Heat cycling tires...... Myth busting needed

[EVILUTION]

So I have a set of Hoosiers that I plan to run at Brainerd. I've talked with TK and asked him about heat cycling (HC) the tires and he claims a highway run with some left to right action is plenty good.

Today I spent an hour searching for more info on the subject and what I found was most people believe that heat cycling is only necessary to scrub off the mold release agent that used when making the tires.

Others say you need to get at least 160* into the tire before the molecular bonding process is even activated. I'm not sure I could get my tires up to 160 degrees unless I drove around in circles.

I'm temped to put them on for a short scrubbing cruise and call it a day.

[ZXTUNER]

just do a awd doughnut done!~!!!!!!

[SgtRauksauff]

When I bought new Hoosiers from Big Bear tire in Oconomowoc, the guy there told me that a good spirited run on the back roads would be all that was needed. Then let them cool and don't re-heat them for 48 hours.

I did just that, and I never had any problems with those tires, they lasted quite a long time. They've still got some life in them, actually, and they were new R3S04's back in '07 I believe.

[northsydryd]

i dont remember hearing about a break in period in nascar or f1 or any other motor sport.

[plainrt]

i dont remember hearing about a break in period in nascar or f1 or any other motor sport.


Lol im sure there is^^^^^^^^^^^^

[DirtyBird]

i dont remember hearing about a break in period in nascar or f1 or any other motor sport.
Really? Do you currently race in either of those?

[EVILUTION]

I'm thinking it would take alot more than a spirited drive. I felt my tires after coming back from the shin dig today and they were no where near 100*. That was even after an aggressive autox like rip through that area you caught me pulling out of today.

Even so.... do you really think getting modern tires to 160* really does anything. Just being a science guy I have to believe that it doesn't.

[northsydryd]

Really? Do you currently race in either of those?

so what they make the tires run em around the track a few times,then put new stickers on them?bullshit....anyway what i ment was you never hear about it during a race or even during qualifying

[ZXTUNER]

they come already done like when you order race rubber from tire rack you can have the heat cycled for xtra

[Dizmm]

160 degrees isnt too hard. few laps around shawano and you'll be right there.

i really dont know if HC does anything or not, but its a good excuss to go out and beat on the car.

[Deadly_Evolution]

I've read in numerous places that 160 temp also needs to be maintained for more then just a few minutes. Also for what it's worth it seems to be tires that were not heat cycled like to have chunks of rubber come off the tire. I've had two sets of tires that did this that were not heat cycled. Every set of tires I had that were heat cycled.. never had that issue.

[Dizmm]

Tire Rack probably has the most R&D into this, or at least i'd like to think.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=66

if you guys spent any time researching HC, i'm sure you've read the TR tech article. I think the 48hour cooldown is more important.

Jeske, let us know how much grip those koni hoosiers have when you do your HC'ing.

[EVILUTION]

To test balance and scrub the tires I put two on the front and went out on a beat run. Constant speed on the freeway was not enough too bring the temp up. I then ran zigzags through sentry And schmekele got out and checked tire temp with my hand. I still don't think I hit 160*.

I did the same for the second set and even pushed them hard enough to drift the car. Still the tires didn't feel all that warm. Rather than shed anymore life from the tires I simply dismounted and stacked them.

As for grip.... they felt like my nt01s and not quite as good as my ra1s but like I said they weren't hot. I bet shawano would be the perfect way to HC them.

I did find I have some rubbing issues And needed to trim my SE lip.

[Deadly_Evolution]

Fender rub or frame rub? Those R1's gave me some frame rub in the front, think I need to run some spacers if I run 255's again on the stock rims.

[EVILUTION]

Well these are a bit taller than the 255s. I had rubbing on the front lip and inner fender well. Can't do much about the inside so I need to avoid full lock. I'm already sick of ducking with brakes tires And wheels.

[Dizmm]

^ Street tires. get a set of Star-Specs. they offer nearly the same grip as 90% of the DOT-R-Comps out there.

[EVILUTION]

I'm considering it.

[Deadly_Evolution]

I agree... the grip is insane, I can't even hardly get the car to kick the rear end out, they just have grip grip grip. The ONLY slight thing I don't like is they are tad soft feeling, and make a tiny bit of noise, but maybe that will improve as they wear down.

[99Cobra]

I agree... the grip is insane, I can't even hardly get the car to kick the rear end out, they just have grip grip grip. The ONLY slight thing I don't like is they are tad soft feeling, and make a tiny bit of noise, but maybe that will improve as they wear down.

I've had basically the same experience with the star specs. The noise isn't to bad even at highway speeds.

[Deadly_Evolution]

Well the noise I get is around corners.. they GRIP but like to squeal a tad bit. I'm accustomed to the beauty of silent/stealthy even when sideways, tires for the past 3 set of tire's I've had.

[TomKat]

Just got done heat cycling my tires.

White lettered tires FTW! Damn that looks good on the car.

The car felt a bit darty, but I only had 22 psi front and 16 psi in the rear. Feel pretty grippy.

When I got back home they were at about 160.37 degrees judging by touch.

[EVILUTION]

Yes. Darty.... that is a fair description. I had 40psi in mine.

[TomKat]

Well darty keeps you on your toes. It isn't a boring drive that's for sure.

I forgot to mention that my custom front lip (duct tape) didn't rub on the tires at all.

[EVILUTION]

I think some of my rubbing happens when the suspension is compressed. Your Ohlins don't compress as much as my sloppy stock shit.

[shaggy4267]

As for grip.... they felt like my nt01s and not quite as good as my ra1s but like I said they weren't hot.[/quote]

Love ra1's, just ran them @ Shawano in the probably the wettest conditions possible and had a suprising amount of grip.

A hand full of full flyin laps at shawano would be enough to HC those tires.

[mrslysly]

^ Street tires. get a set of Star-Specs. they offer nearly the same grip as 90% of the DOT-R-Comps out there.

I ran the Star Specs on the Rx8 and that thing could be thrown into a corner without worry. They did squeal a little at the limit but that was always a nice way to know when you were approaching it. And the squeal does change as you wear them down. Temp has a big impact on the amount of squeal.

I had a relatively low profile tire at /40 so I didn't notice that squishy/soft feeling. Thou I didn't have much else to compare it to besides the crappy stock tires on the car.

[SgtRauksauff]

went out and attempted to heat cycle the one brand-spankin-new tire I got. kinda sucks that I busted the shoe on my changer (255/40-13's are kinda hard to remove, lol!).

So, I left the 3 azenis on, and mounted the hoosier slick on the right front. went out on the back roads, couln't really enough curves. then I had the bright idea to use one of the 8 bajillion roundabouts that they put in during the last year.

I think I got it fairly warm, but not sure if it was 160. by the time I pulled over and checked, I didn't really feel it to be uncomfortably hot. I guess we'll find out this weekend. maybe put it on the back right side just to be safe. frickin' sticks like glue so far. Being the R35A F2000 compound, it's the second-softest slick that Hoosier makes. I think the AE86 might be a hair heavier than the F2000. Although, Hoosier's spring rate/deflection data page suggests that the 2011 tire (8.0" instead of the 2010 9.0" tires that I've got) had an actual weight of 550lb on them, and were run at 20psi. and their static spring rate was 1034lbs/in. I had the tire at ~35psi when I was heat cycling it, maybe I shoulda lowered it.

ah well.