autocross with bald tires?
 

im thinking of keeping my old bald tires for a autocross tire...kinda like a slick.
would the bald tire have more dry grip than a new fully treaded tire?

no, you will be all over the place

Are you planning on prepping the course yourself?

I see lots of sweeping in your future!

The bald tire may have a larger contact patch, but the rubber is not going to be as soft as that of a new tire, which would greatly offset any advantage you get from the lack of grooves.

I kept my balds because I'd like to use them for more of a drag type track setting

:iagree:

Nail on the head.

The common treaded tire has a hard rubber compound vs. race/track slicks. As fellow member DJ has stated, your car will be like a smacked as$, all over the place. Also, there are safety concerns as the rubber thin.

If you are serious about racing, talk to the Members that race. I know several that race SCCA, and can advise with good info on how to set up your Z.

Racing is fun, and can also be dangerous. Do not compromise your safety, and the safety of competing race drivers, with bald tires. In fact, it is likely that such bald tires may disqualify the vehicle at the pre-race inspection. Invest in race specific tires.

Cheers,

JR

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Bald street tires ARE NOT the same as slicks. If they were, wouldn't people be selling their old tires for high prices to racers? Bald tires are unsafe and have terrible traction.

all you will need is this... ;)

http://c0456141.cdn.cloudfiles.racks...g/prgge213.jpg

Bald street tires are actually pretty good at auto-x, however the difference from bald to corded is a pretty fine line on these tires and you are at greater risk of a severe puncture.

They are no where as sticky as a race slick though and most of the gain you get is from absence of tread squirm and a slightly larger contact patch. I always went slower at auto-x when I replaced my tires, was very disappointing :)

chris- tirerack has shaving service for your tracking needs. :)

I know but I am also cheap, so I try to make them last as long as possible :) Besides now that I have a trailer I pretty much just auto-x on race tires.

nice! :tup:

That stuff is awesome for RC car racing! Excellent traction aide. But the smell.... wow!

yea my xgf autox'd her 350z quite a bit last year and we bought a set of used tires that fit her OEM wheels (she had a 2nd set of infiniti wheels for "street") for $25/per tire and they lasted her for the whole year. they weren't great but not bad. they had ~2/16's of thread left, right at the wear bars. that's a good, cheap way to do it