Warming up tires

[spetz]

Hi guys,

I've been reading how semi slick tires have poor grip until they warm up.
My question is, how quick do they warm up and under what conditions?

ie, would driving them 5 mins on the street normally on a cold day warm them up, or do they need some spirited driving to get them going?

[Riced_Civic]

depending on what compound and what brand you get, they are all different. some may take 2 min some 5 min.

in cold weather for street driving u might not even get them up to temp cos ur stopping at light and they cool.

[curtis265]

Hi guys,

I've been reading how semi slick tires have poor grip until they warm up.
My question is, how quick do they warm up and under what conditions?

ie, would driving them 5 mins on the street normally on a cold day warm them up, or do they need some spirited driving to get them going?

if you're talking about track performance, you'd need to drive them quite hard i'd imagine, much like how racecars will always swerve about behind the pace car.

all depends on the compound too, softer ones heat (and wear) faster

I don't htikn a 5 minute drive on a cold day on the street will be enough

[senna]

The swerving is not actually that good for heating the tyres, its for cleaning them - accelerating and braking heats them up much quicker.

http://2012rankmaniac.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/rankmaniac2012-40.gif

[ChaosMaster]

Yeah, I doubt 5mins of street driving would heat them up. You shouldn't be going hard enough to do so in such a time. It's one of the reason's their not recommended for street use.

[EKVTIR-T]

Also dont do strong swerving with new semis,you'll end up on the guardrail.

[DLO01]

For Street usage? They are semi-slicks. They are for racing. You need to get a lot of heat in them before they perform like they should, more that you'd ever get on the street. Sure in the hills with lots of twisties and pushing it through them will get temps up, but thats about it. Street driving though, they are a waste. A good performance street tyre will give you more grip than semis as they don't need the heat like semis do to perform.