tire grinding and washing...

[dfhotlm33c]

ok I was skeptical of the overall value of the work involved in cleaning and grinding my tires....

tested 1200 Hoosiers and SD-44 ARs after a night of racing....they punched 40-44 and 44-48 respectively..

mixed simple green and water, as per recommendations found after searching here...scrubbed the heck out of each tire...rinsed... let dry in sun...they looked like brand new and felt different already..not necessarily softer..but tackier..

took 80 grit metal grinding disc on 7" variable speed angle grinder..just touched the treads..enough to pull up rubber dust, but not enough to smoke hard...

let tires cool in shop...punched...the 1200s punched 36-38 and the ARs punched 40-42..on average 4 durometer points!!! and they just felt stickier too..and didn't lose any tread depth in the process!

so, to any skeptics out there...the 2-3 hours of work it took to do a total of 6 tires was definitely worth it..we will see how much it really makes a difference during qualifying and the show this week!!

Thanks to all who help here and post such a plethora of valuable information..it is truly making my two man, low budget operation slowly turn into a real race operation that can hang with the mid to front of the pack..now I just need the seat time to make more consistent laps to get me there!

[Egoracing]

If you get smoke you are heat cycling the tires which is not good. We used a buffer and a 36 grit disc, when you grind them make sure you grind the rears so the lines go across and on the front they go around and it is like a million little sipes for the first lap or so and will help with temp and traction.

Simple Green REALLY opens up the rubber and makes them feel new again and it is biodegradable and natural. Try mixing it into a bug sprayer, at the track we used a concrete tub and rinsed them in it, sprayed them down, went over them with a stiff bristle brush and rinsed them into the tub. We could do all 4 between heats and the feature and had time to grind them.

When they are clean you can dust them with baby powder and it keeps them form picking up so much trash in the pits, when you get on the track saw the car back and forth like trying to warm them.

[zeke23z]

Make sure to rinse very well after the Simple Green if you dont you may get busted on a tire sniffer.

[phenom08]

I stack the tires 2 high then spray down with simple green let soak for a few minutes. Then pressure wash no need to scrub and they will look and feel like new.

[Egoracing]

Make sure to rinse very well after the Simple Green if you dont you may get busted on a tire sniffer.

Never had an issue, Simple Green is 100% natural, heck it is made in California and they do not require any warning labels on it. If you get any anodized fittings, coated aluminum or soda from there they require a cancer warning label.

I would believe that someone drove thru something in the pits and got popped with a sniffer before Simple Green caused it. I have seen one car get popped with a sniffer and it was caused by the exhaust aimed at the right rear tire to help soften it with the heat.

[zeke23z]

2-butoxyethanol has been known to show up but you would have to have alot on or not rinse.



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