i do a lot of low and high speed autoXs, but since im a poor college student, i cant afford new racing tires all the time. But i do have racing tires that still have a lot of rubber on them but are getting hard from too many heat cycles. I was wondering if anyone has had good results with some of those 'tire softeners' and chemicals. That Hotlap stuff is pretty exensive, but i have found some others that are in my price range. The ones i found where Fast track tire improver, CTS Tire Softener, Track Claw Tire Strengthener, and Gripp Tire Softener.

anyone ever use any of these?

 

I used Fast Track years ago, when we were racing Late Model Modified's

 

is it any good?

where do you go about getting this stuff? and how much is it?

 

Go pick up a copy of Circle Track, they used to advertise in there. It worked, was a pain to apply and then get the tire in a bag

 

oh, sounds like too much of a hassle. I just wanted something super cheap and fast for the next highschool drags. me and my car are not quite ready for real racing just yet.

 

why do you have to put the tire in a bag?

i was thinking of making an automatic roller (theres a 'stuff' supply store around here that has everything you need to make anything) so i could just pour the stuff in there and let the tire roll in it. Is it worth it? how did the stuff work out? any good performance gains?

 

How much does the stuff cost? I know a lot of people who just soak their tires in ATF.

 

When I had the 10" Yokahoma slicks for my car I used the GRIPP tire treatment. It really turned in to a pain in the *** to do but the results were noticable.

First I would scrape the tires with what looks like a cheese grader to get off the top layer of track rubber and garbage that collected on the tires during any cooldown laps. Then I would take a 4" paint roller and put on a few coats of the GRIPP chemical.

I would do this a few days before a track event and then the day before the track event I would put another light coat of the chemical. With out the chemical the surface of the tire would be VERY hard. After the treatment you would be able to sink a finger nail into the rubber. The softness would last until they were heat cycled two or three times. It was good enough to get through a weekend.

GRIPP that I used was really expensive. If I remember correctly it was around $30.00 for one gallon. But that one gallon lasted me over a full season.

A few months ago I ran across a receipe on how to make the stuff yourself. It included stuff like diesel fuel, acitone, ATF, alcohol. I will try to find it again and post it here.

BTW: chemicals like this are VERY bad for your health, even if just in contact with your skin. Be sure to use chemical rated rubber gloves (not the cheap thin gloves).

Here are some links to check out.

This place shows using a heat gun and a knife to shafe off the old rubber.
http://competetiveedgeracing.homestead.com/INDEX.HTML

And if you read the directions on Hoosier, Goodyear, Yokahoma race tires. All of them state that chemically altering the tread or carcas of the tire can cause catastropic damage. This quote is from www.racegoodyear.com

 

I've used Formula V traction compound on a Kumho Victoracers and old BFG R1s with pretty good results. The Kumhos lasted a long time and were still balling up when I got rid of them.
I would pour the chem into a paint tray and use a standard sized paint roller to apply it. I wouldn't roll the tire through the chemical, I think that would use too much. It should be applied in a few thin coats, not one heavy coat.
A quick google search should reveal the price.
Good luck

 

http://www.formulavtraction.com/

http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/

 

Yup. Formula V is pretty good at returning the tire to useable conditions. If you do go that route, follow the directions completely. 3-4 thin coats did pretty well for me. And they absolutely must sit for 48 hours minimum for the process to completely take effect. I tried doing it and letting the tires sit for only a day, and the grip just wasn't there.

Also, the tire treatment does return some tackiness to the tire ... at the expense of treadwear. The tread disappears a lot faster with the tire treatment. Don't expect to get more than a few events out of treated tires.

 

Grassroots Motorsports tested Formula V(scraped, then treated), and Shaved(pardon the pun) 1-1.5 sec. a lap on a ~35 sec course. Better than throwing them away IMHO. Carl Byck