JP66

Just curious as I had not thought or heard of this previously, however, the previous owner of the car I recently acquired said it was what he did. The question is: Is there a market for used slicks that still have enough life left in them to be used for practice/DE days? Seems imminently practical, but is it safe and/or do people actually sell their scrubs rather than use them up themselves? Just wondering.

gbuff

Not a direct answer but I recall reading this when it came out some years ago. Check it out:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/ar...ed-race-tires/

Veloce Raptor

Absolutely. Contact John Berget

Www.jbracingtires.net

Frank 993 C4S

I used to buy them from Spencer for years. I'm sure SST has some.

ChrisFL

John is the man. He even threw in an extra tire because he thought one was a bit more worn than the other 3.

Hokie

I had done this for years with Hoosiers and Continental slicks.

Todd Zimmer at GT Racing Tires
gttrackdays.com

SmallJ92

I used to buy Continental slicks from this guy back in the day when it was only an email list. I always had good luck with the tires I received back then.

https://usedracingtires.com/

LuigiVampa

I've tried to do the math on this and there are two factors to consider: 1. number of heat cycles left in the tires; 2. grip left in the tires.

Lets say you pay 50% of the cost of stickers for a set of take-offs. Normally, they will have about 70% of the number of heat cycles left in the tires, which is a good number, but the grip is immediately off by 20% and goes down with each heat cycle (depending on brand and type of tire).

Although the cost may be good for the number of heat cycles left in the car what are you learning on old tires? A part of me says "you are learning how to manage grip" so it is worthwhile. Sometimes I deliberately go out on old tires to get that "late in enduro race feeling" and that is useful. However, you can't make setup changes using take-offs and it is hard to try "new things" on take-offs as well. Good tires are the only true baseline.

While I ride my tires down until they have nothing left I'm not a huge fan of buying take-offs. What is the delta between paying full freight, learning on stickers, and driving them down to nothing versus the cost savings of take-offs and starting with a lesser level of grip? Believe me when I say I want to save money but at the end of the day I just don't see a huge benefit for the cost savings. I'd rather stay at a cheaper hotel and save the money for tires (but not the Seneca Lodge!)

Dan Jacobs

Tires are cheaper than bodywork Just sayin
Buy new make your own scrubs

stownsen914

I buy used slicks from Berget and have had good luck. But there are no guarantees when buying used tires. A couple things to keep in mind:

• It's preferred to know who you're buying from if possible. You don't want cycled out tires, or ones that are 4 years old or that sat outside, etc.
• Better if you're buying sizes that are used in arms race classes where money is flowing and tires likely to be chucked after several heat cycles.

As suggested above, ask a shop you work with that has lots of racing customers.

ProCoach

John's great. Been around a long time.

That said, I think scrubs (rarely are they scrubs, more like vulcanized, got-all-or-most-of-the-good-out-of-them tires) are false economy. Too much of an unknown, not consistent in age, use, treatment, cycles or wear to establish any baseline.

Improving performance from a driver perspective is often about trust, comfort and confidence. Even at the highest level.

Tires you KNOW the history of and can treat well from the beginning will wear well and calibrate your butt well.

Scrubs are sold for a reason, because their best days are past... Sometimes, WELL past.

You can go VERY fast, as well as damage and compromise new tires in a few laps or a session, especially if you don't have any intention of using them past their peak prime.

Tires are your ONLY connection with Mother Earth. They're also one of the largest line items in any successful racer's budget. For a reason.

And don't get me started about people that use scrubs to begin tuning car setup. THAT is crazy... End up chasing your tail, more often than not.

Matt Romanowski

IMHO running scrubs is false economy on a number of levels. Run new tires from the start for all the reasons posted here.

JP66

Wow . . . of course, like everything else in life there are two sides to the discussion. So for those mostly against the idea what if . . . and I have no idea if this is a possibility or not . . . but what if we were talking about tires from the "rich" guys at SST. I'd know the exact history of the tire, and I'm pretty sure SST wouldn't let me drive something that wasn't safe. I bet Todd throws his scrubs away all the time once he starts missing the apex by more than an "angstrom" (I hear that's the newest measurement of apex closeness that all the cool guys are using)

ProCoach

I don’t know... while I could see doing that early in my career, due to financial necessity, I can’t see doing this now. I wouldn’t recommend anyone who’s trying to develop the car or themselves, as well as “stretch” their own comfort level to do so, either.

It’s not a safety issue, it’s a performance issue. One hugely multiplied on slicks, as opposed to R-comps. SST will look after/out fo you, for sure. If you needed some to finish the weekend, fine.

But, to comfortably find the limit, gauge the balance of the car (that’s what changes as slicks wear) and build confidence in the platform beneath you, you should look at new tires, properly brought in, as an investment.

Besides, LV is going quick enough in his new car to “get the good” out of anything he discards!

good hands

Buy new tires. Put that set on for qualifying and races. Use them for the test and tune and practice at next race. Rinse and repeat. Use old tires for DE's. Yoke's and Pirelli's lasted 20 heat cycles or more doing DE's. If you do 5 race weekends a year you'll have a sh*t load of scrubs. Just ask my wife