Pre-competition heat cycling of BFGoodrich Comp T/A R1 230 tires has been recommended by Team T/A for several years. This initial low stress tire stretching has been credited with providing longer tire life and more consistent performance.
On May 21, 1997, Team T/A conducted tests at Michelin's Laurens Proving Grounds in South Carolina. Comp T/A R1 230 tires that were heat cycled by using several different methods were compared to non-heat cycled tires. The course featured an extremely abrasive surface which was developed to wear out tires quickly.
The Team T/A test compared sets of tires prepared in the following ways:
- Not heat cycled
- Heat cycled by regular driving for 100 continuous highway miles 3 to 4 weeks in advance of the track test
- Heat cycled by regular driving for 100 continuous highway miles 48 hours in advance of the track test
- Tire Rack's heat cycling service 48 hours in advance of the track test
The Team T/A treadwear test results showed that non-heat cycled tires wore out in 13 laps, and that all of the heat cycled tires lasted 19 laps, or about a 50% wear improvement. The lap times confirmed that all of the heat cycled tires provided more consistent lap times that were equivalent to the best laps of the non-heat cycled tires.
Is there a performance advantage to Tire Rack's heat cycling vs. on-the-car? No. Is there a convenience advantage? Absolutely! Tire Rack's heat cycling service eliminates the need to drive the race car or it's tires on the street/highway.
Before we started preparing tires on our heat cycling machine, we found that cold temperatures or rainy weather could prevent us from heat cycling tires when we wanted. During our heat cycling service we control the tire's environment.
BFGoodrich recommends that it is best to heat cycle tires 48 or more hours before an event, and that heat cycling them weeks ahead doesn't provide any additional advantage. A racer ordering tires during the week of an event will have little chance to heat cycle his tires 48 hours before the event unless he is willing to pay for overnight shipping. With Tire Rack's heat cycling service, the 48 hour waiting period goes by while the tires are shipped more economically.
Before this test, BFGoodrich Team T/A had been unable to confirm or deny the validity of Tire Rack's heat cycling service. Now that the testing has been concluded, we have BFGoodrich's acknowledgement that Tire Rack's heat cycling service is equivalent to on-the-car methods.
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