I had my first real tire failure this past weekend at Roebling (8/12-13). The Rear Michelin Pilot slick came apart internally during the latter part of the the Ltwt Solo race. I noticed a heavy chatter on lap 15 during right hand turns. I pulled in on lap 17 when it got really bad, and focused on the front end since that is where I felt the most vibration. I replaced the front slick whick I noticed had a couple of slit marks in the right side, maybe from something I had run over. I went out Sunday morning, first practice, and the chatter was still there. It got worse, but I noticed It wasn't as bad if I kept the weight transfer to the front down to a minimum. Solution, more corner speed. When I came into the pit road at the end of practice, Derek Bennett and Vito Dionisio motioned to the rear of my bike. Vito said the rear tire was coming off in pieces. When I examined the tire, it had a 3-inch blister and was pretty deformed. When Derek removed the tire, we say the inside part of the tire had separated for about 1/3 the tire's circumference!
What compound was the tire? I had a similer failure to a front Brdgestone slick on my FZR 400 but then realized the the "soft" compound was not what I should have been using. The tire had blisters around the sidewall and was coming apart internally.
Especially in a Solo 20 on a hot day...at an abrasive racetrack (Nelson Ledges) Man did it stick well, won the Solo and 1 Sprint with chatter the whole way!
Good question. Unfortunately I didn't check. I had a few race weekends on the tire, though. It didn't scare me away from Michelins, I have always had good performance from them, and I replaced it with another Pilot slick. Just need to be more aware of the problem, there is no real way of predicting it ahead of time.
May very well be the case. I am not particularly hard on tires, my Ducati does not spin the tire, so I usually retire a tire based on the numbr of heat cycles rather than wear. But this is my third season on the bike, and have never had a problem like this before. The weekend wasn't as hot as usual for August in Savannah. I spoke with Greg from Pirelli, and he said that type of failure is not too uncommon for the faster, high bank tracks like Daytona where the tire goes through a lot of cycles growing in size (high speed) and then quickly shrinks (low speed corners). That makes sense. He had never seen it at Roebling, though. The best he could offer was, it happens, just be aware of the change in handling and what to look for. I will keep a closer look for any tire deformaties and any sudden changes in handling characteristics from now on.
i remember seeing a mich slick all bubbled in the center this season. now it was either CMP, but i kinda think it was roebling as well. and it happened in may so it must've been cmp. anyhow the dunlop guys had it cause the owner was P.O.'d cause he'd just bought it and bought another from dunlop. but i guess kocinski chunked a dunlop at well..now was it pikes peak or was it mid-ohio. again
