Switching sides with tires

[JGRacing]

I know that it is not ideal to switch a radial from the left side to right because they take a set turning one direction, but what exactly happens?  Does the spring rate of the tire change, do they vibrate, will they dramatically explode in a ball of fire?   

With bias ply tires, I always swapped them around the car to play with the stagger. 

[justfreaky]

Hi John,
 What happens, is the tires will wear out faster.
Radial tires DO take a set. Because radials are wound differently;
Radial tires don't grow like a bias ply tire. Air pressure and heat don't make them grow, like we used to in the old days to create stagger.
 "Air pressure will change the spring rate of the tire.  When air pressure is added, it stiffens the sidewall. This is the same as increasing the spring rate at that corner of the car."
Example:
 "If the car is pushing at entry or middle of the turn; add 2 or 3 pounds more air to the  right rear tire. This adds slightly more spring rate at that corner. Result: It will loosen the chassis slightly at entry and middle of the turn."

 While it may not burst into a ball of fire, making you poular with some of the fans;
The tire will fail, maybe costing you a lot of repairs, aches, pains, and bruising. 

 You can swap tires front to rear. That may help you get a few more miles out of your tires.

jmho

Steve

[JGRacing]

I wonder if twisting the tires one direction, then twisting it the other direction on the other side of the car would drastically change the tire's spring rate due to the belts being damaged or cause a vibration?  I would think that bias ply tires would have the same issue when switching direction of rotation, but never had an issue with the dirt modified.  Just had an issue with potholes, rocks, and other cars.     

[justfreaky]

Twisting them the opposite direcion tends to cause them to wear out faster. Those little wires break and tend to poke out of the tire.

Causing an issue with other cars or walls.

Steve

[MegaMang]

If you had cut tires for paved track, you would have the wrong profile entirely for left turns... 

[speedyracing11]

Does it not hurt front to rear.How much wear befor they are ileagal

[JGRacing]

In the rulebook a tires is illegal if two wear bars are showing or thread depth is 2/32 or less.  Section 70 in the rulebook has the specifics.

http://probld.600racing.com/documents/2007%20INEX%20Rulebook%20-%20Legends.pdf

[Racinjj]

I found this today:

"In the early days of radial tires, people were convinced that they must always be remounted to run in the same direction, regardless of the wheel positions. Techs would draw arrows on tires to indicate the rotation before and after the retread process. The story was that centrifugal force caused the radial body plies to “bow” in the direction of rotation, so changing the direction would cause them to “bow” the other way and cause a separation. It’s just more horse-puckey for the garden. Modern radial tires and retreads can run in any direction at any time unless the edge of the tread or sidewall contains an arrow showing the direction of rotation. "

From: http://www.tireindustry.org/features/setting_record_straight.asp

Its from a reputable source, it shouldnt be any different wih the Legends tires since they are DOT street tires.

[justfreaky]

I won't argue that tires have come a long way since the early days of radials.
Just my personal oppinion..... But I will still change front to rear, but not left to right.
My experiences have been negative.

JMHO

Steve

[JGRacing]

Thanks for the info.  I might give it a shot on dirt going a little slower and on pavement the tires are camber cut so it would not be an option.  Racing street tires goes pretty far outside of what they were designed for, so wonder if the direction causes more of an issue in our environment than on the street.       

[justfreaky]

The camber cutting has become more popular in the past few years. I never cut my tires before.
I have had to put a tire on the opposite side, and ended up with with wires sticking out the side of the tire. That is why I don't do it.
I've only had one blowout due to this though. I will consider myself lucky.

Steve

[MegaMang]

To be honest, I think the tire would likely hold up just fine.  If you get wires sticking through, it's likely because you are running with very low air pressures.  With 20 lbs being the minimum on most cars at our track, they'll likely hold up fine run in reverse.  Thing is though, if the tires are almost done, I don't want them on any corner of the car.  I found that the heat cycles the tire went through in 8 races changed the compound enough that I didn't want to race on it anymore.  I did keep racing on it, but mostly for economical reasons.  Next year I intend to go through at least 3 sets of tires.  I'll be saving my nice new tires I just put on this year for practices at the beginning of next year, but new tires otherwise.  It's amazing how much difference new tires are on paved tracks.  The compound is just so much stickier.  After about 5 races, I noticed them start to fade off.

On the other hand, I've got a buddy racing that is using his last year tires and making fairly good time with them.  I'll be faster with my new tires though...

Mike

[justfreaky]

As I have never run on dirt............

Maybe dirt is more forgiving.

I know what my experiences have been on pavement.

I'll stick with the front to rear swap.

jmho

Steve