Whats the proper way to rotate R-Compound tires? Front to back only, or is X patter better?

I just corded my Hoosiers RS04s. They had about 6 events on them of 22 runs each (I co-drive the car with my wife). They were rotated after each event and show a pretty even wear across all tires. I was rotating them front to back only. Just trying to see if there is a better way of doing it to get more life out them.

By the way, I replaced them with Avon Tech R-A, which are on sale at Tire Rack right now on close out.

 

I've never had experience with R comp's but I would think that an X pattern would have better wear characteristics because it evenly works all edges instead of just the same swept area if you do just front to rear.

 

What part of the tire corded?

If it was the outside or inside (much less likely) shoulder, then un-mounting the tires from the rims and re-mounting them "flipped" could help, but will cost money to get the tires mounted and balanced again. Although some people skip the balancing step for autocross tires.

Just swapping from the right side to the left side doesn't help if you're wearing out the outside shoulder, because the outside is still the outside. You have to re-mount them on the wheels to get the outside to become the inside.

Switching front to back will help even out wear on most MINIs because the front tires wear faster than the back tires.

Switching side to side helps if you (extreme example) always drive a clockwise course. The left tires on a clockwise course take more abuse than the right, so swapping side to side will help even that out.

If your R-comps still have tread worth measuring, a tread depth gauge is handy for really telling which tire is the most worn, and which has the most tread. I put the one with the most tread on the front "outside" for the course, and the one with the least tread on the rear "inside" for the course. For the other two tires, more tread in front.

 

Well, three out of four tires are corded. All on the outside, but it seems the inside doesn't have that much left anyway, nor does the one tire that is not corded. I do have a depth gauge and all these are done. What I was trying to figure out is while swapping front to back the tires keep their rotational direction. Swapping in the X fashion would reverse the direction. So:

1. Would this prolong the life of the tire, shorten it, or have no effect.
2. Would this help the grip, hurt it, or have no effect.

Additionally I found this suggestion on Tire Rack, where the fronts get crossed to the rear, but the rears get moved up without crossing:



Any thoughts?

 

crossing right to left doesn't change what part of the tire is on the outside. The outside shoulder is still the outside shoulder. The outside shoulder will still wear away first.

The only way to even that out is to unmount the tires, and have them remounted with the old outside shoulder on the inside.

Take a wheel / tire you have handy, or even a quarter or something. Experiment and visualize...

 

I got all that. I am just curious if reversing direction makes any difference.

 

I always keep mine in pairs, and swapped them front to back each event. I did not care whether they were left or right. Only front to back.

Hoosiers on a MINI have always corded at the very edge. Kumho V710's wear much better.

 

Sorry... it took me a while to understand that moving the wheel from the right side to the left side didn't change what side of the tire was on the outside, and I wasn't positive that that wasn't what you were asking about.



I have nothing other than gut feeling on the effects of rotation direction on wear.

 

So what is your gut feeling about it? Do you think it will make the tire grain more?

 

My gut says it won't make a difference. But, I have no reason / research to back that up.

 

I can't speak for other tires, but for something like a Toyo RA1, it makes no difference as far as rotation (dry use, no tread). I usually take a look at the course and postion the tires on the car- the best tire goes on the corner that is going to be worked the hardest that day, the worst tire goes on the corner that is going to get the least work....when they were brand new I would rotate front to rear, once the tread disapeared I went to my current method.

Jason

 

I flip Hoosiers side to side and rotation whenever. Usually for helping visible wear.

 

I usually rotate front to back each event and try to use the freshest tires for the fronts.

Outer edges wear fastest on the fronts sometimes on the right front when there are more left turns on the track.

I don't worry about X pattern so much. If I want even longer treadlife I will flip tires after about 6 events but it depends on the total life of the tires.

 

So by above comment, 10-12 events is about a life expectancy for R-compounds?

 

My Kumho V710 have 41 runs on the and are about half worn. I rotate front to rear only. Hope that helps.

 

It does.

 

The SCCA guys who road race and who pay very close attention to their tires say that Hoosiers are good for 10 or so heat cycles. They'll have tread and last longer, but the good "stick" is gone and they become practice tires.

 

I rotated my RA1s before each afternoon session. Front to back or in an X pattern despite the fact that these are directional. In the rain these need to be run in the proper direction, but I was caught out once leaving the track in the rain with these reversed...no problems but I didn't push it.

These were also re-mounted at one point to extend life. The RA1s apparently last longer and corner better if shaved.

You should expect about 25-30 heat cycles from these.

 

OK, for argument's sake, what do you define as a heat cycle?

 

5-10 minutes at speed on a track at least. Or a session. Lots of people check tire temps acros the face of a tire and if you've got the tire up to operating temp(whatever that is for your car), you have a heat cycle.