Five year old tires

[Phoenix SRT]

I took my '03 SRT to a club track day a few weeks back and was quite stunned at how little grip the tires had. They are the OE runflats (now 5 years old) and were down to the wear bars on the rear and a bit more rubber left on the front. The track felt very greasy and I was bog slow. A ride in a GTS showed that there was much more grip available than I was experiencing. I know that as tires age, they become hard and lose grip as oil in the rubber migrates to the surface and evaporates. But, I never imagined it was that big of a loss!

I needed new tires regardless so I figured I'd get new runflats and take the car back to the track to see how much things improved. (Hey, it's a street car and sees the track only very occassionally to turn a few laps in HPDE 3)...I'd rather give up a second a lap (or more, perhaps) on the rare occassions I go to the track than be stuck somewhere with a flat tire.) Anyway, the difference was dramatic! I don't have lap times, but exit speeds out of corners increased tremedously with the new tires. And the increased grip is just as noticable on the street.

If you folks out there have tires that are more than about 3 years old, you probably aren't getting the grip you paid for any longer. If your tires are anywhere near five years old, they are junk and should be replaced. I think at least some of the tire manufacturers say that after six years, the tires must be discarded because they are no longer safe.

 

[V10SpeedLuvr]

Runflats ****
5 year old tires ****
Tires on the wearbars ****

I can't believe you even put the car on a track with tires like that! You're lucky you didn't wreck! I guess it was no tech inspection prior to the racing???

 

[AviP]

If you folks out there have tires that are more than about 3 years old, you probably aren't getting the grip you paid for any longer. If your tires are anywhere near five years old, they are junk and should be replaced.

Thankfully mine are nowhere near your range. They are 10 years old! I know!

 

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

Actually for road course use , some tires don't really work well till they are down to the wear bars --- but then they are DOT track tires.

The main problem here is age!!!

 

[Phoenix SRT]

Runflats ****
5 year old tires ****
Tires on the wearbars ****

I can't believe you even put the car on a track with tires like that! You're lucky you didn't wreck! I guess it was no tech inspection prior to the racing???

My, my. Aren't you the self-rightous one.

Runflats were good enough for factory boys when they first made the SRT...and for how many years after that? Sure, as I pointed out already, non-run flat PS2s are stickier. So what? For a street car, the trade off seems worth it to have the protection against being stranded in the middle of nowhere with a flat.

"5 year old tires ****?" Congratulations, you got my point.

And what's wrong with tires down to the wear bar if you're not in the wet? And here in Phoenix, it's pretty easy to stay out of the rain.

 

[Viper X]

Old tires = crashes.

Glad you replaced them, many of our members don't replace their ancient tires before it's too late and the wreck their cars.

 

[Phoenix SRT]

Old tires = crashes.

Glad you replaced them, many of our members don't replace their ancient tires before it's too late and the wreck their cars.

Old tires don't equal crashes. If you have old tires and therefore reduced grip, you drive accordingly. That's why I didn't crash. It's pretty simple, really. Drive only as quick as conditions allow. If it's the first session of the morning and it's 40 degrees, you're not going to have much grip regardless what tires you have. So you slow down.

Old tires equal slow times and not much fun, to be sure. But, they only equal crashes if the driver gets stupid.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Old tires don't equal crashes. If you have old tires and therefore reduced grip, you drive accordingly. That's why I didn't crash. It's pretty simple, really. Drive only as quick as conditions allow. If it's the first session of the morning and it's 40 degrees, you're not going to have much grip regardless what tires you have. So you slow down.

Old tires equal slow times and not much fun, to be sure. But, they only equal crashes if the driver gets stupid.

Agreed. Ultimately it is the driver's foot that equals crashes, not old tires. Unless of course a tire blows up and tosses the car into a wall, or if you're on the wear bars and start hydroplaning but in the latter case it is still the driver's fault for driving on old tires.

 

[SylvanSRT]

i have had no problems with runflat, even on track days. All of the SRT-10 performance tests with them showed very good grip and lateral g's. I am on my third set and if buying a set now not sure what i would get. I do take the car on some road trips(some 4-5 hrs away so far) and would not give up the piece of mind that the runflat capability provides. The suspension of the '03-'06 cars are tuned to perform best with the runflats, I have also been told by people that just changing to PS2's will not get the best performance without the other changes made to the '08 suspension(different shock valving, and sway bars sizing) and i am guessing that this would also apply to Sport Cups.

It is nice that we now have three choices in stock sizes where up until recently(though only two are currently available) we had one

 

[JonB]

I took my '03 SRT to a club track day a few weeks back and was quite stunned at how little grip the tires had. They are the OE runflats (now 5 years old) .....................I needed new tires regardless so I figured I'd get new runflats and take the car back to the track to see how much things improved. (Hey, it's a street car and sees the track only very occassionally to turn a few laps in HPDE 3)...I'd rather give up a second a lap (or more, perhaps) on the rare occassions I go to the track than be stuck somewhere with a flat tire.) Anyway, the difference was dramatic! .......

Thats for doing those that read your post a safety-service.......

But You bought new RUNFLATS ? Maybe just 2 rears? Your same-age fronts are hard-pushing-pigs even if they have tread.

If you had chosen PS-2 [ The compressor-sealant system for 2008 is $89] you would be even MORE amazed, with even faster lap times. We are getting regular reports of 2 - 6 SECONDS faster laps, at shorter-to-longer tracks. Much better car control.

 

[Phoenix SRT]

Thats for doing those that read your post a safety-service.......

But You bought new RUNFLATS ? Maybe just 2 rears? Your same-age fronts are hard-pushing-pigs even if they have tread.

If you had chosen PS-2 [ The compressor-sealant system for 2008 is $89] you would be even MORE amazed, with even faster lap times. We are getting regular reports of 2 - 6 SECONDS faster laps, at shorter-to-longer tracks. Much better car control.

I replaced all the tires.

Hey, I conceded right off the bat that the PS 2s offer better grip and maybe the sealant system would work in some instances. Maybe many situations. But, not all. With run flats, my chances of ever being stranded with a flat (or being on the side of the interstate squirting sealant into a flat while enormous trucks and the occassional drunk **** by a few feet away at 75 mph) are near zero.

It's a street car for gosh sake! The few seconds a lap for a car that rarely is on the track is a trade off I'm willing to make for nearly eliminating the chances of being stranded with a flat tire. What's wrong with that? Again, the factory boys for several years (2003-2006?) thought the run flats were just fine on the car. How bad could they be?

Man! "Run flats" is a more vile utterance around here than "Hennessey" or "Corvette."

 

[pakisho]

Lol. You guys are losing the edge. Even on the vette forum if a guy mentions runflats we throw our gold chains at him and make him wax his chest.