Everett Ogilvie

I removed my front tires because of some work I am doing on the wheels. I know that many of you do not balance your track wheels/tires, but to date I always have. When I have the tires re-installed on the rims I am going to have them balanced again (and this time I will mark the stem location to watch for tire slip on the rim). The tires have more klag on them than I have ever experienced, so much so that I figured they caused an imbalance (this excessive build up came after a quite hot day at Miller with lots of cars on the track). I also figure that if I have them balanced with that much crap on them, once it scrubs off the balance won't be very accurate.

Back to my question - we have all seen the CUP pit crews use a torch and a scraper to remove the rubber build up, so I thought I would try putting the tire out in the sun for a few hours - it made a huge difference and with a scraper I was able to remove most of the rubber (so now I feel like the balance will be a bit better).

I wonder if the sun treatment is a heat cycle? I doubt the tire got as hot as a full session, but just thought I would ask.

sperkins

No you didn't heat cycle the tires by putting them in sunlight. Removing tire clag is pretty pointless, but I know why you did it this time. Save youself the time and effort next time and dont' worry about balancing them.

travisnd

I balance them when they're new and then don't bother after that. That tire "clag" as you guys put it is good stuff.... when you flip the tire on the wheel it'll migrate back to the inside and cover up the cords

Everett Ogilvie

Yeah, I will watch the tires this time after marking them and if they move on the rims I will probably quit balancing them going forward.

Han Solo

A black magic marker works pretty good for that too.

mcar00

If you track the car hard the tires will move on the rims which means after just a few sessions they may no longer be balanced. If you notice vibration on braking on the track or on highway cruising afterwards and it bothers you here's what I do.

First I balance the wheels with no tires on them. You'll probably find that most of the correction is due to the TPMS if you use them. I'll use a different color tape over these weights so I can always distinguish the "wheel" weights apart from the "tire" weights. Then when the new tires are mounted I'll balance again which really just compensates for the tires. I'll mark on each tire the location of the valve stem (as a second check in case I lose a weight) and also I'll mark each weight location and the amount of weight (again, in case I lose a weight) used on the inside and outside of the tire. Then when I return from the track I just have to remove the old "tire" weights where necessary and move them to where they were originally relative to each tire.

I know I probably didn't explain this very well but it lets you balance the wheels after each event in just a couple of minutes without any equipment. I usually do it while cleaning the wheels.

Everett Ogilvie

You did fine, seems clear to me.

Thanks for all the replies guys - EXCEPT the tire cord and black marker replies!

argonaut

I've marked the position on the rim after mounting and was shocked how far they moved the very first session. After that i dont think they moved much in suceeding sessions.

exracer28

Using hair spray helps some but nothing short of screwing the tire to the rim will stop the slip on normal rims. Bead lock wheels do not slip.

travisnd

I've had some move 10" some don't move at all. But as mentioned above they move in the first session or two and then none after that. Guess it's residual lube from the mounting process.

drivinhard

I used to use hairspray but got to where now I can just do them dry

travisnd

RacePro Engineering

Isn't it that, in the first session or two, the tire is "self-balancing" with the wheel, meaning it is finding its optimum placement for everything it is being asked to do? Once it has found that "sweet spot", there would be no further need to rotate. Maybe ?

Ed

Everett Ogilvie

Never heard of that one Ed. But, my tire specialist when doing my wheels uses the Hunter system (supposedly the best there is) and he can measure the wheel laterally and radially and for weight, and then he pairs up individual tires with certain rims to get the best overall combo. Awesome if a tire never moves on a rim.....

L98Terror

You so sure? I asked that question at the track and was told no then I waled over to the stack of tires sitting out in the sun and took the temp....180. Sure as hell seems like a heat cycle to me

Everett Ogilvie

The reason I asked the question is because while I was using the scraper on the tire, it was hot enough that it was quite uncomfortable to my bare hands - ended up putting on some gloves! The sun out west in the desert is hotter than back east!

But I guess the bottom line is - it is what it is (that's profound, isn't it!). The tires should have a half dozen more cycles left in them, so I will find out next season!

RacePro Engineering

. . . . . and I thought we were ridiculous about atttention to detail! Something new to add to our routine.

Actually, if my (not well thought-out) theory above is correct, and your tire guy does his work diligently, then YOUR tires probably would not rotate much, if at all, on those specific wheels.

Ed