My Tire Report: RE-71R Wear

[NickST]

So I was trying to work out how long my tires would last before I need new ones.

They have 8/32" of tread to start, which is about 6.35mm. In measuring my rear tires after the first event, I found them to be at a little bit over 6mm... so not much.

The front tires on the other hand, were already down to around 3.50mm

I worked out that the total number of runs between all drivers, which was 28 for the weekend. Which means that they probably only have about ~60 runs in them on the front. So if I rotate them back to front each event, and account for a little bit of wear on the rears each time, I figure that I will probably get around ~100 out of the set before they need to be replaced. So for single driver it should be good enough for 6 to 7 events.

I am thinking I can probably pick up 2 more tires mid season, and that way I will have enough to complete the year.

I guess some other factors to consider is that me and Murray found they were getting excessively hot, so keeping them cool might prolong the life. They kind of felt like they were smearing off onto the track near the end of the sets with how hot they were getting. Also I've heard Fort McLeod is more abrasive than other venues, so I might have less wear at Westerner.

[MurrayPeterson]

You will *definitely* have less wear at Westerner.  Fort Macleod is really bad for tire wear.

[NickST]

How many runs do you normally do with the Race School program?

[94boosted]

28 runs and you've used up more than half of the useable tread on a street tire that seems excessive to me. My slicks don't even wear that fast.

But as Murray said Fort MacLeod likes to chew up tires faster than normal asphalt.


At the school you can expect to do quite a few runs. If I remember correctly there is 4 separate "sessions" per day with 6 runs each (4 driven by you, 2 by instructor) for a total of 24. If you do both intro & comp schools expect ~50 runs over the weekend. Though the courses are shorter than our typical competition courses (I think around 30-40 seconds).

[Stuart]

Were the fronts worn evenly across the tread or would flipping them provide even more life?  being a camber limited FWD I would expect a lot more outside edge wear but I have been known to be wrong in the past.

[NickST]

I measured from the tread in the center. The outside wear was much more aggressive actually, but the tire kind of looks like it was designed for that.

These are not cheap either. It looks like two more mounted and balanced up is going to be around ~625$

So.... How much do slicks cost, haha

[E6Cueman]

Wow.  That also seems like a lot of wear to me.  Maybe I'll hold off on ordering myself a set.   

Times look impressive though.

[NickST]

^^ I know a lot of people were considering them, that is one of the main reasons I shared the info

Also, I tend to be very hard on tires

[E6Cueman]

200LBFT equipped FWD car isn't going to be easy on tires though either... or at least front ones.  I'm unaware... what size are you running?

[Reijo]

FWD tends to be harder on front tires and may not be a good indicator of life for other cars.

From Jonathan Lugod (LA) on FB on his Z06: 
"Jonathan Lugod 100+ still has a flip to do"

[Reijo]

And further down Jonathan's FB article from Steve (LA also):

Steve Ekstrand Now on 99 runs plus practice starts... four trophies in three national events. I might mount thsee tires in memory boxes and hang them on the garage wall.

Notably Steve is seldom in the trophies ... might be saying something that after many years he is all of a sudden not just in the trophies but also winning against some very tough competition down there ... many of the top National cars in that class are in SoCal..

R

[NickST]

They are 205/45R16

I am just trying to decide if I should pick up a different tire when they are done that might be more suitable

[Reijo]

Another interesting quote from Steve:

Steve Ekstrand We took Lugod's advice to up tire pressures over what we ran the pixie dust tires at and the wear issues stopped. Thanks Jon!

[NickST]

Thanks for that Reijo

So Higher pressures + cooling water!

[E6Cueman]

More width would help too... although looks like the only way for you to add width is to add diameter as well.