Drifting tyre wear
Discussion
Am I right in assuming drifting on will wear the rear tyres significantly more than the fronts? Can someone who's actually done it confirm (or deny!) this?
I'm off to the Mazda on Track drift day at Silverstone on Friday and I'm trying to work out what to do about tyres. My current set are about 40% worn on the front and about 60% on the rear, very roughly speaking. I have two new (well, old but unworn) spare tyres on rims. Because the Caterham is an odd size the tyre fitter at the day understandably doesn't want to hold any in stock, so I have three choices basically:
1) Pay for a set (or pair) of tyres that I may not need - the car only weighs 518kg and its my first time - and have them delivered to the fitter in case. He operates a mobile fitting service, so he could keep them and fit at a later date, but it would come to about £45 including travel cost.
2) Put my spare (unworn) pair on the front and keep the old worn tyres on the back. Ship a pair of new tyres to the fitter on the grounds I am (I guess?) now likely to finish off the rears and probably not the fronts (hence the question).
3) Put my spare (unworn) pair on the back, leaving the 40% worn ones on the front and hope to do the whole day and drive home again.
The surface for the day is a regular car park (not a low grip track or anything!) and weather - otuch wood - is going to be dry. What do you reckon?
I'm off to the Mazda on Track drift day at Silverstone on Friday and I'm trying to work out what to do about tyres. My current set are about 40% worn on the front and about 60% on the rear, very roughly speaking. I have two new (well, old but unworn) spare tyres on rims. Because the Caterham is an odd size the tyre fitter at the day understandably doesn't want to hold any in stock, so I have three choices basically:
1) Pay for a set (or pair) of tyres that I may not need - the car only weighs 518kg and its my first time - and have them delivered to the fitter in case. He operates a mobile fitting service, so he could keep them and fit at a later date, but it would come to about £45 including travel cost.
2) Put my spare (unworn) pair on the front and keep the old worn tyres on the back. Ship a pair of new tyres to the fitter on the grounds I am (I guess?) now likely to finish off the rears and probably not the fronts (hence the question).
3) Put my spare (unworn) pair on the back, leaving the 40% worn ones on the front and hope to do the whole day and drive home again.
The surface for the day is a regular car park (not a low grip track or anything!) and weather - otuch wood - is going to be dry. What do you reckon?
they will wear, for sure. I did a drift day at oulton park, but that is a low friction surface and the weather was very wet
on a dry day and on a normal surface, your tyres will wear. remember that to start a slide (and im assuming you are a novice to drifting here, sorry...) the "easiest" way is to break traction by giving it a bootful - easier in a car wil higher torque, but may require slightly more agression in a lower powered car, thus adding to the wear of your tyres
id stick with a partly worn pair to enable you to exceed the limit of grip easier at lower speeds
oh and enjoy - its a blast!
on a dry day and on a normal surface, your tyres will wear. remember that to start a slide (and im assuming you are a novice to drifting here, sorry...) the "easiest" way is to break traction by giving it a bootful - easier in a car wil higher torque, but may require slightly more agression in a lower powered car, thus adding to the wear of your tyres
id stick with a partly worn pair to enable you to exceed the limit of grip easier at lower speeds
oh and enjoy - its a blast!
J4CKO said:
Proceed to breakers and get a set of spare wheels and knackered tyres that fit your car, the cheaper and grottier the better, in fact get as many as you can carry and fit those, drift until they pop then take them to the tip.
I would do that, but 175/55 R13s - in fact any 13" tyres - are extremely hard to find. The tyre fitter at the event offers precisely that service for people on the normal 15/17" wheels for the princely sum of £2.50 a tyre and something like £3 fitting!The other issue with doing that myself is that I don't have any means of transporting the tyres. The Caterham is tiny, I' don't think I'd get a pair on the passenger seat and although I could maybe find some way of lashing them to the roll bar, I don't want that much weight lingering behind my head ready for the first chance to decapitate me.
Chunky La Funga said:
Chris71 said:
I'm off to the Mazda on Track drift day at Silverstone on Friday...
and weather - touch wood - is going to be dry.
You're hoping your drift day will be dry and you're worrying about tyre wear?and weather - touch wood - is going to be dry.
RUNTIME ERROR
What have you got on it, CR500's?
Not sure what the format is but they don't take a huge amount of punishment with 'normal' track work before they go off and start wearing rapidly. If I remember my Superlight days properly, in a 230bhp race car with wide rears I'd expect about 2-3 hours hard running from new to knackered. With lower power and narrower rears I'd probably expect about the same.
Unless you're doing less than 10 runs I'd carry your spares just in case. Otherwise, keep an eye on them and swap them front to rear if they're becoming borderline.
If you want to improve your car control and familiarise yourself with your car's behaviour then don't do it with rubbish tyres, stick with what you've got as the car will behave differently on different rubber.
