Rotating track tires?

[AZ986S]

My Hankook RS-3s are showing much more wear on the outside but all in all are doing pretty well after 6-7 DE events and 3 AutoXs.

I'm thinking of switching left for right in both front and rears, so that I can wear out the other side and maybe extend the life of these great tires.

Any issue with doing this? Will I loose traction if I do that?

[Lemming]

The only issue you might have is if there is standing water on the track/road, otherwise you are good to go.

[steved0x]

The R-S3 has a symmetric directional tread, but rotating them side to side in the dry, you will have no problems.

Another option is to dismount the tires, flip them, and move them to the other side of the car, so that the current outsides of the tire become the insides. This helps to even out the wear. I try to do it when I figure I am about halfway through the life of the tire, or if I am getting uneven wear, when the outer edges (usually the part that seems to wear first) seem to be down to halfway.

With your alignment (-2'ish in the front?) the extra wear you are seeing may be only on the very shoulder of the tire. The R-S3 has a very square shoulder that rounds down pretty quick, especially on the side that takes the most load (usually the left side on clockwise tracks) but in my opinion it isn't a sign of uneven wear.

Do you still have your little triangle tread indicators on the side? If those are worn off then you might be running too low of air pressure and that will wear out the edge of the tire early. (More experienced folks - is this true or is it an old wives' tale?)

Steve

[thstone]

Originally Posted by AZ986S

I'm thinking of switching left for right in both front and rears, so that I can wear out the other side and maybe extend the life of these great tires.

If you swap tires/wheels side to side, the outside of the tire is still on the outside regardless of which side of the car the tire/wheel is mounted.

As Steve suggests, the only way to even out the wear is to dismount the tires and have them re-mounted in the opposite direction. This will help to even out the wear and extend the total life of the tire. The drawback with this approach is that unless you own a tire changing machine, you'll have to take the tires to a shop to have them re-mounted in the opposite direction.

Swapping tires around addresses the symptom but not the source of the problem. The real fix is to get more front negative camber. Do the math and you might find that burning thru tires due to poor (non-optimal?) alignment is more expensive than biting the bullet and installing adj lower control arms.

[thstone]

Originally Posted by steved0x

Do you still have your little triangle tread indicators on the side? If those are worn off then you might be running too low of air pressure and that will wear out the edge of the tire early. (More experienced folks - is this true or is it an old wives' tale?)

This is true as far as I am aware and I still use it. But realize that its only a rough gauge.

A better method is to use actual tire temps taken at several points across the tire width using a pyrometer (a meter with a needle-style probe that touches the tire to take the temp) and then using tire pressure to balance the temps. The downside here is that you have to buy a new device and learn to use it, but it will provide very accurate info. I'l admit that I have not gone to this level. Yet.

[rastta]

Originally Posted by thstone

This is true as far as I am aware and I still use it. But realize that its only a rough gauge.

A better method is to use actual tire temps taken at several points across the tire width using a pyrometer (a meter with a needle-style probe that touches the tire to take the temp) and then using tire pressure to balance the temps. The downside here is that you have to buy a new device and learn to use it, but it will provide very accurate info. I'l admit that I have not gone to this level. Yet.

This. It's the best way to gauge wear and camber/toe issues. They aren't that expensive and easy to use.

[steved0x]

Originally Posted by thstone

A better method is to use actual tire temps taken at several points across the tire width using a pyrometer (a meter with a needle-style probe that touches the tire to take the temp) and then using tire pressure to balance the temps. The downside here is that you have to buy a new device and learn to use it, but it will provide very accurate info. I'l admit that I have not gone to this level. Yet.

Originally Posted by rastta

This. It's the best way to gauge wear and camber/toe issues. They aren't that expensive and easy to use.

I have got one of the budget pyrometers, but I like it because it has a right-angle tip and I can configure the depth of the probe.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005JVFTTM/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

What I am missing is some crew to check it for me if I come in to the hot pits in the middle of a session.

And on a PCA DE where you only get 20 minute sessions, you lose 1-2 laps coming in. I guess I could come in hot right at the end of the session and not lose any time that way, and then drive around the paddock to get a cool down.

I have used it a couple of times after the session was over and I was back in the paddock, but I figure that the tire has cooled down so much by that point I'm not getting accurate "hot" temps. The few times I have done it, the temps were all even although the left tires were hotter than the rights. I will have to dig out my sheets and see what they said... I just remember it was pretty even.

Anybody that comes to the same DE I am at, if we are in different sessions, I would be happy to check your temps and pressures if you want to come in to the hot pits in your session. Or if we are in the same session you can borrow it and check them after.