Tyre decision : advice appreciated

[nickfrog]

This is the state of one of my front tyres, a Michelin Supersport. The car is a 125i on 130i power. The rest of the tyre is still on 6mm. It's the result of my stupid decision to run too low a pressure at Goodwood as the tyre was just scrubbed in and I assumed the tall blocks would lead to a lot of movement and overheating ; I went too low and made the issue worse it would seem by allowing the tyre to roll sideways too much under intense lat load. This was compounded by the heavy car, soft sidewall, not enough camber (just 1 neg deg) and dual compound (softer on the outside), plus Goodwood being mainly RHD corners. Since then I swapped both fronts to balance things a little and did a Ring trip (10 laps at 7 to 8 / 10th max).

I am doing another Ring trip in 2 months where I will need to do about 8 laps as I am getting a Swift anyway.

I will only cover 500 road miles until the Ring trip and as I now use higher pressures the wear seems to be under control.

The other front is in a much better shape, the transverse groove is still there.

What should I do :

- risk going to the Ring like that ? I am not concerned about the road miles but how much life is there left there for both road miles and 8 Ring laps?

- fit a new front and be back to square one of a lot of block movement ? (which this time I might mitigate a little better !!!).

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Edited by nickfrog on Sunday 3rd August 16:19

[nickfrog]

Thank you for all the feedback. I will be driving at 7/10ths on TF evening (02/10) and TF day (03/10) if they are not too busy (I am aware of the third party liability risk). Max 10 laps. My rears are fine so I supposed I could turn in slow and lean on the traction. When I damaged them at Goodwood there was little understeer actually, but huge front end bits and as it was a new car for me with very little feel I didn't realise they shoulders were rolling so much. I don't mind getting a new tyre as they are cheap but I am concerned that the very high tread might not be ideal either even at the optimum pressure.

[nickfrog]

Thanks for the input. Just bought a direct replacement off a forum with 6mm for £50 and not much shoulder wear so that will do nicely indeed...

[nickfrog]

git-r said:

You should post a video up of how you're driving - maybe you're using too much steering?

That's a real possibility. I have been turning in a fraction too late at the time so I might have gone back the other way too, not sure. There is very little feel from the EPAS...

The damage happened a Goodwood (which is almost only right handers, I have swapped the front wheels since then of course).

I do think it was a combination of the heavy road car with heavy engine, not enough front camber, too low a pressure (the sidewalls are very soft) on a raod tyre, too many rh corners, not enough straights for them to cool, dual compound (soft on the outside which is only good if you have decent front camber).

No idea what parameters had more influence than others though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dCaO2k3RX0

Edited by nickfrog on Friday 29th August 23:55