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I have an '09 Z06 with OE size R7's. They have about a dozen 20-25 min. run sessions on them. I know they use heat cycles to judge their usefulness, but wondering about how much longer they will survive. The tread wear holes still look ok.
Also.....Best way to remove the welded on slabs of rubber that have bonded themselves to the slicks?
Into the third season with R7's. They still grip sufficiently but nothing like the first day. Mine are long in the tooth and I inspect every session for no more rubber. As far as built up rubber boogers, just put the tire on the rear and give it a good hard session. It should clear up but you may need to clean out the inner wheel well liner.
I have an '09 Z06 with OE size R7's. They have about a dozen 20-25 min. run sessions on them. I know they use heat cycles to judge their usefulness, but wondering about how much longer they will survive. The tread wear holes still look ok.
Also.....Best way to remove the welded on slabs of rubber that have bonded themselves to the slicks?
You should be good up to about two dozen sessions. Just make sure rotate the tires side to side pending on your wear patterns
I have 28 sessions on a set of R7s that I purchased new last July. The tread depth holes are still visible but I don't know how much is left on the edges. I swap the wheels from one side of the car to the other every event and I have flipped the tires on the rims twice to try and even out edge wear. The last time I used them was at the NCM VIR event and they were getting a little greasy during the last few sessions.
You should be good up to about two dozen sessions. Just make sure rotate the tires side to side pending on your wear patterns
This weekend I put sessions 24, 25, 26, and 27 on my "scrub" R7s (so add about 2 to the above). Running 315x18 front and 335x18 rear on a modified C5 (ST2). They started to fall off hard during my 24th session (about 2 second difference between the beginning of session 24 and end of session 27). But they were pretty consistent up to that point (i.e., sessions 3- 23 were pretty much the same, maybe 0.5 to 1 second falloff on a 80 second track across all the sessions).
Keep driving, they'll come off and be replaced by new ones. Just part of driving on the track.
I used to believe this worked, but my last run at Pocono was almost traffic free and I ran as close to 10/10ths as I ever get to do and the tires were still loaded. I like the heat gun video. Gonna try to scrub some of the crap off before the Glen. Thanks for all the replies. Good info!
I used to believe this worked, but my last run at Pocono was almost traffic free and I ran as close to 10/10ths as I ever get to do and the tires were still loaded. I like the heat gun video. Gonna try to scrub some of the crap off before the Glen. Thanks for all the replies. Good info!
I didn't mean to suggest that the melted tire strips go away from the surface of the tire. As best I can tell, they are always there if you are driving hard. I think the question is just whether there is any benefit of taking the time and effort to get them off between sessions. I don't think I have ever seen someone do it, even at race events.
I would get about 8-10 sessions on a set of R7's and 4-5 sessions on set of A7's, but this is not on a Corvette but rather a SCCA A Sedan car.
To get the goobers and rocks off the tires, get a curry comb and scrape off the tires immediately after each session while the rubber is still warm. This will give you "clean" rubber for the following sessions. I would follow with a gloved or towel rub down of each tire to get any remaining material off.
I have an '09 Z06 with OE size R7's. They have about a dozen 20-25 min. run sessions on them. I know they use heat cycles to judge their usefulness, but wondering about how much longer they will survive. The tread wear holes still look ok.
Also.....Best way to remove the welded on slabs of rubber that have bonded themselves to the slicks?
Depends on what you want to do with them. For regular use, they are fine but for competition they are toast. My experience is that Hoosiers start falling off with 2-3 heat cycles. Doesn't mean they don't work, it just means they don't grip like.......Hoosiers.
No competition, but I like to run as hard as possible. Hate to replace them early and only have one two day event left scheduled for this season. I think I'll probably clean up some of the track snot attached to them and hope they hang in for a few more heat cycles! Thanks for all the good feedback.
07-07-2017, 12:55 PM
Hoosier R7 life span?
This weekend I put sessions 24, 25, 26, and 27 on my "scrub" R7s (so add about 2 to the above). Running 315x18 front and 335x18 rear on a modified C5 (ST2). They started to fall off hard during my 24th session (about 2 second difference between the beginning of session 24 and end of session 27). But they were pretty consistent up to that point (i.e., sessions 3- 23 were pretty much the same, maybe 0.5 to 1 second falloff on a 80 second track across all the sessions).
