Ok, so I'm planning on doing a Car Limits-style day in the next month or two to get to know the edge of the S2K a little better.

I am also going to be replacing the corners sometime early summer as the Bridgestones have racked up around 7,000 miles and are starting to get a little low. Currently I am most likely going to opt for AD08s all round.

How much does a Car Limits type day take out of your tyres? Would I be better off doing it as a final throw of the old tyres, or would it make more sense to do it with new boots on? Would it take a lot out of the new set?

Also, would the reduced grip of the older tyres be better for handling practice, or would that mean new grip will throw me as behaviour at the limit will change?

Anyone with advice or experience please chip in!

 

How much tread is left on the tyres you've got? If it's a Carlimits day at North Weald much of the tyre wear issue is the rough concrete surface. Sprints there have the same problem.

If you're on the wear bars a Carlimits day will make the car illegal to drive home. I would say as long as the car won't be illegal to drive home you may as well do the day on the old tyres. What you'll learn about on-limit handling is applicable to cars in general, not the S2000 with specific tyres and specific amounts of wear.

 

Old tyres.

it's about learning to handle the car at and past the limit. Expect to spend a large part of the pointing every direction other than straight ahead. I'm sure AD08s would hang on a lot longer than old Bridgestones but it's not a day where your trying to drive fast, it's not a track day.

 

Hmmm. As a rough lollipop stick calculation I reckon I have 4-4.5mm tread depth on the rears - I'm guessing that the day wouldn't take me anywhere near the legal limit.

 

Car limits isn't too bad in your tyres at all. I was worried when I did my first one but I wouldn't worry whether they were old or new now as wear is minimal.

 

That's plenty. They'll last the day easily - leave the change until after.

You are joking, right? North Weald is brutal on tyres. I made the mistake of using new R888s there once - lost about 1/3 of the rears in a day. I've had heavy wear on T1R's there too.

You didn't do the whole day though when you were there at the same time as me.

 

Which Car Limits day are you doing? A 4-person day or one of their Sunday tasters with 20 cars?

If it's the latter, then tyre wear should not be too bad at all - most of the wear ends up on the shoulders of the tyres, so not the parts you would usually use.

As for the former, I'm afraid I have no direct experience, but I imagine it might be quite bad as you spend much more time driving and sliding.

I had an afternoon of solo tuition on an airfield this week which involved a lot of sliding and spinning - my tyres were 4mm to start with and were legal to drive home but I'm having new ones fitted tomorrow. So you may get away with it. Of course, if it rains, then you'll be more than fine.

 

I am going to do the 4-person day and see how far I get (I have done a skid pan day before, but not in the S2K), and might consider following it up with one of the one-to-one tuition slots further down the line.

Thanks for the replies - I think I'll go with the old tyres and will plan on changing them after the day.

 

You'll need to get your front geo sorted afterwards as well

 

Is it at North Weald? If so pump your tyres up to 50PSI at the service station on the M11 junction on your way in, and take a tyre pressure gauge with you so you can let them down at the end of the day.

You'll have a great time!