Sitting at home, car on jacks, waiting for the spousal unit to bring home the shipment from Tire Rack. Pulled the old rims and tires off. About 3/32nds left on the 2 1/2 year old Dunlop Star Specs. Do you all think I should throw them out, or do they have a track day left in them? :devil:
Put on the new shoes last night. Driving to work just now made me realize how truly crappy 3/32nds of rubber is. Don't think putting them on the track is such a hot idea.
Yep. I think this is the first tire that I've went back to in 8 years or so. Love them. Yes, but I don't think these were meant to be shaved. :cryin:
Au contraire, 3/32" on the track is perfect! Well, 2/32 would be better, but that's splitting hairs. When the tread blocks are new and tall, they flex as you corner. The flexing creates friction within the rubber and extra heat builds up unevenly in the tread blocks, which leads them to chunk off. When the tread blocks are short, they don't flex as much, because the tire profile is more uniform. The tire distributes heat better and you have more grip. That's why sticky street tires, like the Star Specs, have large tread blocks. It gives the tire more grip and resistance to heat. On the street, your primary concern is channeling water out from under the tire when it rains, hence most tires have lots of grooves. But on the track, heat within the tire is the more immediate concern.
All true. But, I still say two and a half year old Star Specs with 20,000+ miles on them are not a good idea for the track. Of course if anyone feels different, they are now up for sale. :lol:
They are heat cycled Jerry. I wouldn't risk thrashing one hard enough to cord & lose pressure while at speed on track. However, if you have DD tires to swap to thrashing them at an AutoX might not be too bad. Do you DD on those StarSpecs?
Yep, those are my DD tires on both cars. Don't think I'll ever do AutoX again. All that standing around and shagging cones is too much for my back and knees. It sucks getting old. I thought so, too. Running them at 38 psi and rotating every 3k miles helped. And the wear is even across the thread, which surprised the heck out of me since I run -1.8f/-1.6r camber.
Yep, I used to run tires at 32 and no matter what brand, none lasted longer then 8-9k. Getting twice the milage with very little perceivable negatives attributable to higher PSI is a bonus for me. It was getting expensive having to buy new set of tires for two cars once a year.
You should do a Speedventures AutoX. Tons of runs (20-30+) and no cone shagging. At a 215/45/17 tire you SHOULD be running them around 38 psi. The only time I drop them below that is on a track day you want them to be about 38 psi HOT so drop them to 30-32 cold. My StarSpecs lasted 5 tracks days, some AutoX, and 15k of DD. Regular rotation and keeping an eye on pressures does it every time.