After a couple weekends at Summit I noticed this about my Dunlops SP9000's

This is the back of my front left tire:


Granted that this tire got a lot of abuse at Summit. So I'm not surprised about this one.

But this is the front of my RIGHT front tire:


What's going on here???? Bad tire? Not inflated properly? Normal wear and tear for Summit??
Any ideas?
I did play around in the skid pad Sunday. But I wouldn''t think this would happen.

And my back tires are fine, no nicks, just normal wear.



[Modified by mrlegoman, 1:26 PM 11/14/2001]

 

looks normal for road course (ab)use to me. how much track time did you get between the two days? did you let your tires warm up or did you go all out from the start? there are a lot of things that can add or subtract to the damage to your tires from that type of use, but it will always be there. I dont know why but i've seen the same thing around here, the right side tires always get it the worst, i think people may use the fringes a little more on that side since they are sitting on the left side, but i could be wrong.

oh yeah... i would still get new tires (fronts at least) while you have your winter tires on (if your climate requires winters) or once the track season is over.

 

Don, there's nothing "actually" wrong with your tires (other than the obvious chunking), it's just that they were essentially out of their element (they're probably GREAT touring tires). This is one of the reasons people get a second set of rims and tires for the track (lighter rims and some type of "performance" or race bred tires).
What basically happened is that the mass of the rubber wasn't able to sustain the heat and loads you were forcing upon the tire, so the tread just starts coming apart. People have done this to the R's stock 010s, and many other brands (how are Jack's new P700s, but he's got a much lighter car). To avoid this occurrance people (racers) will often have new tires shaved down to 3-5/32nds to limit tire squirm and the heat build up (which caused your problem).
I was wondering how they'd wear when I was sitting around @ Summit a couple weekends ago and saw those tires on your car. /ed


[Modified by zygspeed, 9:41 AM 11/14/2001]

 

I got two new tires, but I think I should wait till after VIR in Dec. to put them on. Because from what I understand if I put on the new tires, VIR could rip them up just the same, correct?

New rims and track tires are on my Christmas list!!

 

what suspension are you running?