Tire Graining?

[dereklola]

Is this what is called graining? - new experience for me. What can I do about it? Is the tire reusable? Will it "come back in" with further use?

Tire was used for one 90 minute enduro at Mid Ohio. Did notice more than usual understeer round the keyhole - but did the graining cause the understeer - or the understeer cause the graining? Track was 'geen' after overnight rain and still slippy to begin with (but OK later in the race).

Car was historic F3000/Interserie. Normally my only tire problem is the time spent scraping off the klag after I get home (see RF tire in pic after scraping) - but in this case there was almost no klag on this LF tire - just the graining,

Thanks for any help and/or advice - Derek.

[reidhazelton]

Yes, that is gaining.

I would say the cause was the 90 minutes on track in one session. Likely, it is done for. High horsepower car, loong session, heavy loading on the left side (most tracks are counter-clockwise) all adds up to heavy use and high heat.

Car looks to be working the tire ok, considering what it was asked to do. Looking at where the graining starts and stops, you might want to look at tire pressures/camber/toe to see if you can get it more even across the tire. I don't know squat about F3000 cars, so take that for what it is worth. Someone with more experience will chime in I hope.

I see you are in Detroit...I would give Keith Averill a call. He would know much more. Maybe you can hire him to come and work a test/race day with you. I would be well worth it.

Good luck!

[problemchild]

Tire graining at Mid-Ohio is very common.
If your pace is such that you expect to get several hours out of your LF tire at Mid-Ohio, you will probably not notice much difference by swapping the front tires side to side, and continuing to use it. You can probably flip it on the wheel and get even more time.
It will never come back as a premium race tire.

[iamuwere]

That looks like MidOhio tires.

[Jon Jeffords]

...heavy loading on the left side (most tracks are counter-clockwise) all adds up to heavy use and high heat.

You meant counter-counter-clockwise.

[reidhazelton]

Thanks Jon....yeah...that. I just got back from a short trip back to the 1880s so I have some time lag.