vintage-race
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Tar On My Tires

To: RodsINTOMG@aol.com
Subject: Re: Tar On My Tires
From: Simon Favre <simon@mondes.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1998 10:58:09 -0800
Guys, I was there too. My car wears the hard compound Dunlops. I was
definitely picking up more material than I was putting down. ;=( I
found that I could scrape the goo off after each session by driving 
down the paddock and hitting the brakes. You may have seen me doing
low-speed "brake tests" that weekend. While fiddling with a brake
proportioning valve, I found that hard braking on REAL asphalt wears
the goop off. If your race car wheels fit a road car, take it out on
the road and give them a few sessions of hard braking. Freeway miles
will take a lot longer to scrape that crap off. I used the paddock
to scrape the goo off after my last session, and my tires are clean
as a whistle. I can't exactly put 50 freeway miles on a Formula Jr.

Simon Favre
'58 Bourgeault Formula Jr.

RodsINTOMG@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Malcolm,
> 
> I finally got around to attending to my racing tires and the accumulation of
> track sealer (tar) that they picked up off the track at Thunderhill in
> October.  It seems that the worst brand of tire to have done this at that race
> meeting was the B.F. Goodrich Comp TA R1 like you and I both have.  I think
> that my tires (the later variety) were the very worst of any I saw having
> picked up nearly 1/4" of tar off the track.  When I went out Sunday morning
> for test and tune (first group & cold track and tires) my car was all over the
> place and very scarey.  The accumulation of tar on my tires looked like cheap
> recaps and didn't seem to wear off like it did for some of the others.
> 
> Yesterday I tried your method of mineral spirits and a scraper.  I spent over
> an hour on one tire and ended up with a very great mess and not much progress
> to show for it.  I am blessed that my racing tires and wheels also fit my road
> going MGBGT.  I put the racing tires and wheels on the GT to see if I could
> drive the tar off the tires.  I put about 50 freeway miles on the tires at
> about 70 mph or greater.  I think that removed about 90% of the accumulated
> tar.  I going to have another go at it and try another 50 miles, next dry day
> we get.
> 
> I'm CCing this to the list to get some reaction from others who may be
> having/or have had this problem in past.
> 
> Rod Schweiger
> '64 MGB Sebring Replica #119

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>