When to change tires?

It just occurred to me that I don't know when a set of rears should be replaced. I have Goodyear 34.5s.

How deep are the wear checks when the tire is new?

How deep do you let them get before you change out the tire?

Thanks,

-Brian

 

if you're running a big hp car then you'll 'wear them out' long before the wear indicator holes are gone. slicks usually give up the available impregnated compound long long before the carcass is worn out

when you notice the back of your car/wheelie bar is clean and not getting black specs and rubber stuck on it... then those tires have given up most of their compound



in a lower hp car running brackets etc it may not be that bigga deal. but a blown alcohol, nitrous, huge cid, or nitro deal will fall off quickly

 

A good rule of thumb that I have both been told and have seen first hand is around 2 years or less. It just depends on your caliber of car, as for us we get two years and then its almost like there is a switch that gets thrown that turns them off or something. and as soon as you do a burn out with them the clock starts and they will age weather on the car or not.

Again just my opinion and experience.

What do you guys think about the whole letting all the air out of them when your not going to use them for a while? i know you want them off concret when storing them just curious about what you think.

 

tires

I put old tires on the car when traveling or sitting. But mine loose there air all by themselves, + I just put air in them when ready to put them on.. Sort of like when the car shuts itself off when I hit the chutes. One less thing to think about. Don;[

 

if i remember right someone told me when you down to a 125 thousands left on the hole put a new set on 60fts were still ok but down track they seem spin more

 

We have a set of Hoosiers on the car now with 23 runs on them. 60 foot never really went away on them, but they seemed to be worse as the car got out through low gear. It went .980, .990, .986 on the last 3 runs on them.

Thats on a Pro Mod car. 2700lbs. Roots car.

 

Thanks guys.

Based on all of this, I'm overdue for new shoes. My wear checks are down to .108 and the tires are more than two years old. This might explain why our best 60 has been a 1.09. Now I have to decide what to put on it. These were 1490's. Since this is not a world-class track I'm thinking of Hoosier 2055 or even MT. I've heard both of these stick better than the Goodyears on poor tracks.

-Brian

 

slicks

We run MT and these things are great

 

Thanks Mike,

In addition to the new tires, we are switching from 3.89 to 4.56 out back to better suit our little 1/8 mile track. Those two things combined should make the car have a completely different personality, so we'll be watching for any bad traits. Unfortunately, our track won't open again until mid May, so I just have to rub my hands all over my new tires and fantasize for the next 7 months!

-Brian

 

you go from a 3.89 to a 4.56 your car will be violent leaving and you will problley have to start knocking timing out so it will leave without knocking the tires off are going into tire shake early with the automatic you may want to leave the gears alone untill you put the new tire on 4.56 is a big jump i run the 2055 with beadlocks i have mid 90 60fts but i run a clutch and leave a 5000 rpms with a 4.30 but i know my car is a lot lighter than yours i think and run 4.0s some times baby steps work better just my thoughts

 

tires

just want to know how much better are the goodyears than the m/t or the others thenks

 

Mike, I thought I posted a response earlier today, but I must have missed the SUBMIT button. This is a glide car, 1.80 and 1, on a 34.5 tire. We run our local 1/8 mile airport track only. Since we are only out for the fun of it, and there isn't any money to win anyway, we baby the car as much as we can. We intend to shift at 7500-7800. We believe our little track will support about 170mph next year, but with the 3.89 that's still only about 6600 engine rpm. My idea was to match the gear to the track just a little closer. A 4.56 would put us in the 7500rpm range at the same speed.

Jim, You are the second person today to tell me I should leave the gear alone, run the new tires, and then decide what to do about the gear. The other person was a buddy that acts as my crew at the track. He as been pretty good about reeling me in when I get big ideas, and reminding me to do one thing at a time. Hmmmmm....

-Brian

 

i had a friend tell me one time an old drag racer he said HEY this isnt a monkey see monkey do deal so with that said i learned to only try one thing at a time so i could tell what helped and what didnt remember most of the time the little home tracks wont hold the horsepower any way unless its prepped very well for a special events and even then wont hold big horsepower cars another thing that took me a long time to understand and the signs were there all along the hopped up car isnt always the fastest you can take power away and go a lot faster in the early years i have had the best cars and parts money could buy AND COULDNT HIT MY ASS WITH BOTH HANDS because i was to harded headed and stubborn to take power away it just didnt make sence to me low and behold when i decided to knock some power out i started going alot faster in my mind set on kill had to be very fast not true always for sure not at the local tracks good luck

 

Jim,

You and my crew win. I'm gonna pull my horns in and just run the new tires with my existing setup. If I run that setup to the max and the track holds it then I'll throw a different gear at it, or maybe just add some pulley. All I'm shooting for this year is 4.2, which shouldn't be that hard to get. By the way, what does your car weigh? You got me curious with your comment earlier.

-Brian

 

im gona say with me around 2200-2300 i changed bodys keep in mind i have run on a ton of local tracks probley like yours match racing all over the country some better than others and i have always had to pull the horsepower back to get down them fast without shaking are spinning the tires 540kb brad fuel heads 1471 littlefield 57.7 over 44amp 3 speed lenco with a 10"clutch 430 gear and a good fuel system the car will 60ft mid 90s any where its the rest of the track where you will have the most trouble and in good air i really have to pull it back 26* -30* timing and no leanout hooked up hope this give you a good ideal and it will run 4.0s to low teen pulled back and 3.9s on the best tracks with the leanouts hooked up and timing bumped back up give me a call some time 812 228 7683

 

I'll give you a call.

-Brian