fatbillybob

Guys:

How about a thread on race tire problems, wear issues to help others identify tire problems and their causes?

I'll start. This is cold cracking on a mounted racing slick. Temp got down to 10 F overnight. This tire was unsafe to run as it leaked air. You can check them by spraying soapy water on them. Note that this is on the inside. The outer sidewall had only small insignificant cracks. Moral of the story check your tires well before you run .

63Corvette

How OLD are these tires? I live in a more moderate climate, but I would keep my tires inside in very cold weather.

Bill Dearborn

The cold won't bother them if you don't run on them when they are that cold. For 15 years I have left my race tires out in the cold weather during the winter (some times the temps have been -10) and have never had that type of problem.

Bill

AU N EGL

I see rubber chunking and those cracks you mention.

Again how old are the tires?

Have any pets, dogs, peed on the tires? Uric acid from urine will degrade rubber, dont let dogs pee on tires. But that looks more like light green mold after a few days of dog pee.

As far as the chunking, take a hair dryer or small propane torch, heat up the rubber and a then scrap the rubber chunks off the tire with a paint scrapper.

Joy of 6

It is way more fun just to light them up :o)

fatbillybob

Bill,

I hear you not having any issues but Pros like Bob Woodman Tires will not ship tires in the winter unless temps and routes can be assured and even then the buyer assumes responsibility. So there must be issues. Now that is tough!

As far as age I can't renmember. The thread was not so much about "my" tire but hopes to get racers to post tire pics to help others learn more about tire issues. Things like flat spots, side wall damage, manufacturers bead defects and the like.

As far as the pick-up that is from running offline getting stacked during a redflaged race. The pick-up is not really chunking and comes right off when tires get hot and up to temp again. "chunking" in my mind is something else where you actually get chunks of tire breaking off tires. I am not exactly sure what causes chunking but I hear it talked about more with street tires breaking up at the sipes when abused on track. I don't use street tires so it is not an issue for me.

ZR1 MK

I dont see chunking either. It can only happen to a full tread street tire.
I use new and used Goodyear race tires that have been typically 1-3 years old. Stored inside at 53-67 degrees. The few cracks Ive ever had are so small, there hardly visible. Similar to yours at the mid point of the sidewall. Nothing close to those huge cracks.
Someone else posted pics of used Goodyear race tires with leaking cracks, but cracks where smaller than yours. He returned them for a credit.