That's interesting. When I wore out my last set of shaved Toyo RA1s on the Miata they didn't feel like they were going off, even just before they started to cord. Even so, I'd shave simply to eliminate the tread squirm.

 

if you can afford it, shaving the RA-1's are they way to go. For me, with 2 people driving at 5 track events a year, and me adding 4-5 more to that, I need the tire that last longer than 2-3 weekends.

 

So, I have a set of unshaved RA-1s that I was using for wet days, and I was using my Michelin Pilot Sport Cups for dry days.

Note key word "was."

I corded my front Michelins on a Saturday when we had an autocross on Sunday and I had a track day on Monday. I used the RA-1s on Sunday and Monday.

They were fine; a little squirmy on the track, and I beat the snot out of the front right one (the track is a counter-clockwise track; only a little tread left on the outside), but fine.

My issue now is, should I just keep driving these Toyos on the track (getting another, unshaved, set for wet days, of which we will have many in the coming months), or should I get a set of shaved tires, saving these for wet days? They're still in decent shape.

I'm looking for optimizing life of the tire more than getting an extra .5 second per lap.

If the answer is to get a shaved set, is their lifetime significantly less or more than unshaved? What is the optimal depth to shave them?