I'm putting some on tonight, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do as far as heat cycling them. I've read on H-T that heat cycling isn't neccesary, I've had intelligent people tell me just to drive on them for about 200 miles normally, and I've also seen things telling me to take them out on the highway for an hour and then to go home and take them off for 24 hours. I plan to autocross with these tires regularly, but these will also be my summer tires. Can anyone give me some insight as to how to properly break in some azenis? I need to know by tonight!

 

I rode around on a brand new set for less than 100 miles over a period of 4 days or so. Then took 'em off.

A few weeks later, went to a track and they stuck like glue for 4 hours/7 sessions of moderate to extreme driving time over two days.

I'm very pleased with them!

 

Since the Azenis is still a street tire you really don't have to heat cycle them. But what you do want to do, especially if you plan on tracking the car, is get the mold coating off the tire AND out of the rubber. Make sure they see some decent mileage before you track them and make sure they get pretty warm as well. run them a bit ... rotate front to back and do it again.

 

yeh pat, i didnt head cycle mine, but they didnt get that sticky till after a few days (100 miles) of driving. As for lasting through summer and auto x's, dont know if thatll happen

 

I've been very abusive with my Azenis, and am pleased. That probably goes back to the fact they are a street tire, as another poster noted.

Somewhere after half tread life the traction and handling is noticeably lessened, but still very good. The first set got me around 8K miles before they stopped sticking like they used to, this last set around 2K miles. Damn turbos.

 

My tire guy suggested this. Although, he said to run them for 15 miles and then let them sit off the car for about 24 hours. Its not necesary but he said any competition tire would benifit from this.

 

Thanks guys, I now have about 100 miles on them. I've just been driving them around to school and work normally, no hard turns. After work I take them up and down the highway. The first autocross is next weekend, so I'll probably start to push them the days before the event to get a feel for the car.

 

A little OT, but are Azenis a _bad_ tire for rain? Are they, for example any better than the Michelin's that come on the Si's? or worse?

 

When new, with good tread depth, Azenis are decent in the rain. As in average tire decent, nothing performance about them.