Thanks Chris. I seemed to recall them being in pretty good condition when I got them. Since then, I've put 16 heat cycles on them (1 HPDE, 2 race weekends). Since I'm flat towing the car on other wheels, the tires are getting rotated between weekends. My normal method is to put the best tire on the front outside (depending on track direction), 2nd on front inside, 3rd rear outside.

I might be over-inflating the tires a bit. I think I usually go for 30-32# cold and let a bit out after the warmup session. I haven't gotten any temp data though.

Joe, you're saying that's another 15 heat cycles? Even with the wear on the outside?

So, should I try to add in another .2-.3* of neg camber? Maybe just in the front. I doubt I'm putting that shoulder wear on the rear.

Before doing any alignment change I'd try X rotating the tires Sat night, that way each side gets even wear per weekend. That most likely is your issue. See where that gets you, and if you can, try and get some data.
(I'm Running old RA-1s with 40+ heat cycles from 2003 and 2006)

I'll try rotating them every race day then.

I take it there is still plenty of wear on my "low" shoulder?

Salanis42 wrote:


That wear on the outside is nothing.. I repeat nothing.

The RA-1 will last forever. I personally have never corded a tire other than by flat spotting.

My firts set got my 50 heat cycles. Since then I have gotten less, but I have also been driving very hard and abuse my RA-1s. I also toss then when I can not longer make good lap times on them. If you can stand being off by 0.5 seseconds you can run them to 50 probably especially if you don't beat the stuffing out of them.

When are they gone. 1) no tread at all with some wave to the tread surface based on the carcase shape underneath, they have some blueing of the tread surface, develop dry rot cracks on outside shoulder and just have not grip at all.

These look fine. You are getting more outside wear, but frankly I never got perfect wear on my tires. The fronts teend to wear the outside a bit more and the rear wore down the insides a bit more. Rotating help minmize this.

The inside should never ran down to tip of wear triangle and the outsides always did. That never made any differnce.


So bottomline is your tires are fine. Don't flip them, just rotate and keep running them.

Heck id be Rick Lofgren can set a track record on those tires as is.

Tire pressures. I start at 32 and hit 38. That seems to be pretty good for me. However the staring pressure is not as important as finishing pressure.

joepaluch wrote:


Groovy. Sounds like I have nothing to worry about, so I won't.

Just needed to know what kind of condition these tires were actually in, and now I do. I had a set of Nitto NT-01s on my Miata cord on the outside, but it definitely did not have sufficient camber.



Yeah, but Rick could probably set a track record on the crappy street tires I use to tow the car on.

Like Joe said the important part is the finishing pressure. 38 psi seems to be the best in most cases.
I use 28-30 to start and then adjust the finish pressure to get to 38-39 PSI.
I will always put my best tire on the front corner that will take the most abuse. Then move tires around to accomodate the track.
An example would be Willow Springs. It has some long fast corners (T8-9) so you want your best tires on the left side of the car.
Buttonwillow is another story.