Unusual Tyre Wear (Track use)

L1J

L1J

L1J

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25 Oct 2002
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Did a track day last Sunday in my Golf, noticed some unusual wear on the front passenger side:

DSCF0474-1.jpg


Driver’s side looks more like what I was expecting:

DSCF0480-1.jpg


Pressures were maintained at 32 psi all day, tyres are Toyo R888s. The car has an ATB diff fitted. Passenger side was the most loaded tyre during the day.

Geometry was done before the track day, camber is -2 degrees at the front with 2 minutes of toe out each side.

I initially thought it might be the tyre rolling in on itself, but looking at some photos taken it seems ok

328314665_FB.jpg


Any thoughts on what would cause such concentrated wear on that part of the tyre?
 
Hard cornering on semi slicks in a heavy'ish car with -2deg camber will do that...

32psi might be too high possibly. These tyres like to have a certain amount of flex in them. See what other people use for their TPs in Golfs :)

Did you warm the tyres up properly for each track session?
 
Tyres were warmed up by gradually building up speed over about 5 laps.

I would expect -2 neg camber to wear the inside of the tyre more than the strip that seems to have worn. The tyre looks reasonably upright in the cornering photo.

Will check ClubGTI for tyre pressures.

Toyo recomend the following:

VEHICLE WEIGHT COLD PRESSURE HOT PRESSURE
Very Light < 800kg 17 - 22 psi 22 - 29 psi
Light 800kg - 1000kg 20 - 26 psi 24 - 32 psi
Heavy 1000kg - 1400kg 23 - 27 psi 28 - 40 psi
Very Heavy > 1400kg 27 - 35 psi 37 - 40 psi

Car weight is 1060 with 3/4 tank of fuel so say about 1200kg in total with driver and passenger, I could try lower pressures but the car seems more responsive with higher pressures in the front.
 
It is more responsive because the tyres aren't flexing as much :p

I reckon ~30psi could sort it judging from those Toyo recommendations.
 
another vote for slightly lower pressure on maybe just that one (one receiving most work).

Same happened to my tyres, the hardest worked went to a much higher pressure and had weird wear like the top pic (just not as bad) mine was probably 1.6mm, 1mm, 2mm, 3mm across the tyre (normal tyres)


But you said you checked pressures all day? Right after running? or after they cooled off?

That tyre looks slightly deformed now, maybe its damaged and lost shape at speed?
 
For track use I think your tyres are a little overinflated. I believe this leads to overheating which makes the compound break up.

I used to to track my CTR - the first time I went I used some half worn worn Bridgestone RE040's and left the tyre pressures at normal road settings. I got a similar result to you- the tyre tread looked like it was 'melting' away. They looked so bad I had to change them all. Next time, I knocked all the tyre pressures down to ~ 24 psi and the tyres survived pretty much intact.
 
Fireskull said:
Fat passenger? :p
Click to expand...

:D leave "Little Tony" out of it! ;)

Overlag said:
another vote for slightly lower pressure on maybe just that one (one receiving most work).

Same happened to my tyres, the hardest worked went to a much higher pressure and had weird wear like the top pic (just not as bad) mine was probably 1.6mm, 1mm, 2mm, 3mm across the tyre (normal tyres)


But you said you checked pressures all day? Right after running? or after they cooled off?

That tyre looks slightly deformed now, maybe its damaged and lost shape at speed?
Click to expand...

Tyres were checked a few minutes after coming in, thinking about it they may have cooled down a lot in that time.

I'm going to order another two and a better gauge and keep a closer eye on them in future!
 
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