Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Tyres tyres and more tyres !

Ok so after 8 tuning days, an average of 3 stints per day and some 10 laps per stint the photo below shows what my Yokohama A050s look like....


As you can see the tyre shown on the right (which was mounted on the front left of the car) took a real beating and rightfully so as Barbagallo Raceway where I spent most of these heat cycles is mostly right hand corners and extremely unforgiving when it comes to tyres mounted on the left side.

Here is another look at the right hand mounted tyre :




and the left ...

Now, the tyres didn't use to be like that before my last tuning day but unfortunately my laziness at the last tuning day made me forget to check tyre pressures prior to going out and under time attack conditions the underinflated left tyre flexed too much resulting in what can be seen above.

TIP for those using A050s especially on an FF car like mine.
Remember to start with about 160/170kPa cold pressure and bringing the pressure up to no more than 200kPa when the tyre is hot. If you start with anything lower than 140kPa by the time you pressure gets to 180/200kPa the tyre will have flexed causing damage seen above. Do a few laps, come back to the pits and adjust pressure as necessary and you'll have long lasting rubber still capable of very fast times.

-

So anyway in my previous posts I mentioned I'd ordered some new tyres from Japan but after checking with a local distributor here in Perth (WHEELS WORLD TYRES and MORE) I concluded that I can have them delivered locally without the need for ordering from Japan and having to worry about international shipment, customs and delivery duration for a mere $50 extra per set !

And so after just a couple of days I have these new babies in my garage !!


The price above also includes fitting and balancing so it's a win/win !

Today I flipped my old A050s over on their rims so that I can use the left on the right and the right on the left for maybe another 1 to 2 events before the new ones go on. I am hoping to have John from WHEELS WORLD do a toe alignment for me as well so I can finally correct that annoying pull to the left.

- Rod

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