I'm looking at tire warmers for the track and for auto-x (yes auto-x!)....If I bite the bullet and buy them, would I actually gain more tire wear out of my slicks than before? I don't ever wear out the tires, they just get hard after a while (numerous heat cycles) and then we go with new stickies.

If I come in from a 20 minute session and then put on the warmers until the next session, would I effectively block the heat cycle from occuring? Or would I cook the tire and have wear and / or failure by inducing heat?

For auto-x, I thought I would have just lift the car in between groups and keep the tires warm...you know...to justify the expense of buying them...

Here are the warmers I'm looking at: Chicken Hawk

Bill P.

QUOTE

# Save "heat-cycles" by not letting tires cool between uses

QUOTE (nine14cats @ Sep 23 2005, 06:56 PM)

If I come in from a 20 minute session and then put on the warmers until the next session, would I effectively block the heat cycle from occuring? Or would I cook the tire and have wear and / or failure by inducing heat?

Bill, just refuse to stop.




M

Do they pay contingency money if you put a sticker on your car that says "Chicken Hawk"? Take a LOT of nerve to run that one ........................... The Cap'n

So far I haven't found anyone willing to pay me to use their products....I seem to always pay them...

Yep...it would be ballsy and probably not too popular to run tire warmers at an auto-x and probably a major pain too with all that goes on...

But on the track...it sure would be nice to keep the tires warm, and save heat cycles.

In our last full year of racing (2003) my wife and I went through 5 sets of slicks. Not from wearing out but from heat cycles. If the tire warmers actually save 40% in heat cycles, they will pay for themselves the first season. For Auto-x we were using the old track tires.

If someone has experience with these devices it would be great to find out.

Thanks,

Bill P.

The SCCA has banned tire heaters.....those that actually heat the tire.
They do allow tire blankets (for lack of a better wurd) that will help keep the tire warm after you heat it up *on the course*.
They are widely used when it matters. I've seen one guy use then at a local SCCA AX....must have been important to him. I've seen
20 times as many garden sprayers....Kuhmo guys.

Well, We need to clear the air about this.

As the 4 wheel sales manager for Chicken Hawk Racing I can assure you that in many forms of racing our warmers are legal. In SCCA road racing for instance they are allowed. In Solo, they are not. However, we do make an insulated sleeve for auto X competitors.

We started CHR in 1991 to manufacture tire warmers for motorcycle racing, where grip is life , or at least limited bodily damage. Anyway, we are currently the number one tire warmer in motorcycle racing. We currently are used on most every AMA superbike team. We provide warmers to tire manufacturers for testing and provide engineering services to industry. We also make tire warmers for every type of motorsport known to man, from Monster trucks (don't laugh it's true)and NASCAR,to go karts to rc cars. We have written a multitude of articles on proper tire warming , and have been a developer of products from racing stands to mechanics gloves. Our products are made in the USA and we use quality name brand components such as Johnson Controls, Nomex and Cordura. All of our products have a warranty. We call it a no BS warranty. We perform all repairs and testing right in Red Hook NY at our facility. We have performed engineering work (with regards to tires, thermally) for GM, Ford Motor Company, Dunlop, Bridgestone, Firestone, Goodyear, Michelin, and Nascar to name a few.

How a tire warmer works:

We currently warm our race rubber using abrasion and hysteresis. These two actions provide heat so the tire reaches it's operating temperature and provides optimum grip. (BTW I am simplyfying) During this very short time (from a couple minutes to 20 seconds) period of warming, the tire releases a large quanity of oils from its chemical composition. These oils are the life blood of the tire, without them there is no grip. When we heat "shock" the tire to a grip level, the tire loses it's effectiveness sooner. Better stated: without moisture in the tire, there is no grip. You may feel this on the racetrack, ie... the car will start to have grip, then the grip will be reduced for a few corners (it may feel greasy) you are feeling the oils coming to the surface and being abraded away.

Chemical treatments are very effective, they reintroduce "moisture" into the rubber. Tire treatments are not just softeners. In go karting we see some pretty ingenious concoctions of chemicals, and these guys use our warmers to get the chemical to "soak" into the rubber. A story for another time.

When you use a tire warmer, you warm the tire over a long period of time, By visiting our web site, you will be able to access a thermal graph and image, notice that the tire carcass will become temperature stabile in about 40 minutes, depending on ambient temperature and wind. This slow warming retains the oils in the rubber and extends the tire life, also providing more grip overall, due to the carcass being warmed and the rubber molecules being allowed to bond prior to hysteresis. Everyone understands a warm tire provides grip, but in practical application few understand how grip is made and or kept, or lost. During the tire warming stage, the material of the warmer is designed to limit the loss of mositure through evaporation, this also helps to retain oils in the rubber. By retaining moisture in the rubber, we then extend the "grip life" of the tire. Meaning the tire WILL provide a designed level of grip longer. This simple practice WILL enable you to extract everything you paid for from your rubber.

I rarely sound like a salesman on this board, but it looks as if I have in this case. Please contact me by PM, I will offer any 914 club member a special discount on a set of CHR Tire Warmers.

As for me, I use them almost everytime I go out. Sometimes I do not plan well enough, or something goes wrong and needs to be attended to prior to the session, in which I am not able to use them. But they work, I have used them this entire week during the Runoffs, and it has allowed me to extend my tire life throughout the season.

Erik Madsen SCCA EP 914-6

Post Script: Race on Saturday see the timing live at 4:20, me and Kevin Groot on the SCCA website.

Oops, I forgot to put AX in there somewhere.
Sorry bout that.

We use tire warmer on occasion..


but they dont make much sense when you sit in the pits so long waiting for the warmup lap and start..