Hector

I am about to reinstall my worn ET Streets - they have about 80 passes on them. I just discovered that the wear indicators are shorter on one than the other but I don’t know how they were installed. I have a Trutrac differential. I'm hoping that someone can tell me which side wears fastest and why?

GregWS6&z28

iTrader: (8)

right side

Hector

Thanks, any idea why?

GregWS6&z28

iTrader: (8)

thats the side that wants to plant more. you can see with a car that hasnt had suspension altered and the left front goes up. you will notice that tire gets more traction when you get squirley, the right end comes around (spinning more)

mrdragster1970

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That's why a few of us rotate every 5 pass'. Helps with sidewall life also.

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IGNANt

iTrader: (15)

hmm, learned something else new today... thanks

JL ws-6

iTrader: (50)

I rotate the tires every trip, wether I make 2 runs or 5. If I"m at the track and hve already made 3 or 4 runs, and know I'm gonna get a few more, I will rotate them there.

NRC-Motorsports

actually thats not correct, the left side is the side that plants the hardest,due to engine torque,and axle rotaion,[thats also the axle that bends first] the reason the the left front goes up is because the right rear tire is going into body,again due to the rotation of the rear[counter clockwise]to your point thats why the right tire spins more as its trying to rotate up in to car,and yet again the left tire is grabing,that is also why most of the preloading [to correct this ]goes on ,in the right rear corner of car, IE air bag,on right, most preload in 4 link cars done on right , most shock adjustments done on right ,to try to keep rear from rotating up on right side

RAGENZ28

iTrader: (5)

If the car is set up right they should wear the very close to the same, like NRC said, you apply power to the rear it tries to twist and pushes down on the left tire and takes weight off the right, that's the whole point of an anti roll bar, to force the left side to apply the force to the right side, and you add or remove preload till you counteract the effect.

Another point is running the slicks they get little folded over pieces of tread and a few people I know flip the tire around and say that it helps a bit.

N2RACINGLS1's

iTrader: (2)

Just so I got this correct you are saying that after 4 runs at the track you take the right wheel and tire and put it on the left side of the car and then do take the left wheel and tire and put it on the right side of the car?

Does that not take the tire and cause it to wrinkle the oppsite direction. That to me seems like it would wear the sidewall out faster! Because you are making it wrinkle in both directions.

Both of my slicks wear almost the same but the left one does wear just a little more.

I have never changed a slick from one side of the car to the other though and usually run consistant 1.45's at a good track 1.41's. Maybe my car is to slow and it does not matter that I do not change my tires all season from one side of the car to the other!

I may have learned something also. It still seems to me that it would be harder on the slick if I understand the thought process!

Thanks!

ChevPower

iTrader: (8)

I have used up about 5 sets of 325 drag radial, and a set of 315's the left tire always wore faster

mrdragster1970

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That was a good point NRC. I wasn't thinking about that. We always add weight to the right rear.

N2, we rotate every ~5 pass' to make the sidewall last longer. It works. I went from less than 10 pass' until junk,
to about 20-25. Don't know the technical reason. Chassis guy told me to try. So I did. Too be honest,
I didn't start until I was running a little faster than you. 8.50-60. So it might not help with 10 second car.

A tip I do. Put a dot with shoe polish on the drivers side tire after each pass.
So you can keep track of how many pass' per side. Especially if rotating at an odd number.

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JL ws-6

iTrader: (50)

yes I put the right rear on the left, and the left on the right every 3 or 4 runs. Tires wear evenly that way.

I usually get about 30 to 40 runs on a set of tires before they are shot/don't work anymore

Hector

So there is no definite answer to my original question. A well set-up car should wear both rears equally, usually the right wears fastest, but the left may wear faster. I’m about ready to replace my rears. I’ll keep track and occasionally swap them. Thanks everyone.

Hawkn01

iTrader: (1)

You should also remember that cars with spools will get extra wear just from making tight turns off the track at the return road exits. The inside tire always takes a beating and gets extra wear.

RAGENZ28

iTrader: (5)

Wouldn't the outside tire get more wear from dragging since it has to travel more distance than the inside tire? It should technically be covering more ground so it should have more wear.

Hawkn01

iTrader: (1)

No, it's the inside tire of the turn that takes the beating.

N2RACINGLS1's

iTrader: (2)

I really am having a hard time with this thought process. I know my car is slow and it only runs 10.70's at 123 MPH with 1.40 sixty foot N/A with a small 346 ci engine and is heavy at 3,460 lbs. but I ran all last year with 26X10X15 ET Drags and never changed the tires from one side of the car to the other and they have over 65 passes on them and the sixty foot never changed more then two numbers at the most at any race event. The last time I used that set in 2007 they produced some of the best sixty foots of the year. I started out this year at a track that is not know for good sixty foots and they still produced great sixty foot times!

mrdragster1970

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It's the shock to the sidewall. I only know my car. When set for max traction, it will break the cords,
before wearing out the tread. At 1050 HP on a 10" tire I was getting 5-8 runs before you could see the sidewalls were ruined. After softening the hit, I got ~10, after rotating, I got 20-25. When I ran what you run, I also went all year, no problems.
I still recommend rotating, but maybe for you, try 10-20 runs. Good luck, don't stress out, your car is working fine.

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N2RACINGLS1's

iTrader: (2)

Trust me I am no where close to stressing out. My car runs good for what I have spent on it and as long as the tires wear as close as they do I will only be subjecting the sidewall to a one directional twist! I race to relax and changing back tires every 10 runs is not my ideal of relaxing.

The key here is not everyone is running 8 second passes and I did not won't everyone that reads this thread to think that the slicks they paid $400 dollars for are shot after 20 ten second runs down a 1/4 mile drag strip!

I am sure that when a car gets below 9 second runs the tires are going through a lot of stress but the slick is not the only thing the owner of the car is concerned about tearing up when you get that fast and when a car is that fast a set of $400 slicks is just a drop in the bucket compared to the money being spent of it!

What do the folks at Mickey Thompson say?

I went ahead and attached a photo of my car same as the photo in the avatar just larger so it can be viewed a little better. The photo was taken at the end of last year at about run number 65 on the slicks no stressing out that day I was just having a lot of fun!

I guess the bottom line here is everyone does what they feel they need to do to run the best they can!

Now lets go racing!