Tire Rack Heat Cycled Tires

[Greg Amy]

Frankly, I look at the heat cycle process as yet another opportunity to use the tires myself, instead of paying someone else to do it.

All it takes is discipline.

Tell you what: if you want a good, cheap heat cycle, I'll take your car out on the first run of each day, for a free beer that night.

Deal?

(BTW, I won the '06 ARRC on sticker tires. And, IIRC, so did Joey in '07. Pull the Hoosier techs aside and they'll tell you the tires are fastest green, but you'll give up a couple of usable heat cycles... - GA)

[JeffYoung]

I've always thought that they were fastest that first session out without heat cycling as well.

Greg, your experience is you lose 2-3 heat cycles on the back end if you do that?

[Greg Amy]

...you lose 2-3 heat cycles on the back end if you do that?

No direct experience. We usually rotated them to the back of the car after 7-8 cycles anyway, where they stayed until they dry-rotted...or got flat-spotted...

[lateapex911]

Ahhhhhh...the black art of heat cycling.

I used to have the Tire Rack heat cycle them...because I thought the driver (me) needed track time...lots of laps, and I didn't want to waste most of a session. And yea, well, because I had no spare wheels!

Ideally now, with spare wheels, i use a test day to heat cycle them. That gives them more than the min 24 hours to "cure".

My TR tires felt like they went off after 7 or so sessions, and lap times were up a second or so, at the tracks where I ran consistently.

I wish Rodney from Appalachian Tire were here. Of all the people I've discussed this with, he has the best handle on it. He suggests one short session to get them up to temp. (And easy lap, a moderate lap, then a hard lap, then a cool off lap, then off the car for a week. (24 hrs min) Then they should last a few sessions longer. For me thats about 9 or 10 or so.

Your mileage will vary depending on your car, your setup, etc.

I've never used a tire until the tread was gone! Except in a 3 hour enduro, but you could see the air in the front right ....

[shwah]

Jake - that is exactly what I have been told, but I heard any real results on the topic. You seem to have had just the right experience to address the issue. Sounds like 'artificial' heat cycling does not provide the same stability in the compound as 'live' heat cycling.

I think what is really happening is we are breaking down some of the bonds in the material, and they 're- cross link' as they cool. Because they were heated, and loaded in the same way they will be in a race, the resulting structure is aligned favorably for that loading scenario. BUT I'm not a materials guy - just making a guess.

[dj10]

Frankly, I look at the heat cycle process as yet another opportunity to use the tires myself, instead of paying someone else to do it.

All it takes is discipline.

Tell you what: if you want a good, cheap heat cycle, I'll take your car out on the first run of each day, for a free beer that night.

Deal?

(BTW, I won the '06 ARRC on sticker tires. And, IIRC, so did Joey in '07. Pull the Hoosier techs aside and they'll tell you the tires are fastest green, but you'll give up a couple of usable heat cycles... - GA)

Great Idea Greg!!!!!!
I WILL HEAT CYCLE TIRES FOR, in my case, WILD TURKEY,"101"

[gran racing]

Pull the Hoosier techs aside and they'll tell you the tires are fastest green, but you'll give up a couple of usable heat cycles...

When discussing this thread https://improvedtouring.com...ght=heat+cycle and talking to a few people who most definately know their stuff and have been in the rae tire business for a long time, they've told me that DOT race tires are faster if properly heat cycled. Time to send another e-mail out tonight to confirm I didn't misunderstand anything.

[Greg Amy]

Time to send another e-mail out tonight to confirm I didn't misunderstand anything.

Good luck; you will never get someone to put to paper that Hoosiers are faster green, as the "company line" is otherwise...

Hoosier's Achilles Heal is longevity; even heat-cycled they're faster than the competition. So, why risk that competitive advantage simply to be faster than yourself...? - GA

[seckerich]

Telemetry shows about .2 G's more grip with first few laps on stickers. They will give up after that and get greasy for a few and come back. Stickers that are raced first heat cycle will never maintain the same level of grip after they cool. I tend to trust the actual data rather than guess. This is on a 2680# Mazda. You might get away with it on lighter cars.

[22BMWPiloti]

Thanks for all the feed back, sounds like the on track break in is still probably the most preferred.

[philstireservice]

If you talk to a Hoosier Engineer about "other companies" heat cycling procedures you get that strange look with a dissatisfied grin.......