Can someone please give me (novice track junkie), a lesson on "Shaving" and "Heat cycles" on tires. ie: how it is done, and the purpose. Thanks in advance. Just trying to gain some understanding on these processes.

 

When a tire flexes, it generates heat. Softer tires are especially suscebtible to this, and can begin to fail structurally if too much heat is generated. They'll chunk up and/or split.

The amount of heat generated (and retained) is proportionate to the mass of the tire. So, some tires benefit from having their tread mass reduced (i.e. shaved) down to a lower overall thickness. So why aren't those tires manufactured with less mass? Two reasons. One, there are DOT minumums for tread depth which have to be met. Two, the same tires used in wet conditions will need greater tread depth for effectiveness, and (because of the water and reduced friction) won't be generating as much heat.

To shave a tire, it's spun on a special machine and a sharp blade cuts away the top layer of tread.

Heat cycling is also an issue with most soft (so-called r-compound) tires. The softer rubber formulations lose some of their elasticity with each successive cycle of heating and cooling. After a certain number of cycles, the tire will have reduced grip, no matter how much tread is left on it. This is one of the reasons why you don't drive around town with your r-compound tires (other reasons include rain capability of low-tread-depth tires and cold traction capability of tires that are designed for high-temp effectiveness).

Most novice track drivers are wasting money by running r-compound tires, and then are wasting more money by shaving and/or heat cycling them. It's generally considered better to learn on street tires, and go to r-compounds when you can effectively make use of their capabilities.

 

I used to pay TireRack for heatcycling tires but no longer because I noticed the 'heat cycle' set wore out faster or at the same rate as the non-heat cycled set... Why add a heat cycle if you don't have to? Having TireRack heat cycle a MPSC does NOT make it easier to use that 1st session out on the track.. it just adds one more heat cycle and thus takes away the life of the tire IMHO...

** But each to their own... some swear by the heat cycling.. I consider it a waste of money... I'll do my own heat cycling..

 

Some also debate the effectiveness of machine heat cycling and cosider it wasted money. On-track heat cycling is always the best way...assuming you have the extra wheels/tires to do it properly (up to temp and then off the car for 24+ hrs)

 

A agree why pay someone to do it when you can get the benefit of driving on slippery tires for your first outting.

As a beginer, dont put on R compounds till your street tires just wont do anymore.

Street tires are easyer to learn with for a number of reasons.
One they squeel, ( audible warning standing for pay attention now!)
they are more forgiving.
they are less expensive and almost insensitive to heat cycles. ( they are designed to go thru hundreds and hundreds of heat cycles, not 20)

I have driven street tires on the track on a number of occasions ( after the rain and the track dried up) and believe me a good set of street tires can be seriously fast.

cheers

 

Thanks to all that replied. I am not looking at having this done, but was interested in what it is exactly. I am running Dunlop Super Sport Race tires on my car, and run them all the time (I only have one set of rims). So if I use them at a DE, is that considered one heat cycle, or does each session (5 per day) count as one?

 

Each session.

 

each session is a heat cycle....

 

Every time you gout on the track then come in the tires go from cool-warm-hot-warm-cool. Each session is a "cycle". Like on your washing machine, spin ,rinse,wash cycles ect...
I remember what it was like to be new at this!
Good Luck

 

The days of being a non-addicted newbe are short.

 

So heat cycling is bad for the tires, ie: they won't last as long, right? So, why would someone buy tires that are heat cycled already? Maybe I'm not understanding this completely.

 

Tires have a certain amount of life to them... and if they aren't properly 'broken in' the rubber doesn't cure properly (it's a lot more detailed than that).. but it is that 1st heat cycle that is important supposedly... I think this is more critical for HOOSIERs than for tires like DSSRs or MPSCs which are closer to DOT street tires IMHO... ...especially DSSRs which I consider a step above a street tire and a step below a MPSC....

 

Heat cycling.