Hey Fellas. First off let me state that I think the rules of this forum are I'm finding myself diverting to these more obscure honda-tech forums because the quality of threads/posts/people is so much higher than the norm in some of the more popular forums. I guess that's the way it goes.

Anyway, onto my question. The 28th of this month I'm going to be running my 92 DX hatch with a jdm gsr out at our brand new track. I've got a set of RT-615's with 1 track day's use, about 15 auto crosses and 2 summers of driving fun on them. They held up pretty well until I got my gsr, and then for some reason the front two lost all their traction. What I'd like to know is if you guys think that this tire (and the other 3 I guess) will make it through an entire track day. Keep in mind the track is in the middle of the desert, it's likely to be 105 degrees out, it's likely to have a track temp of 120+ degrees, and there will be roughly 4 twenty minute sessions out. The tire is nice and smooth but you can still see the tread pattern. Also I'll be putting the worst one on the driver's side rear corner (more left turns than right) and the other previous front on the rear passenger side.

Here are the pics (click to see full size)





You can see my shoe print from the dust here. Pretty smooth across the pattern.




The other front is the left tire here, not in as bad of shape, but not very good.


I appreciate your help with this. I do plan on getting some new tires for the track/auto cross, but I just got this car together and the cost of that, inspections, registration, insurance and the track fee, I don't have enough cash to get a new set of tires. I guess if I had to I could just buy 2 tires, but I'd rather have a set and use/rotate them as an entire set. 1 track day probably wouldn't hurt all that bad. Whatever.

 

One track day? Sure, just take a close look at them after each session.

For track use, here's what I do. I drive my track tires until the belts start to show, and keep driving them as follows. Sometimes the belts start showing in one spot, and when they do, I'll watch that spot and stop using the tire when that spot is about as big as a 25-cent coin (roughly an inch in diameter). Other times the belts start showing as a thin strip going around the tire, and when they do, I'll watch that strip and stop using the tire when the strip of belt is 1/4 inch wide or wider.

On my FWD track car, from the time I first see the slightest bit of exposed belt, I can usually get another 50-75 miles out of a tire if it's used on the front, and another 75-150 miles out of a tire if it's used on the rear. With four 20-minute sessions, you'll probably end up getting about 75 track miles on your car, and you're not even showing any belts at all yet. So I really, really doubt that you would reach the point where you would need to stop driving in your one-day event. Absolute worst case is that you look at your tires after the third session and find enough belts that you have to skip the last session, but that's really unlikely, especially since you're using the most worn tires in the rear. The extreme heat could make them wear out more rapidly, but still, since you don't show belts yet (as far as I can tell), you have plenty of extra cushion at the moment. So I would go for it.

Hope that all makes sense.

 

It does make sense and I'm not showing any belts as of yet. Thanks for the advice, I think I'm going to go for it. Also, I'll be hauling them out there in the hatch so if I start showing belts, I'll just put on my street tires for the last session, if I can't go as fast, so be it, it's not a real race anyway.

Thanks again.

 

yeah for a one time deal it will be okay.... just put your best ones on the front and you will be okay its when you start to show steal on the shoulder then thats when you want to worry but other then that its okay to use them just be careful but nothing to worry about i've had worse....