Lesson for Track Newbies - How to Tell When Your Tires Are Corded
09-12-2009, 12:38 PM
#1
Safety Car
Thread Starter
Lesson for Track Newbies - How to Tell When Your Tires Are Corded
A lot of guys new to tracking ask how do you know when your tires are corded. They've never seen cords before......
I thought I'd be a nice guy and post a pic of what we're talking about when we say run them until they cord. They tires below are an example.
If you look closely you can see the "cords". There are actually two sets of cords. An outer nylon and the steel belted cords. The steel cords are generally thought of as the safety cords and are a good indicator that they are getting close to the end of their useful life.
There might be one more session in these but I bit the bullet erring on the side of safety and replaced.
Rick
I thought I'd be a nice guy and post a pic of what we're talking about when we say run them until they cord. They tires below are an example.
If you look closely you can see the "cords". There are actually two sets of cords. An outer nylon and the steel belted cords. The steel cords are generally thought of as the safety cords and are a good indicator that they are getting close to the end of their useful life.
There might be one more session in these but I bit the bullet erring on the side of safety and replaced.
Rick
Last edited by rikhek; 09-12-2009 at 12:49 PM.
09-12-2009, 12:47 PM
#5
Safety Car
Thread Starter
BFG R1. First set I've ever run. I really like them, I just ran too much pressure. I ran the same pressure as NT01s or RA1s which was too much. I still got 912 track miles out of them.
Rick
Rick
09-12-2009, 04:00 PM
#9
Burning Brakes
It might be okay to autocross to the cords but not for track driving. I've corded one tire autocrossing and it would push out three lanes wide at 40mph.
Last edited by Han Solo; 09-12-2009 at 04:10 PM.
09-12-2009, 09:35 PM
#14
Safety Car
Thread Starter
I'm glad you don't live anywhere near me. I sure as hell don't want to be on the track with you if you think these tires are good for even a lap. These tires were probably unsafe about two sessions before you took this pic.
It might be okay to autocross to the cords but not for track driving. I've corded one tire autocrossing and it would push out three lanes wide at 40mph.
It might be okay to autocross to the cords but not for track driving. I've corded one tire autocrossing and it would push out three lanes wide at 40mph.
How can you not read between the lines to see the intended humor.
Seriously, I looked at these tires very closely prior to the session they corded. I had a friend looking with me as I knew they were getting close. They were fine at the start. Session prior lap times were good.
And, there is nothing wrong with going to the cords, however, this is to the extreme and not recommended. Not sure what you're talking about but the majority of guys running track days go to the cords.
Rick
P.S. Autocross is for girls.......
09-13-2009, 01:32 AM
#17
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09-13-2009, 12:24 PM
#20
Race Director
Man, you should have seen the pads that came off of the mighty C4 last time I was out there with you guys at Summit... you would have given me a LOT of room! I had a small, intermittent vibration the previous session that was more annoying than anything else. I pulled everything apart and it all looked pretty good and had plenty of life left to finish the day, but in the last (60% session) the right front let loose with a vengeance and as far as I can tell, simply broke the rest of the material off of the outside pad somehow. I think that might just be a result of asking a little too much of stock C4 brakes 
Now, a few thousand dollars worth of Wilwood later, hopefully that won't happen again.
Now, a few thousand dollars worth of Wilwood later, hopefully that won't happen again.