I have done 3 events at Gingerman with -1 front camber, -2 rear. Then I changed alignment and did a track day at Grattan. My new alignment is -1.7 front, -2.5 rear. I noticed my left front corded almost right away towards the outer edge of the tire. I know I didn't run as much camber as a full race car would, and Gingerman seems to be hard on the left side tires, but is it typical that with street alignment the tires will be shot after 4 events? Figure maybe 450 track miles, not all of which are ballz out runs and maybe ~1,500-1,750 street miles to get to/from the track.

If others have been able to get more life out of these what have you done to make them last longer? I run about 36 psi cold on the highway, and try to run 37-38 psi hot at the track. I have run them at the track at higher pressures due to the gauge not working ok. Like 45 psi hot or so but only for one day.

Lastly, what about Michelin PSC do they last a lot longer?

Thanks!

P.S. If the pace matters I run 1:38's at g'man and 1:32's at grattan when not in traffic

 

Typical life of an RA-1 out here is about 7-8 track days before cording.

There are a few conditions that need to be met in order to make this happen. The tire should be shaved to 4/32" before use. Camber must be set to maximum available for the car (assuming an S2000) since RA-1s want to see 2.5 to 5 degrees of negative camber. The tires should be swapped from side to side if you're doing many events in the same direction, i.e., CW or CWW, so the wear will even out on each side of the car. Hot pressures are run at 35-36 psi (again assuming an S2000).

 

450 track miles is on the lowish side but not unheard of. 600 is a good number to shoot for, though that might be realistic only on tracks with very smooth pavement. As for the outside part of the tire cording first: well, one area's always going to cord first of course. The real tell-tale as to whether you could have gotten much more mileage out of them is if the middles/insides still have lots of tread, while the outsides have corded. That would indicate a camber and/or pressure problem.

By definition, if you can get them to wear evenly (via camber and pressure adjustments), then however many miles you get, you'll know that's about the max you could have gotten for your conditions.

 

I can tell you from personal experience that the freeway driving REALLY eats up the tires, I trailer mine now and get a lot more events out of mine.

My 2 cents.

 

Yeah the middle/insides have more meat left. I also noticed that one side was much bettter looking then another. I will keep in mind the rotating side to side thing in the future. I could've gotten at least another event out of them this way.

They were shaved not sure to what though, it might have been 2/32's or whatever Vilven shaves them to.

Drew

 

Vilven typically does 4/32".

If your car is understeering, like mine has, three days to cording RA1's is possible (I've done it in 2 1/2 days even with rotating tires), so I would say that the level of understeer, or lack of, has a big effect on front tire life.

 

Yes, if you're pushing all around the track you're going to be scrubbing off rubber at an alarming rate but that's not normal and I wouldn't base my tire-life estimates on a car that's doing that. Just my $0.02 Richard...I know you're trying to deal with the issue.

 

[QUOTE=KGB,Oct 10 2004, 02:52 PM] Yeah the middle/insides have more meat left.

 

I agree that they should last 6+ days if the car is setup properly. I think slickrick has gotten over 10 days, and that's not from driving slow.

 

A lot of the hardcore track people here will disagree with me, but I think Vilven's usual shave job shortens the life of RA-1s, unless you've got a lot of negative camber. The shoulders are pretty much gone from the tires before you mount them. After a friend went through a set in 2 days, I had my next set shaved to 6/32", and they looked much better.

Granted, I'm only at the "UK" alignment specs, and not driving at competition levels, but consider that.

And do swap sides if you're primarily using one side of your tires. The directionality of the tread only matters in the wet.