Does the tire temp ever read anything hotter than [WARM]?

I'm in Arkansas and there have been a few days where it's been close to 100F outside but my tires never get above [WARM].

Does anyone's ever indicate [HOT]?

 

I've only seen HOT on the racetrack.

 

Driving on the street you would only see hot if the tire was flexing a lot because the pressure was very low. On the track where the car speed is in the triple digits which causes a lot of flexing and the tires are being pushed hard in corners the tire temp approaches 200 degrees within a lap or two. For example, the Michelin cup tires have their best traction when tire tread temps are in the 160 to 220 degree range. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...nd_Feeding.pdf

Once the tread goes over 220 the tire grip will drop off. With the street PSS tires the temp ranges may be a little lower but the same principle applies. Driving around town it would be hard to get tire temps into the 150 range even if ambient temps were in the 100s. A few years ago I purchased new DOT R tires without heat cycling them because I thought I could do it on the back roads where I lived. It was a sunny day with temps in the mid 80s and with speeds up to 80 mph and doing some hard cornering I could only get the tire tread up to 135 degrees in a half hour of running. You just can't get the speeds or cornering g's on the road to get the tire temps high enough.

Bill

 

What tire temp triggers the "Hot" label?

 

I don't think they program the system any different for a base car than they do for a Z06/Z07 so I would suspect something over 220 degrees. However, the system is reading the temp of the air in the tire not the tire tread so it could be a lower number based on some estimates of what a 220 tread temperature would cause the air temp top be. I know you can't put your hand on the tire tread of the Z06 Cup tires when you first come off track unless you want to burn your hand.

Bill

 

Chevy uses the tire temperature data available through the C7's tire pressure sensors to more carefully control its ABS and electronic differential. Because the pressure sensors don't measure tire temperature directly (they actually measure the temperature of the TPMS sensor's microprocessor), it's not a perfect science, but it is one that data modeling can largely overcome. And it's one more piece of information that can be utilized to enhance the driving experience.

Tire temps are split into three categories: cold (below 45 degrees), warm (45-115 degrees) and hot (above 115 degrees). In "cold" mode ABS intervenes sooner and more progressively, while the differential is more aggressive to limit inside wheelspin. As temps increase, ABS control intervenes later and becomes more lenient, while differential locking ramps up more slowly.

 

Nice info-- thanks!!

Now, how do I get my tire temps to HOT on the street without a burnout?


I'd like to launch it with HOT to see if I can get any better 0-60 times.

The best I've gotten was 3.1 on a M7 using launch control.

Never been able to repeat it, but did achieve it.

 

I managed to get a HOT reading just driving on the street at 45 MPH this summer. But I was in Death Valley at 122 degrees ambient...

Hunter

 

Until this past weekend I had never seen my tire temp indicator show anything but warm. I got it to hot yesterday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in upper 90's ambient. I thought there was something wrong with it until then.

 

Mine showed HOT after 40 minutes up a canyon last weekend in 100F ambient on the display. I was surprised. About 1o minutes out of the twisties they were back to WARM.

 

ktoonsez - your saying it goes hot above 115? That seems awfully low. Bill is indicating it might be closer to 220. Reason why I'm asking is its readable on the track and if it's close to 160 or 220 it's valuable info to know your entering or exiting the tires "sweet spot" of operation.

 

On black top mine were showing hot this weekend. Ambient was 101 and I was driving at about 70. Have not shot the laser on these yet to see the actual.

 

My TPMS tool displays the temp of the sensor - the temp is actually the temp of the air in the tire, not the tread, or like ktoonsez said: "the temperature of the TPMS sensor's microprocessor".

The C6 2005-2009 sensors didn't transmit the temp, but in 2010 they changed the sensors used in the 2010-2013 Vette and the newer ones sent out the temp along with the other data.

Below is a picture of my TPMS tool after I queried a sensor on a GS that had just come off the track at Sebring. He started out with about 28 or 29 psi, and you can see that the pressure is up to 36.0 psi and the temp of the sensor is 185°F. Again, that's just the air in the tire/temp of the sensor itself - not the tread. Pit crew of a race team will take temps of the tire with a temp probe tool - they'll take 3 readings across the tread to get info about proper alignment, etc.





My tool's software only has up through 2013 model year vehicles, but I think the C7 tire pressure sensors have been used in the Malibu, Volt, and maybe a couple other GM vehicles for several years, so I need to get it out and see if I can get some info from my C7 sensors. I haven't really tried out the tool on the C7 because you get good info about pressure and temps right on the instrument display, and the best thing is you don't need the tool to program in a new set of sensors when you swap on a different set of wheels/tires/sensors for the track!

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