Part worns or new?????? (trackday Content)

[rudeboymassive]

My M3 E46 needs new front tyres.....and soon will need new rears as well.

howver in june im attending a trackday at le mans - open pit lane, so will get quite a few laps in!

question is, i i buy new Michelin Pilot sport II's now and track them in months time - am i going to kill them? or will they be ok?

Ive thought about buyung a pair of part worn fronts and then repalcing all four afterwards????


any ideas?

cheers

[Paulburrell]

If you haven't done a lot of trackdays then the new tyres will give you plenty of warning when things are about to let go, bigger tread chunks make lots of nice squealing sounds. Part worns less so, and what happens if rains half way through the day. Le Mans is a long way to go and then find that you are trying to run on semi-slicks in the rain. Worse still, if the tyres completely let go through wear(I had a pretty good Corsa wear out at Brands Hatch one day by lunchtime) would you really want to spend a lot of your track day time trying to find a local Michelin supplier with the correct sizes in stock. If your trackday is supported by a tyre supplier then you could hedge your bets and make sure he takes a fresh set of rubber for you to fit when you need it(particularly for the journey home). Have a great time.

Steve

[Stu3500]

Put new ps2's on now and keep an eye on flea bay for some part worn pilot sport cups. They do come up quite often.

Ps2's should live on track but depending on your driving you'll probably leave with bald side wall's(apparantly this isn't illegal though)

Edited by Stu3500 on Friday 1st May 16:53

[The Restorer]

I had a similar issue when I did my first track day. Bought a second set of wheels just for it. Only used them once though. It all depends if your just planning on doing the single track day or if you then decide to do more afterwards. A second set of wheels may work out cheaper than new tyres.

I have a set of part worn Pilot Sports if you do decide to go down that route. Link here

[rudeboymassive]

Thanks for the info......

I was actually after a pair of PS2's as I've heard the PS1's are cack, having said that I'll give you £100 to get them our of your way

[fridaypassion]

I've got a set of m3 wheels for my z4 with part worns on for track. Funnily enough they came with some almost new ps2's on the rears so I actually swapped them onto my road wheels. You can pick part worn tyres up on ebay very cheaply so thats my plan for the track rubber and wouldnt rule it out for road tyres either TBH if they come from a reliable source that tests them its a good way of saving money when the cheapest set of rears you can get new is £300!

[Aeroresh]

It may be worth buying another set of wheels and tyres for the track.

The semi slick (but still road legal) efforts from toyo, dunlop etc make a huge difference to the way the car performs.

When I started doing track days I managed to get a set of OZ wheels and some part worn dunlop d01js separatly off ebay for £300, so it needn't even be a dear doo!

[dan101smith]

You'll get better performance out of part-worn tyres, as when they're new the tread blocks are obviously bigger and so move around more.

Also, if you've got the chance to buy new tyres and you're using it for trackdays, don't get PS2s. Toyo T1-Rs are cheaper and perform better on track, and are still an excellent road tyre.

E46s are quite heavy on tyres on track, due to their weight and the fact you can chuck them around, so expect to take a fair chunk of life out of them on a trackday.