Overheated drag tyres?

Have i fooked my tyres? when i first fitted these i got a amazing traction, i had the car on the dyno and they got rather hot, now traction with them seems a lot worse but i am running a bit more boost now.

Tyres still look new, not sure if im getting lots of wheel spin because of the more boost or the fact i over heated the tyres, what do you think? will tyres get that bad because they got hot?

Hate to fork out for another set with loads of tread left on these.

But if they still have threads shouldnt the grip be the same? surely if it softened under heat it would cool back down and harden back to normal? hmmm intresting

Unless they have gone really smooth at the top of the threads and thats why your not gripping, that bar the wheels spin on, on the dyno are smooth right? maybe you should try doing the same on gravel to see if it makes any difference, making them a little rougher?

im probably being nieve and silly here, but ive read alot of your posts recently and have been engrosed but they all seem to be about adding power.

your running 4x power i have probably have 10000000x the knowledge

have you uprated the bhp a bit much for the tyres your running, lost some weight from the rear end?

im not saying anymore otherwise i will be slated

I remember reading something here a little while back (might have been Whiffin) saying the best tyre to use on the dyno is a normal road tyre, if the drag tyre is of soft compound and it gets too hot on the rollers might relate to the fact that there is no wind passing over them to cool them down, if you were doing the same speed on the road the wind would have rushed by adding said coolant effect, give em' an almighty burn out then go fo a drive

All i am asking is do tyres like these lose grip if they have been overheated, most likely a question for anyone that is into the drag scene.

All i am asking is do tyres like these lose grip if they have been overheated, most likely a question for anyone that is into the drag scene.

 

Wheel spinning in gravel to see if that makes a difference wont work:D

if they get too hot they will go hard(after cooling down), and you'll loose traction.

if they get too hot they will go hard(after cooling down), and you'll loose traction.

Thats what im thinking, so these tyres have most likely had it.

This may not relate to a high powered Supra, but I used to get this problem with the tyres on my artic unit, they would get very warm, go hard and I lost traction, after driving in cooler conditions for a while they scrubbed in again and traction returned, might be the same for you JP, but don't quote me on it

I would give Ian a ring at Websters and ask the question, i've warmed my tyres until you cant see a lot because of the smoke then run the 1/4mile.

Same tyres have given the same times and 60ft grip level time and time again.

So my initial thoughts are i dont think you have hurt the tyre compound, after all they are made for drag racing which involves warming the tyres.

I know you can over warm tyres and reduce grip levels, but you can run the next time and less heat in the tyres results in better grip.

Just my thoughts and i hope you haven't wrecked them as i know how expensive they are.

Remember they are devloped for prepped tracks for best performance

Your running the MT drag radials arent you?

The tyres should be fine, they'l get alot hotter during a burnout than they'd of seen on the dyno.

They should see a good burn out before every drag run, so if they're only good for one burnout and then lose traction they'd be pretty useless as drag tyres

What size are they?

Yeah good point on the burnouts, they did get very very hot on the dyno though, just seems odd that traction is so bad since i got them hot, before i went on the dyno the grip was superb and we are only talking a .2bar raise in boost.

They are 275/50/15's MT radials.

Have you checked the pressure?

Have you checked the pressure?

Yeh overinflated tyres will heat up faster.

Has the rubber changed in appearance at all?

Track tyres go blue in colour when they`ve had to many heat cycles and they feel harder to the touch like the rubber is cooked.

You can overheat any tyre JP, thats why you see so many drag slicks for sale at 'proper' pod meetings, the more serious guys change em to keep consistancy, as you know you can also cook bike tyres which are radials, i would only get 2 sometimes 1 track day out of a rear and you could feel it go off. On the other hand the road conditions are a big variable , a lot of grease seems to have come out recently and you are running at much more pressure than you will be at the pod on a prepped glued track, I only run 9 psi in my rears, on the road you must have well over 25, can you find any nice new black tarmac, the really fine stuff to try a few launches on???

Every heat cycle a tyre gets slower. You could try some of the tyre softening products you paint onto the tread and allow to soak in, I have revived old slicks like that when desperate. I used to use a product called "Bite".

Every heat cycle a tyre gets slower. You could try some of the tyre softening products you paint onto the tread and allow to soak in, I have revived old slicks like that when desperate. I used to use a product called "Bite".

Cheers guys, thats a good shout Chris, i will try that.

Not heard of that stuff before Chris, found a link on google

http://fuels.rpw.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=84:vp-tyre-bite&catid=37:racing-additives&Itemid=167

"This product is extremely hazardous and needs to be placed in careful storage" Not next to Jamie's bottle of NOS then

Demon Thieves sell several types JP, the one I have needs applying over a few days but they do a 'quickey' treatment.