If you're just going for a laugh, stick a pair of Avon CR322's on the back. They're about 60 quid a pop IIRC, have comedy grip and will last forever.
Not sure what the format is but they don't take a huge amount of punishment with 'normal' track work before they go off and start wearing rapidly. If I remember my Superlight days properly, in a 230bhp race car with wide rears I'd expect about 2-3 hours hard running from new to knackered. With lower power and narrower rears I'd probably expect about the same.
Unless you're doing less than 10 runs I'd carry your spares just in case. Otherwise, keep an eye on them and swap them front to rear if they're becoming borderline.
If you want to improve your car control and familiarise yourself with your car's behaviour then don't do it with rubbish tyres, stick with what you've got as the car will behave differently on different rubber.
If you're just going for a laugh, stick a pair of Avon CR322's on the back. They're about 60 quid a pop IIRC, have comedy grip and will last forever.
Edited by The Wookie on Tuesday 18th May 13:00
The Wookie said:
What have you got on it, CR500s?
Yep. They're an old set and I think they've hardened with age (they were stored in a barn in Scotland for five years!) that's half the reason I don't mind destroying them in a single day's hooliganism.The main thing I'm curious about is the difference front to wear. I suspect the backs will wear out a lot quicker, meaning I could order a pair, have them sent to the tyre fitter and be fairly sure of getting round to using them before the day is out? The thing I don't want to do - given the cost of replacement CR500s - is order a full set (or even a pair) and then find I don't need them. I guess some of that depends on the mobile fitting cost - is £45 for all four corners (all-in) a competitive price does anyone know?
Chris71 said:
The Wookie said:
What have you got on it, CR500s?
Yep. They're an old set and I think they've hardened with age (they were stored in a barn in Scotland for five years!) that's half the reason I don't mind destroying them in a single day's hooliganism.The main thing I'm curious about is the difference front to wear. I suspect the backs will wear out a lot quicker, meaning I could order a pair, have them sent to the tyre fitter and be fairly sure of getting round to using them before the day is out? The thing I don't want to do - given the cost of replacement CR500s - is order a full set (or even a pair) and then find I don't need them. I guess some of that depends on the mobile fitting cost - is £45 for all four corners (all-in) a competitive price does anyone know?
Your rears however will wear out extremely quickly if you're doing it properly.
jon- said:
I'd imagine you'll spend most of the day in 2 wheel drifts, not 4, and drift days are relatively light on hard braking, and hard cornering for the front tyres.
Your rears however will wear out extremely quickly if you're doing it properly.
Yep, so maybe leave the part worn rears on there for the trip up and as much of the day as possible and order in some fresh rears to stick on before the journey back (or part way through the drifting if needed)? Your rears however will wear out extremely quickly if you're doing it properly.
Liquid Knight said:
Why drift the Caterham in the first place?
Well, I wouldn't have much luck drifting the Focus...
Chris71 said:
jon- said:
I'd imagine you'll spend most of the day in 2 wheel drifts, not 4, and drift days are relatively light on hard braking, and hard cornering for the front tyres.
Your rears however will wear out extremely quickly if you're doing it properly.
Yep, so maybe leave the part worn rears on there for the trip up and as much of the day as possible and order in some fresh rears to stick on before the journey back (or part way through the drifting if needed)? Your rears however will wear out extremely quickly if you're doing it properly.
Chris71 said:
Er, no... I'm worried about driving home safely and the possibility of one of the tyres disintegrating or blowing out while I'm on the track and ending my fun. It'd be a shame to have to sit out the last session because I'm down to the wires on the same set of tyres I need to drive home on.
that's what happened to me 
I was on a pair of tyres that had another good 5K on them. I just could not get the hang of catching the second drift, so got the instructor to show me how to do it and pop - the front tyre got a puncture in the wall. I had to leave the event (Mazda on Track at Finmere) early to drive home on three barely legal tyres and a space saver. Luckily I only live up the road.
When I do it again, I'm going to do what someone else has suggested and buy some crappy wheels, stick the old tyres on them and get someone to follow me down to the venue to drop them off. Just in case.
You'll have a brilliant day, the blokes at MoT are really helpful and a lot of fun!
your fronts will be hardly touched
a pro drifter i went in with a few weeks ago was getting through a pair of tyres after about 5 runs through the new Stowe circuit twisty bit at silverstone, with a caterham, you will be significantly less smokey, so i would suggest certainly getting a pair of spares ready, you will almost certainly need them unless you are useless and just spin everywhere.
Greg
a pro drifter i went in with a few weeks ago was getting through a pair of tyres after about 5 runs through the new Stowe circuit twisty bit at silverstone, with a caterham, you will be significantly less smokey, so i would suggest certainly getting a pair of spares ready, you will almost certainly need them unless you are useless and just spin everywhere.
Greg
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