I am hoping I can get an answer over here, not getting very much exposure in the fall colors section. What is the min tire depth I can use at the track? I would rather thrash my old tires and just put new ones on then kill brand new tires on the track. Thanks

John

 

That depends on the tech requirements of the event you are running with.

 

At an actual race track? There is no tread depth requirement. In fact, it's a common practice to "shave" tires for track events so that they have even less tread than usual.

Check out the Kumho V710 race tire, for example.

While it has a couple grooves to satisfy DOT requirements, it essentially has no tread.

The things you want to worry about when going to a track are:

1) If it's a well worn tire, you risk wearing through to the steel belting. This could cause the tire to deflate while on track, or essentially have no grip to give you. Either way, you won't enjoy the results.

2) Regardless of the tire type, if it's been heated and cooled too many times (a "heat cycle") it's likely become hard, which means it doesn't have much grip.

 

Thanks guys, I e-mailed Rick and he said that I need at least 50% tread left. Not sure why since like you said People run on slicks but it is probably due to wearing to thin. Thanks again

John

 

Yeah, remember that a street tire that comes with 8/32nds of tread doesn't have a lot of rubber left if you're down to 1 or 2/32nds. The competition tires that come with much less tread are designed that way, and still have a ton of rubber left despite showing a couple of 32nds. There's a difference between the two, and driving on cords is not only no fun, it could really suck if a tire loses pressure in a high-speed sweeper, for instance

 

50%

Good thing I decided not to go to FC...