Trackdays and OEM tires

[bittersweetryan]

How many track days do you think one can squeeze out of OEM tires?

I have Bridgestone BT-014's on my 636 with about 3000 street miles on them and 1 trackday with about 4 dry sessions on them (rained the entire morning).

Do you guys think I can get another track day or 2 out of my OEM tires? Heres what my tires look like right now.

[spy]

Not an expert on tires, and I haven't ridden on those particular tires, but my guess is you would be ok on those unless you are going buck wild. What group are you riding in?
When I started riding track, I did 3 trackdays in the street group with stock 218's that had around 4000 miles and they were fine. But, then again I'm SLOOOOOOW. That's why I ask what group you're in, street - sport - race? If you're really pushing the tires it might be a good idea to upgrade to more of a trackday/race tire.
BTW- I'm now riding on Michelin PP's, I always heard tires make a big difference, but DAMN. They just feel so much better, much better grip, feel and much easier turn in.

[bittersweetryan]

This will be my second track day ever. I was running towards the front/midpack of the beginner group my first time out, about 1:45's around blackhawk farms. So I'd definately say I wasn't pushing it too hard but I know next time out i'm gonna try to get under 1:40 and start pushing the tires a bit harder.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

It's all about traction, if you have it then don't worry about replacing them. If your starting to get sliding then I would defenitely upgrade. I personally have a set of Dunlop 208GP's that I have raced on for the last 2 seasons on my bike now, I can still do 1:18's on them at Blackhawk Farms. I would look into some race take-off's, as I prove on a regular basis you can go plenty fast on tires that racers sell for cheap usually. I'm thinking about buying a new pair of D209GP's at the next Blackhawk race, I would maybe hook you up with my take-off's? We'll see.

[bittersweetryan]

The thing is I'll be doing a lot of street riding between track days and funds are tight as I"m saving for a wedding. Do you think I can get another track day out of my OEM's or should I save every penny I have to get some new rubber before the next track day?

Tires should typically last more than one track day right? Even if i'm riding really hard?

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

That tire certainly isn't worn out, you can still see plenty of tread depth. As for it being beyond your riding level is another thing, again if it's not sliding at your current pace then why replace it? (unless there is some other handling or confidence issue with the tires)

Upgrading your tires will defenitely give you more grip, but is traction what's not allowing you to go faster, or is it newness to being on the track? Make sure you do things for the correct reason, like they say "throwing money at a problem often times won't help a thing". If going faster for you is going to rely on having the confidence of having better tires then I would look into take-off's as I suggested before, that should only run you about $50 - $100 or so (which is ALOT cheaper than crashing!).

[bittersweetryan]

I just wanted to make sure that the tires were safe. Whats keeping me from going faster at this point is breaking and form around the corners. If i'm sliding out next session I'll definately replace the tires.

[OreoGaborio]

From the looks of the tires, you seem to be doin pretty good (that is, if you've got good body positioning and are getting your body off the bike)

As a novice trackday participant, if you can ride it on the street, you can certainly ride it on the track. As long as you're a good smooth rider, just ride it till you're wearing out the wear bars. If they start slippin & slidin on ya, time to get some pilot powers, diablo corsas or some other street/trackday tire

[bittersweetryan]

Yeah I was getting off my bike, but not as much as I'd have liked. I have another day coming up in September, hopefully I can squeeze one more in between them and really hang off the zixxer.

[Misfire]

I think you will be fine. Hopefully you'll spend all day on the sidewalls anyway..I

I have ran several trackdays on the BT014s and I like them. A lot of people talk trash about them but they have performed admirabily for me. They do tend to slide around a bit if you don't get them up to operating temp before pushing them. I normally do a couple of warmup laps during the first session and after that, I flog them all day long.



My last trackday I picked up a screw somewhere on the track and my options were to forefit a trackday or purchase a race tire from one of the onsite tire vendors. Well, I bought a race spec tire that had the same profile as the B014 I was replacing and HOLY SHIT what a difference!! That race tire stuck better than I would have ever imagined. I'm planing on trying to find a set of rims somewhere and shod them with race tires so I can swap them out on trackdays. WOO HOO!!

Good Luck!!



.

[Spike]

Originally Posted by spy

Not an expert on tires, and I haven't ridden on those particular tires, but my guess is you would be ok on those unless you are going buck wild. What group are you riding in?
When I started riding track, I did 3 trackdays in the street group with stock 218's that had around 4000 miles and they were fine. But, then again I'm SLOOOOOOW. That's why I ask what group you're in, street - sport - race? If you're really pushing the tires it might be a good idea to upgrade to more of a trackday/race tire.
BTW- I'm now riding on Michelin PP's, I always heard tires make a big difference, but DAMN. They just feel so much better, much better grip, feel and much easier turn in.

Is that you in your avatar? You sure as shit don't LOOK slow!!!

[Spike]

I'm going to do a track day in about a month and a half or so. I'm going to replace my D208 rear and Battlaxe BT56 front's before then. I don't have a car so I put a decent amount of miles on my bike... I would like to get some Metzeler Z6's or Pirelli Diable Strada's for longevity but I don't know if I want to run around a track with them. I've ridden my D208 that's down to the wear bars as hard as I personally can and they seemed to stick just fine. I actually managed to scrape one of my peg feelers so far as well.... Think I'll be alright with a ST tire or should I go with PP or M3's?

[kz2zx]

Originally Posted by Spike

I'm going to do a track day in about a month and a half or so. I'm going to replace my D208 rear and Battlaxe BT56 front's before then. I don't have a car so I put a decent amount of miles on my bike... I would like to get some Metzeler Z6's or Pirelli Diable Strada's for longevity but I don't know if I want to run around a track with them. I've ridden my D208 that's down to the wear bars as hard as I personally can and they seemed to stick just fine. I actually managed to scrape one of my peg feelers so far as well.... Think I'll be alright with a ST tire or should I go with PP or M3's?

Spike, the D208ZR is kind of a crappy tire, and melts under hard use, when it cools it doesn't come back. I never could get much over 500 miles from one - about 750-800 was max, but when I hopped on it, 500 was common.

I've used the PP as a TD tire, it's OK. Even on the rear of my 10R, it was fine for the abuse I put down on it. The profile on the front tire is kind-of quick/steep - I liked it for both canyons and track.

The PP wears well, too, I had 1200 miles from a rear when I got a nail in it, swapped it out. The one I used for a TD had 500 street miles, one TD at Arroyo, and one practice session at Buttonwillow (before I found the michelin guy and got a PR5).

I then gave it away as a street tire to someone on the boards, AFAIK, he's using it.

[Spike]

It's not a D208ZR it's a D208SM (sportmax). I expect to get several thousand miles out of the tires, or at least I hope. Once these tires wear out (the new ones I'm getting soon) I'll probably put some ST tires on there so they'll last a little longer.