How often to grind tires?

[latemodel86]

I can only run D55 and D21 crate tires and I was wondering how often I should grind them or does it just depend on what they look like? Another question is when people say the tires looked glaze, are they talkin' about how the tires have a shiny look to them?
Thanks

[rubbinsracin]

that's a good question. we grind ours sparingly in order to make them last as long as possible. When we first get them we hit them with a belt sander with some low grit paper very lightly to get the "shine" off of them. then i guess we do it 2 maybe 3 more times through the life of the tire. (we try to get 8-10 or more races out of them)

what are other people doing? how are you prolonging the life of your tires? do the tire treatments you can buy through places like Speedway Motors extend the life of the tires?

[latemodel86]

We don't do the tire prep deal. We did back when I ran karts a few years ago and that was a lot of money for such little tires, and I hate to see the tire prep bill for late models. Plus if I'm gonna win or run top3, I wanna do it without any advantages. Which I'm sure there's a few people I run with that do prep their tires.

I'm not sure what other people are doin' to keep their tires to last longer. I just now though about it a little more in depth and I'm kind of doin' some of this stuff now and I really don't know much about grinding, siping, and grooving, so I thought I'd ask. I'm kind of the one who makes the decision on what to do to the car, what tires to run, etc. and I use to not do that, so I'm just tryin' to learn as much as I can.
Thanks for your help!

www.passmoreracing.com

[Egoracing]

If you are grinding them enough to shorten the life of the tire, lay off a little. I hit them every chance I got, sometimes 2 times a night at the track and never noticed a difference in how many races they lasted but there was a large difference in the performance!

[rubbinsracin]

what do you grind yours with ego? at the track we are only allowed to use a #24 metal grinding disk. and man just barely touching it really tears up the tire so thats why we hit it a few times as possible.

[Graff Spee]

You are just trying to knock the glaze off of them. It just gives you a faster tire untill they heat up. So it helps in that first three laps when you are making all your slick moves! 80 grit works great!!!

[Egoracing]

A buffer and 24 or 36 grit sanding pads.

[joedoozer]

A buffer and 24 or 36 grit sanding pads.

Yup same here. A buffer with a 36 grit sanding disk. We run American Racers SD 48's and I sand them after every night of racing.

At the end of the night before I load the car, I pull the race tires off. Put some old tires on, to trailer the car. First thing the next morning I wash the car. I don't use any degreasers or soaps on the tires. Just a pressure washer at the local car wash. Get right in there with it and get that dirt out of the pours. Tire feels a little slippery when its wet when I am done. Then the following weekend when I know it will be a sunny day. I sand the tires down, blow off the rubber dust. And spray them down with some WD-40 (buy it in a gallon jug and put it in a spray bottle). Wrap them in plastic wrap (you can buy it at Lowe's for $20, near the moving section) and set them in the sun. I am on my 6th night on the tires. Fronts look like new but the rears are showing some age. I can get one more show maybe 2 out of the rears.

I am running on a budget too and I need to get some life out of my tires. This system has been working well for me. Maybe some guys have some better tips. Something maybe not so labor intensive.

By the way Passmore Racing, I love your videos online. I have watched your in car camera videos a lot, good stuff!

[Egoracing]

We used simple green on the tires and it did nothing to them but it REALLY opens up the rubber.

[joedoozer]

We used simple green on the tires and it did nothing to them but it REALLY opens up the rubber.

I got a gallon of it in the garage. I might give that a try. I use to wash the car in an "all you can wash" place for $6. I moved and the town we live in doesn't have an affordable car wash. So simple green might be my new weapon of choice haha.

[Egoracing]

Try it out, when it is dry it feels like a treated tire. We used to wash them between qualifying and the heats and before the feature with it to give them a good surface to run on. Black plastic concrete tub and 10 gallons of water will wash them a bunch of times, just use the rinse water to wash the next tire. Spray with Simple Green scrub with a brush to get the dirt out of the grooves and rinse, then let dry as much as possible.

[stock car driver]

I grind my tires to sipe them so they work better sooner at the start of races. Mine dont glaze over.

I grind them each night and when new. If its a really dry heat and Ive worn most of the ground in sipes off Ill hit them again at the track.

I use my own disc, its on here in the classifieds as the jnjfab ultimate tire grind disc, check it out I also posted a picture of how the tires look after using it.

Jeff

[latemodel86]

Simple green will ruin your tires and dry them out.

[latemodel86]

Yup same here. A buffer with a 36 grit sanding disk. We run American Racers SD 48's and I sand them after every night of racing.

