you really need to throw any conceptions of going "fast" out the window in order to learn anything. When you want to go fast, you use your controls fast - instead of "reeeleeeasssee throootttllle, squuueeeezzzee brrraaaakessssss" you do "CHOPGASNAILBRAKES". You can get away with doing that in the dry because most of the time your tires have more grip than you can imagine, especially if you're straight up and down. In the wet, not so much. Rain riding will not help you go fast. Rain riding will help you learn to maximize your traction, and what to when you run out of it. THOSE two things will help you go fast in the dry.
a few years back I did Pocono in the wet my first session I went very slow and very uprigth , then the next two sessions I pick up the pace and I was suprisse and how much grip was in a wet track even with the old Qualifires. so any rain tires would be fine if you are just riding the track, but if you are planing in to racing or practicing qualifing lap times in the wet then you should get fresh meat
+1 on qualifiers in the rain. While I am not saying they are rain tires, they will do a hell of a lot better than slicks or DOT's. I ran the 208 at Tally on my first track day, and it rained, and I ran 1:14's first session, and got down to 1:12 second session. Then it started to dry out after lunch a little, so I didn't have to change tires at all. I will say, I did get passed around the outside by a guy on rains with his knee down.
Jennings has an amazing amount of grip in the wet. Just rode there in the wet a month ago, riding a set of rains that I bought at the end of the 2009 season. The tires were in good shape and performed very well.
older rain tires will last and last.. Actually, I love running the oldest (with good edges) rain tires i can find at places like Daytona. Throw em on warmers for about 15 min before you go out.. Yes.. you read that right. Rain tires require some heat to work properly. If you really get rolling in the rain, you will see steam come off em when your done with an track session.
