i dont know if anyone has tried this but i was thinking about adding sipes to my stock c1 tires. sipes on automotive tires have been proven to not only increase traction for off road use but on road also. i dont know how i will cut them into the tires yet but i will come up with something. has anyone tride this.
sipes only work on road for street tires, on a track a slick is still the best for traction.
their are several tools specifically designed for grooving tires,
to start you will need a hot knife, various tips for the hot knife, you need a knife heater, a good selection of knives, chalk or grease pencil (to lay out patern you want)a steady hand, a bunch of extra tire's if you have never done it before,
becareful there isn't much rubber on these tires,
make a stencil of patern you want,
use chalk or grease pencil to layout the pattern around the entire tire,
(need to make sure it will line up around the tire with out overlap or gaps, it will
affect the tires balance)
get out your hot knife, remove the large parts of the pattern with this, cut right on
the lines you laid out with the chalk, keep the hot knife as clean as possable
wiping it off with a wet sponge as needed
now you are ready for the knife heater and its knives, buy knives that will allow you to cut what you have designed, (an exacto knife can be useful, lots of blades made for them and they can go in the knife heater no problem) use these knives to remove the smaller finer areas,
look at your masterpiece, you have now grooved your own tire
do this in well ventalated area, try not to breath the fumes either, a small fan helps a lot
What about tyre sticktion type compounds that make the tyre..umm stickyer? Also, anyone ever heard of guys soaking their tyres in acetone for a few hours? on control tyres it's cheating but if you have an old set it may be worth at least trying it out. If you don't like the idea then just put a paper bag over your head, hide under the bed and turn the lights out and go la la la.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME & $$$ ON THE STOCK ***** TYRES!!! They are moulded and are good for fooling around only.
For competition use PMT - real radial construction with soft to hard compounds.
SAVA is also a real radial - albeit with a different profile (allows more lean angle than PMT) and has soft to hard compounds.
Both have real rain tyres too!
The choice comes down to rider style.
U guys got any experience racing indoors on go kart tracks? polished or very smooth warhouse floor?
This surface is pretty slippery We race mostly cags here but there are a couple guys with t41 or t40 tires they dont seem to get any better traction on this type of surface compared to cags? our cag tires get pretty hot and work ok? I recently got a C-1 tread tires- and those seemed to work really good on the slipery surface? I found this strange at teh same time tread tires outdoors (tennis court surface) dont workgood
There's not enough meat to sipe a Cag tire correctly and have it work properly. Try what Blah and I have mentioned before about using tire treatment. I've treated my cag tires and they are easily 2 or 3 times softer than PMT's. Nitromuncher, Eviloompa, Blah and Bryan666999 will even back me up on this. Obviously the construction is still not as good but at least I didn't spend $100/per tire on my stupid cag! $20 for new rim and tire + $10 treatment = very happy and very fast rider!
where do you get this tire treatment?? Ive heard simple green makes tires softer ? Im not sure bout that? after u treat cag tires is there life a lot shorter, basically I want to put slicks on my c-1 dont wana break the bank but I can afford some 40 set of tires every couple months If i can soften cag tires that will be sweet!!
Overall, the best thing for traction is plain undisturbed rubber ....hence the slick is king. you would only add siping to a tire for one of two reasons, either to allow it to clear contaminants, such as standing water, or to increase the temp of that part of the tire if you are not working it hard enough (each groove generates more heat)...lets say for example you were on a circuit with many right hand corners with few left hand corners spaced far apart. Additional siping to the left hand side of the tire only would help generate heat quicker in this side of the tire which will be "cold" when it comes into use. For this type of sipe, a small cut works best, no need for a full width or depth sipe, and a "knife cut" type sipe of no more than 1mm depth is sufficient. Take extreme care when doing this that you do not pierce through the tread into the carcass or you will just have scrapped your tire. Use a cutting tool with a definate stop on it to control the depth, and do not force it into the rubber. Lubricate the blade (if cutting cold) with water only and never use any form of oil lubricant etc.
also, before you start, look around the tire (slick or not) for tread depth indicators, and never cut tire which is worn down. also, stay away from using liquid softeners on your tread as this can cause more problems than it cures
