I'd like to thank everyone who responded to my inquiry for a local
shop that can heat cycle tires. Literally everyone responded with the
usual "you can do it yourself, just drive on the tires for (pick one:
20 minutes, 100 miles, etc.). Some then said take the tires off the
car, some said just run them. No one addressed the differences with
Toyo RA-1s, so let me 'splain. And also, I got some interesting
advice from Bill Arnold.
Toyo uses a LOT of mold release compound. To get rid of it, you have
to do more heat cycling. I had a set of RA-1s (which, I admit, was a
long time ago) and did the usual DIY heat cycling, but the tires were
slippery as snot (technical term). The guy who co-drove my car, and
who had more experience autocrossing than I did back then, agreed that
there was "something wrong" with the tires. Years later, that friend
is buying RA-1s, and says they just need a LOT more heat cycling.
So yesterday I mentioned this to Bill Arnold, and he told me how he
ran a set of RA-1s in the Targa Newfoundland (or one of the other
Targas, how many can there be)? Bill said he managed to burn through
the mold release compound by, basically, driving the car sideways
through the first rally leg (on pavement, about 10 miles). His rally
computer showed 2 extra miles relative to the rallymaster's
instructions, but he finally got some grip in the tires.
Thus, here was Bill's recommendation (and who am I to argue with
Bill?): Shaving. RA-1s apparently come with a lot of tread anyway,
so just take off 2/32 to 3/32 of the tread. This will get rid of the
mold release compound and also put some heat in the tires, thus,
heat-cycling.
I'm tempted to try it. Roger Kraus sells Toyos and does shaving, no?
Scott Miller
1990 BMW 325i
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