Technical Support
Tyre use
Rubbercraft racing tyres are specially designed and compounded solely for the purpose of motorsports competition.The use of racing tyres on public roadways is expressly prohibited and may result in loss of traction, unexpected loss of vehicle control or sudden loss of tyre pressure possibly resulting in serious injury or death. No warranty is given on rubbercraft racing tyres due to the limited conditions under which they operate and rubbercraft shall not be liable for damage arising from false use.
Tyre Care
Tyres should be stored in a controlled environment with cool temperature and in darkness. High temperature, direct sunlight, proximity to high voltage electric motors or welders should be avoided. The use of chemical treatments such as tyre “soaking” or tread “softener” to alter the tyre carcass or tread compound of any rubbercraft racing tyre may result in premature or catastrophic tyre failure and serious injury or death.
Tyre Fitting
Tyre fitting of racing tyres should be always carried out with special care to avoid damage to the bead area which is of critical importance in tubeless tyres. In order to ensure safety, you should always have your tyres mounted at a certified dealership that knows how to handle tyres made for competition. The use of a tyre fitting machine is strongly recommended to avoid damage to wheel or tyre. Tyres should not be inflated over 40psi(2.7bar). The use of Rubbercraft racing tyres on wheels that do not meet industry standards can cause the tyre and the wheel assembly to fail and explode with force sufficient to cause serious injury or death.
Mounting
Rubbercraft tyres should be mounted and installed on the car according to the directional arrows on the sidewall. After one or two heat cycles the tyre can be rotated on the car. Worn tyres can be removed and flipped on the wheel to extend tread life.
Scuffing
The longevity and consistency of the grip level can be increased by properly scuffing a new set of racing tyres. It is very important not to run hard for an entire session on new tyres. Think of it like breaking in a new engine, or bedding in new brakes. To scuff a set of tyres, start by taking one or two moderately paced laps to gradually bring the tyres up to operating temperature and then run one hard lap followed by a cool down lap. The ideal situation would be to stop and remove the tyres from the car, and allow them to cool down to ambient temperature before running them again. When running an entire session on a new set of tyres without stopping one should still follow the scuffing procedure at the beginning of the session before turning laps at a fast pace. It’s also very important to run a slower lap at some point in the middle of session to allow the tyre to cool off before running hard laps again.
Pressure
Moisture inside of a tyre can cause excessive pressure build-up and handling problems. After purchasing a new set of mounted tyres, the valve cores should be removed to purge out any moisture and the tyre should be inflated with dry air or nitrogen. When switching from another brand of tyres to rubbercraft tyres it is not necessary to change cold or hot inflation pressures. Start with the same settings. FWD cars may require higher inflation pressure in the front tyres. 13 inch slicks for formula cars and sports racers should initially target 22 PSI hot. Changing hot inflation pressure to alter the handing characteristics of the car is a fine tuning adjustment. Improving the overall grip level should be done by tuning spring rates, dampers, anti-rollbars, ride heights, alignment setting, etc.
Wear
In addition to utilising tread temperature data to evaluate how the car and tyre are performing, the inside and outside tread wear indicator pins should be measured with a depth gauge to determine if camber or pressure changes need to be made. If the inside of the tyre is worn more, camber may need to be reduced. If the outside is worn more, camber will need to be increased, or inflation pressure will be need to be increased to prevent the tyre from rolling over on the outside shoulder.
Heat cycles
The number of useful heat cycles that a set of race tyres should be run is dependent upon whether or not they were properly scuffed, ambient and track temperature, track surface, length of each track session, and most importantly….driving style. Drivers that toss the car into the entry of a corner and slide through the middle and exit may have excessive tyre wear and reduction in the consistency of the grip level. A smooth driving style will result in faster lap times and better tyre performance.
Temperature
Tread temperature will vary depending on ambient and track temperature, the type of circuit and the type of car. The temperature should be within a range of 70 to 105 degrees when measured in pit lane. Optimum grip level is at 80 to 95 degrees. A probe type pyrometer is recommended for temperature measurements and a consistent technique must be used. Check the tyres in the same location (inside middle, outside) and in the same order (LF,RF,RR,LR) each time the car comes to pit lane.
The data should be recorded as follows to make it easier to interpret. Depending on the width of the tyre, the inside tread temperature should be 10 to 20 degrees hotter than the outside.
| OUT | FL | IN | IN | FR | OUT |
| 80 | 88 | 95 | 95 | 88 | 80 |
| 80 | 88 | 95 | 95 | 88 | 80 |
| OUT | RL | IN | IN | RR | OUT |
If the inside is too hot, camber may need to be reduced. If the outside is too hot, camber will need to be increased or inflation pressure will need to be increased to prevent the tyre from rolling over on the outside shoulder. If the front tyres are hotter than the rear tyres, it may show an under steer condition. If the rear tyres are hotter than the front tyress, it may show an over steer condition. This isn’t the case for all types of vehicles. The front tyres on FWD cars are usually always hotter, and the rear tyre on high horsepower RWD cars may be hotter due to wheel spin. The tyres should be relatively new when using tread temperature data to interpret car set up issues. Tyres with a worn shoulder may give a misleading temperature spread across the tyre because the thin area doesn’t hold as much heat as thicker areas.