before first autocross? I was at my SCCA meeting last night and a couple of the WRX guys were saying that they were breaking in their Azenis tires. My plan was to just put them on the car and go AXing for the day. Is there a need to break them in? All they were doing is running them on thier cars for 300-500 miles. Your thoughts???

- Garold

i don't know squat, but i've always felt that brand-new tires didn't hold as well as slightly worn-in tires. new tires feel "skiddish" to me, as if the rubber is too hard and won't bite.

it's called heat-cycling Garold. You basically just get the tires up to temp and then either take them off the car or lift the car for 24 hours. Supposedly this causes a change in molecular structure. This will make them last longer and grip better.

TireRack's Heat Cycling Page

See you learn something new every day. So whats the best way to do this? How do you know they have been heated up enough? Should I just go for a nice highway drive for a 30min - 1 hour?

- Garold

Its just getting the glaze off the tires.. Just take it for a nice little run.. "try out" the tires.. an hour, or so should be fine.

Might be worth a phonecall to either Falken or TireRack. Even though they don't sell them (TireRack) I'll bet they would give good advice.

They need to be scrubbed in. A short energetic drive somewhere should do it.