Karl S

Someone told me that Dunlop (and I assume other) slicks are ruined if they are exposed to temperatures below freezing at any point. They need to be kept above freezing or they will chunk apart on the track when used.

If this is true, I have two brand new sets of Dunlops that are ruined because they have been stored in my unheated garage for the past month and with the weather we have been getting I'm sure it's gotten below freezing in there.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Karl

A930Rocket

Not sure about cold, but heat will kill them. They are best stored in a cool place wrapped in a plastic bag. My Pirelli's were in the garage all summer and after a lapping day at Road Atlanta on a cold Nov. day, it wasn't pretty. Here's a picture of my right front tire after trying to slow down going into 10A. It shows two of three flat spots. It ended my day.

Jim

<img src="http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/Mvc-444resized.jpg" alt=" - " />

Dbltime

Good question Karl. I was advised to store my tires in plastic bags as well.
I would e mail Bob Woodman or check with him at Sebring.

Ken T

I am not sure about the effects of storing in cold, but I have heard that Woodman is having trouble with Pirelli slicks in the cold. He is mounting them, then when he drops the tire from the machine, the sidewalls split. THe basement is probably a good place to store in bags if the wife will let you pile them up down there. FYI. Thanks.

kary993

As it would have it I just talked with Bob Woodman about Pirelli's and the cold. He indeed is not shipping any Pirelli's until it gets warmer. He stated that the tire shoulders split when flexed in the cold and that Pirelli would not take them back even if un-used. It seems to happen during shipping mainly and it is unnoticed because you cannot see the cracks until the tire is flexed.

Karl S

Thanks guys.

I ran four sessions at Road Atlanta today and didn't have any chunking or side wall issues. We ran the first session under yellow, so the tires weren't stressed and were brought up to heat pretty slowly.

Someone I think it would be pushing it to store 3 sets of wheels and tires in the basement all winter. I get a hard time for cluttering up with garage with tire stacks.

Karl

A930Rocket

Karl S.

What was at Road Atlanta today (this weekend)? I'm planning on attending their lapping day on Sunday Feb 23rd. It's usually a pretty good event compared to PCA events.

Also, I'm looking into BMW, etc. clubs for other tracks days. Can't get enough of this stuff.

Jim

JW in Texas

We were just talking about this at the track today. One of the guys who runs a Supercup like mine said they had problems with taking cold tires off the trailer & mounting them on the car. When they dropped the car back down & loaded the tires with weight, they cracked.

Karl S

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by Jim Bell:
<strong>Karl S.

What was at Road Atlanta today (this weekend)?
Jim</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Jim,

Peachstate ran a DE at Road Atlanta on Saturday and Sunday. We had a pretty full field despite the cold weather. The real troopers were the workers who had to stand around all day in it.

Karl

Karl S

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by Jay Walker II:
<strong>We were just talking about this at the track today. One of the guys who runs a Supercup like mine said they had problems with taking cold tires off the trailer & mounting them on the car. When they dropped the car back down & loaded the tires with weight, they cracked.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Jay,

Someone told me that Woodman was not shipping slicks in cold weather. Apparently the tires freeze, then are dropped and the sidewalls crack. Sounds like that might be the same problem your friend experienced. I did have a ceramic heater on my trailer over night, which kept the temperature around 50, so maybe that helped. Plus I didn't change any tires, so I didn't drop the car off the jacks during the weekend.

I'll definitely be more careful handling tires in very cold weather but it doesn't sound like mere exposure to freezing temps will ruin the tires.

Karl

Stuttgart

We were at road atlanta this weekend as well and went to great efforts to keep the pirellis warm before the event and during the event we had three heaters going all night inside the trailer.

Woodman said that if the race slicks get colder than 40 degrees you risk splitting them.

Regardless they hardened up pretty good since we hadn't run them since november, so i painted on the tire treatment two nights before, and the night before the event i painted the treatment on then wrapped them in srane wrap (sp?). That made all the difference in the world. These tires already had 3 or 4 lapping days on them with two drivers and they lasted all weekend with great grip and still have more left.
Definitely worth spending 30-40 bucks on a jug of treatment that can save you $1300 in tires many times over.

JW in Texas

What brand of treatment did you use? <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />

Stuttgart

We use the Formula V
Ron Zappendorf at:
<a href="http://discoveryparts.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=traction" target="_blank">http://discoveryparts.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=traction</a>
has other brands as well as the formula v, which i think is more oriented towards keeping old tires from deteriorating from heat cycles, i.e. good for de's and practice sessions

The other brands are more oriented towards making the tires grip better. I'd give him a call he's got some good tips for using the tire treatments.