I know a lot of guys that only make a handful of passes on a set of tires, and I have seen some people use them for quite awhile with success.

I'm just curious what everyone bases their tire changes on. Number of passes? Age? I'm sure for big power turbo cars it is more apparent when you are tearing the tire apart for most of the track.

Last year I tried a new set vs a several month old set that had sat for the winter and was able to get the same results from both.

 

That's exactly it, depends on the setup. If you can run any size tire you want, ideally something that can hold all your power, then you won't need to change them all that often. If you're trying to put 1000hp to a 24.5" tire and you can't go up on tire because of rules, then you're going to change them every 15 passes or so or you'll start slowing down.

 

I had 35 passes on some MT 24.5's still going 1.5 60's (Keep in mind low power and wheelie bar)

I changed to some new ones and the car was .1 faster in the 330, next pass when they were a bit more scrubbed in it went .1 faster on top of that. Too bad she went boom boom on the big end lol

Then I had some brand new tires, that were no good to me ::Hammer::

 

I guess the easy way to put it is a 400whp car could probably get a year of good racing on 24.5" MT's without seeing too much difference in ET at all. An 800whp car would lose a few tenths easily after 25 or so passes.

 

Def, my buddy is on some MH's I used to run that had a lot of passes on them. ~400 whp and I don't see him buying new ones until the end of next season haha

Then you have those kids on super worn street tires saying they are like slicks...

 

We were getting 8-12 passes out of 24.5's trapping 155-160 mph and rapping the tires in 2nd and 3rd gear. I think tire wear has alot to do with power you are making on a given tire size and wheel spin. I think your "average" high power 24.5" slick car will get the range of 8-12 passes until the tire goes away.

 

10 runs

 

I got about 15 runs on them before the 60's started going away.

 

We switch out the 24.5s MTs every few events on the all motor cars.

Even when we swap them out , we still manage to cut the same 60fts as before, we just do it for peace of mind.

I guess its a lot different though when you arent spinning the tires to the 1000ft mark like turbo cars haha

 

on the 24.5 tire with mid 700 whp we would get a good 10-12 passes out of them and then they would start to go away

the 2nd hit on a brand new set of tires always seems to be our best

when you start using the 26x10 size it seems like you can get a lot more passes out of them before they start going away

 

i always wind up changing them when i can afford it. sometimes i am lucky to have a set on the car, much less a new set.lol

 

Hot damn! What type of setups are you guys talking here? I plan on buying a new set of 23's this spring for my 500whp setup with Ls trans, and would hope to get more than 12 passes out of them? I dont race in any classes, just the weekend track fun. I was borrowing some 22's from my friend this last summer that were about 5 years old, and I would blow those apart with 400whp in second, but third would still grab.

So basically what im asking is, do you mean they just lose it to be competitive in a close class, or thy just suck totally after 10-20 passes in general?

 

Just talking from a competition standpoint, I had 30 some passes on a set and the car went the fastest it ever went on them. (granted the motor was hurt the week after on new ones)

But I was also on single stage boost roasting 1-2, the super high HP guys haze them well past that.

You'll be able to run a season on them no prob, with that much power though just go right to a 24.5, forget the 23's.

 

I have made a few passes on 24.5's. Its just wayyyyyy to over geared with them. Revving to 8600 on an ls trans with those tires just killed me. Ive thought about switching to a gsr trans with 24.5's, but Im really not looking for anything faster than 11.5's so I figure keeping the LS and going with 23's.

 

8-10 passes here... .same with me 2nd or 3rd hit is usually the best... I tried running them to about 15 passes and they are garbage, so I just sell them to the 500hp guys

When I was making roughly 600 I would use them pretty much until there was nothing left.. 50+passes i would guess

 

My fastest passes of the year were with 30+ passes on the tires only because I was being cheap. My 60's definitly showed that a new set woulda made a big difference!

 

Dang! On the all motor cars or the turbo car? I figured the SFWD guys were changing them out on the way down the track at about the 1/8 mile but our tires hardly look used after 20 passes. The set we went out on last trip had a good 50 passes and sat over the winter....the car went a couple 1.37-1.38 60s, 4.09 to 330 (I know I suck and 2nd). I'm gonna order a couple sets Monday and maybe I can find a couple hundredths.

 

I've turned low 1.3's on MT 28x10.5's with over 50 passes on them. I can't say I saw a big difference even after a full season on the same tires.

Kevin

 

Bigger slicks, 26"+ sizes will definitely get a lot more passes out of them before you see them going away because they can hold the power that much better and you aren't beating the slicks up the entire way down the track.

haze the 24.5" MT's or 25" M&H's a couple of times and they get all gnarled up and you can get ready to change them if you are looking to be competitive at the top of the class with them

this isn't saying that they are completely not worth running anymore but at sanctioned events where you have to do whatever you can to get an edge and stay competitive we were mostly changing our slicks in the 10-14 pass range to continue to have that edge

those used slicks that the 700+ horsepower guys won't use in a competitive atmosphere are still great for the local test and tunes and go run on and have fun with for sure though

 

good thing I make no power, 200 runs on 300whp and still have only lost about .03-.04 in sixty so far (MH 24.5, 1.71 sixty)

guess I will need new tires for next year

 

Which did you prefer...the MT or the M&H? I have only ever run MTs. Was the M&H better on a mediocre track and the MT better on a good track?

 

monitor your slicks and consistency inthe first 660'. Thats usually what i monitor to see when it needs swapping. I usually change mine after about 30 Full passes.

 

We try to go 12 passes, they seem to go away around there, but not always in the budget. Smaller burnouts gives them a bit more life, too. 2nd gear 4 seconds for us.

 

MT hands down when comparing the 24.5" and 25" -- they are consistently at least a tenth quicker and that isn't experience from just my car, other racers seen similar results

 

hes got it like that...like jake said every couple of months which ends up being like 20-25 passes