At the end of the night before I load the car, I pull the race tires off. Put some old tires on, to trailer the car. First thing the next morning I wash the car. I don't use any degreasers or soaps on the tires. Just a pressure washer at the local car wash. Get right in there with it and get that dirt out of the pours. Tire feels a little slippery when its wet when I am done. Then the following weekend when I know it will be a sunny day. I sand the tires down, blow off the rubber dust. And spray them down with some WD-40 (buy it in a gallon jug and put it in a spray bottle). Wrap them in plastic wrap (you can buy it at Lowe's for $20, near the moving section) and set them in the sun. I am on my 6th night on the tires. Fronts look like new but the rears are showing some age. I can get one more show maybe 2 out of the rears.

I am running on a budget too and I need to get some life out of my tires. This system has been working well for me. Maybe some guys have some better tips. Something maybe not so labor intensive.

By the way Passmore Racing, I love your videos online. I have watched your in car camera videos a lot, good stuff!


Thanks!!!!

[dirttrackrocker]

a mixture of 2 parts water and 1 part Tide with Bleach alternative works GREAT!!! Tires look like brand new when your done.

[Egoracing]

Where did you hear that it will ruin tires??? I have been using Simple Green for YEARS and NEVER had a single issue. Even when washed with simple green wrapped and put way over the off season and when pulled out the tires still punched what they did when we put them away. ANY detergent with degreaser will dry the rubber out, Simple Green is natural and biodegradable and does not affect the rubber like soaps.
If you look on their web site and do some research Simple Green is listed to be used on Aircraft and safe for all rubber, aluminum and plastic surfaces. It is one of a VERY FEW cleaners listed as safe for unrestricted aircraft use on any surface.

[latemodel86]

I heard from a friend that simple green dries them out and that you should use something like palmolive to keep the tires from drying out. He said that i'd be like if you were to wash your hands with simple green, it would dry your hands, but palmolive will keep your hands moisturized. But, idk.

[Egoracing]

Palmolive has Lauramidopropylamine Oxide which is not reccomended for rubbers or soft surfaces. It is a cleaner that is easy on hands in normal usage and is used in shampoos. Over usage can dry your hands. Lotion smooths your hands but would not reccomend it on your tires!.
The products in simple green do not attack oils like a soap do, they get under it and lift it. If you put oil in a bucket and put the recomended Simple Green/Water mix in it and stir it up. The cleaner will lift the oil from the bucket BUT if you let it set the oil will be released at the top. It works well in water/oil reclaimers or seperators for this reason. Simple green is also listed by the EPA and is used to clean animals and plants during oil spills like the one in the Gulf last year. It can not be to harsh if they are allowed to use it for animals.
Palmolive also has Alcohol which will dry out rubber, Sodium Chloride (salt) that will damage rubber, Magnesium Sulfate (epsome salt) not reccomened for ues with natural rubber hoses when unloading.

Don't think everything you hear is fact, take it as advice and research it.

[latemodel86]

Palmolive has Lauramidopropylamine Oxide which is not reccomended for rubbers or soft surfaces. It is a cleaner that is easy on hands in normal usage and is used in shampoos. Over usage can dry your hands. Lotion smooths your hands but would not reccomend it on your tires!.
The products in simple green do not attack oils like a soap do, they get under it and lift it. If you put oil in a bucket and put the recomended Simple Green/Water mix in it and stir it up. The cleaner will lift the oil from the bucket BUT if you let it set the oil will be released at the top. It works well in water/oil reclaimers or seperators for this reason. Simple green is also listed by the EPA and is used to clean animals and plants during oil spills like the one in the Gulf last year. It can not be to harsh if they are allowed to use it for animals.
Palmolive also has Alcohol which will dry out rubber, Sodium Chloride (salt) that will damage rubber, Magnesium Sulfate (epsome salt) not reccomened for ues with natural rubber hoses when unloading.

Don't think everything you hear is fact, take it as advice and research it.


Well, I know we use to and the past 4 races or so I've been using Palmolive. Well, I check into some more and see what some others are doing. Thanks!

[phenom08]

simple green here

[latemodel86]

Another question is how do you guys grind your tires? I think you're suppose to grind them away from the leading edge I believe, right?

[turner]

SAturday nite, i saw a guy grind his tires and then soak them in brake cleaner. He did it right in the open. He went out and won the feature. Not sure if this helps or hurts, but he is fast every week. I sprayed some brake cleaner on a peice of rubber at work and it really softened it after about 10 min. Has anyone tried this on tires . We used gasoline which seemed to work well.

[Egoracing]

You do not want to use anything that will remove oils from the rubber, unless you want to buy tires each week.

[JTSjet]

simple green works great to clean tires! i would suspect whoever is telling you otherwise might have used some of the other newer formulas of simple green that are out there. you want to make sure you use the dark green stuff.