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Went autocrossing again today, down on the concrete pad at Fort Huachuca. From the info page on the venue: "This is a relatively new pad, used by the Air Guard, it is the highest grip surface in Arizona, bar none."
Getting used to the high grip on the first few runs, I had the car pushing pretty badly through a couple tight corners. Still controllable, something I could have never tried on a parking lot surface like the Tucson one.
However, after a few runs I looked at my tires. Pressures were good (using the shoe polish trick), but it looks like I etched a very strange wear pattern on the outside shoulder blocks of each front tire.
If you unrolled a tire flat (so I can draw it), the tread blocks look like this:
_--_--_--_--_ (flat even surface)
<--- rotation
Mine were like that yesterday..
Now they look like this:
_|\_|\_|\_|\
<--- rotation
It doesn't draw too well, but its almost like a sawtooth pattern. The back of each tread block on the shoulders is worn down. Everything's ok on the center of the tires, inside shoulder, and the rears are fine.
Any advice (besides "don't do that!")? I took it easier the rest of the day (tacked on a second or two per run), but are these tires hosed? I might just swap them to the back since I have less traction issues there.
I love the potenzas, but if I race there more often, I think I may save dollars and go with the Kumho's.
-Jeff
Getting used to the high grip on the first few runs, I had the car pushing pretty badly through a couple tight corners. Still controllable, something I could have never tried on a parking lot surface like the Tucson one.
However, after a few runs I looked at my tires. Pressures were good (using the shoe polish trick), but it looks like I etched a very strange wear pattern on the outside shoulder blocks of each front tire.
If you unrolled a tire flat (so I can draw it), the tread blocks look like this:
_--_--_--_--_ (flat even surface)
<--- rotation
Mine were like that yesterday..
Now they look like this:
_|\_|\_|\_|\
<--- rotation
It doesn't draw too well, but its almost like a sawtooth pattern. The back of each tread block on the shoulders is worn down. Everything's ok on the center of the tires, inside shoulder, and the rears are fine.
Any advice (besides "don't do that!")? I took it easier the rest of the day (tacked on a second or two per run), but are these tires hosed? I might just swap them to the back since I have less traction issues there.
I love the potenzas, but if I race there more often, I think I may save dollars and go with the Kumho's.
-Jeff
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