tire temp probe

[t walgamuth]

Hello, what do you all recommend to buy as a tire probe thermometer?

[Lynn]

I had one of these. It came with a plastic carrying case. http://www.longacreracing.com/produc...nomy-Pyrometer

[lowside67]

Personally I would save your money. In my experience, even when we were doing test and tune events with G circles, the short duration of autocross runs and the number of transitions leads to erratic and unreliable readings that you are not likely to get much meaningful information from. Also, since the runs are so short, the overall rise in temperature is very low which means you need somebody to measure it the absolute second you hit the stop box ideally which is not usually practical in a normal event.

I would suggest that you can glean how your camber settings are performing based on tire wear and you can adjust toe based on what you desire as a driver - a little toe goes a long way to either speed up or slow down turn in on the front end or how the back end behaves.

-Mark

[t walgamuth]

Thanks guys! Temp across the face of the tire can tell you if your alignment is good I would think.

[t walgamuth]

I had one of these. It came with a plastic carrying case. http://www.longacreracing.com/produc...nomy-Pyrometer

That looks nice....the price sucked the air from my sails though.

[TedV]

That's one of the cheap ones. Can usually find that or the Joes racing pyrometer in the $100ish range give or take depending on sales. If you get one, must have the needle probe for tire temps. The IR ones are useless for tire temps. For autocross you might be better better off learning how to read the graining and wear as was mentioned. Tires Probably will heat cycle or dry out before you wear them out.

Check this choice pyrometer out. https://www.jegs.com/i/Longacre+Raci...50650/10002/-1 overkill?? lol

[pleavens]

Thanks guys! Temp across the face of the tire can tell you if your alignment is good I would think.

Problem with Autocross is that the tire carcass never comes up to temp, and that's the whole point of a probe. I used an infrared scanner just to get a general idea of how the tire is warming. Over time, you can make some good decisions from the accumulated data. Does take a lot of patience, as it's easy to get fooled by how each course layout effects the tires.

Phil

[t walgamuth]

When I am going well it seems I find the rear tires a feel bit warmer than the front. Should I try to make them equal?

[kea]

As the rear of a formula car weights more then the front, I would expect it to be warmer.

[PDM075]

tire temps in a C Mod car are useless in an autox compared to data logging.

I can feel my Ford's tires after my codriver comes back in, but it's not overly useful since the duration of each run is too short and usually the tire cools off too much even for a probe.

Best damn time-finder is a co-driver and data logging to see where each driver is faster. Want to find more time ? put an alien into your car and read the data. Problem solved.

[EYERACE]

You don't need to know exact numbers - just the spread over the face of the tire - a point & shoot infrared powered by a 9 volt is quicker, especially if you just came in from a run and your buddy is taking the temps..... and I agree with those who say the temps you'll read after, let's say a 49 second run, taken from inside the carcass could be deceiving.

[t walgamuth]

As the rear of a formula car weights more then the front, I would expect it to be warmer.

Even with the rear tires being significantly wider?

[mikey]

Even with the rear tires being significantly wider?

consider the rears are working hard for all longitudinal acceleration events..

[t walgamuth]

Ahhhh yes. Makes sense but it begs the question of why I never noticed it before.

[Chris Livengood]

I have limited auto x experience, but if you want learn something you probably want to collect tire temp via data acquisition in real time. Since you aren't pounding around for 20 minutes, the only real way to get the data would be in real time. Even in a sprint race or short practice, you get the tire temp data from the carcass as mentioned. Since you won't ever get those temps, you need to read the surface temp. IR is probably the way to go. It won't be cheap.

Alternatively you could run a sprint race or do a practice day and try to setup out on the road course, but I'm not sure that would be a good investment since realistically the track conditions and character are totally different.

[EYERACE]

You can find 9 volt IR pyrometers on Amazon for $20 - point and shoot

[t walgamuth]

Thanks all for your thoughts and comments.