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I have about 16,700 miles on my tires and have taken my RCF to COTA one time, about 10 months ago. That track event killed the outside edge of my front tires and I knew I would need to replace them at some point (they were worn, but fine after the track day). Over the past few months I've been telling myself that I should replace them (inside tread still has 6/32). Well, today I looked down and saw this and am not sure what to do. My rear tires still have 6-7/32 and are in good shape, so I hate the idea of replacing them all with brand new super sports. Would it be a bad idea to find a pair of used 255/35/19's? I found some online advertised as 7.8/32 and only $205 shipped for the pair.
More importantly, how risky/dumb is it to drive on this? I work 5 miles from home and its all side streets (not over 30mph).
belts showing will lead to a blow out at some point.. best to replace them.
can't answer about used tires, never have and never will purchased tires used. would not ever consider it, especially on a vehicle like the RCF. as they say, you have to pay to play, parts replacement is the inherent risk of tracking a vehicle.
Yea I would not drive on those tires. That's putting you and others on the road at risk. Being a staggered setup, it would be very hard to get to an interval where you do replace all 4 tires at the same time. I know a lot of manufacturer's run promotions for rebates for doing all 4, but that just doesn't work given the staggering. What I have done in the past is replace 2 tires each on 2 different vehicles through America's Tire. I was able to get the 4 tire promotion through that loophole.
Having worked at America's Tire for 4 1/2 years during college, I've seen my fair share of returning customers with blown tires who have been warned to replace their tires when steel belts show. The possibility of damage beyond just a blown tire can be exponential when considering the value of your vehicle. It is just not worth the risk. I recommend getting them replaced ASAP. If you check with your local America's Tire shops, they may carry some used tires still under warranty by the manufacturer against any defects or mileage warranties still valid. I've purchased many used tires while working there, it was just cost effective at their cost, and never had an issue. You can also add insurance to used tires if they meet the requirements(condition, tread life, age of tire). As harkirath mentioned above, if you have insurance on each tire, you can work around a loophole to get those tires with steel belts visible replaced with still plenty of tread life( 6/32nd+) for free. But you didn't hear that from me.
the possibility of damage beyond just a blown tire can be exponential when considering the value of your vehicle. It is just not worth the risk. I recommend getting them replaced asap.
Just replace the two fronts with NEW PSS. I would NEVER buy a used tire.
Lou
This is good advice - but if you plan on tracking your car or driving aggressively, your best bet is to replace all 4 at the same time. Tires have changes in their adherence and driving characteristics as they age. Having 2 fresh tires with 2 others at that mileage will affect the handling (noticeably so in a high performance vehicle) and you may experience some unpleasant surprises. Two is OK on a Prius - but questionable on the RC-F. Gotta pay to play, as it has been said. On the other hand, if all you are doing is commuting and you're not going to be driving the car hard, then saving $ and doing just 2 would be fine.
My tires are running pretty low. I stepped on it pretty hard in traffic doing about 30mph to get around a car on the freeway, and she bit me. Broke the tires lose and went sideways, but the car did it's job and corrected itself promptly. All I did was gun it, but the tires didn't grip right and I lost her. Tires are key to the RCF, and with any high hp car.
Don't buy used, or your next used could be another car.
This is good advice - but if you plan on tracking your car or driving aggressively, your best bet is to replace all 4 at the same time. Tires have changes in their adherence and driving characteristics as they age. Having 2 fresh tires with 2 others at that mileage will affect the handling (noticeably so in a high performance vehicle) and you may experience some unpleasant surprises. Two is OK on a Prius - but questionable on the RC-F. Gotta pay to play, as it has been said. On the other hand, if all you are doing is commuting and you're not going to be driving the car hard, then saving $ and doing just 2 would be fine.
i couldn't agree more. unless your rear tires is basically new to match the new fronts.
Originally Posted by harkirath
I think PSS is now outdated model from Michelin. Not sure they make it in our size yet, but I believe their is a 4S or something like that.
well if the OP wants to replace with used tires, money seems to be an issue at hand at the moment. choosing last model PSS to save a few bucks would be more entertaining to him than 4S.
Sorry for the delayed response. Car is parked and new front PSS are on order - local place wanted almost $305 per tire.
The whole idea of this thread was pairing new fronts with 7/32nds rears - I’m not the most knowledgeable when it comes to tires. I have a few track events set up in the near future and I know I’ll be running through fronts, so the idea of putting on slightly worn fronts rather than buying new ones was appealing. This is also my first sports car, so any previous suv/truck, I’ve always just replaced all 4 at one time - wasn’t sure if pairing brand new fronts on used rears was a bad idea.
Are the track events HPDEs or are you competing? If you're not competing, you can replace two and be fine. If you are competing, you would normally replace all four pretty much on principle. The purpose of an HPDE is to learn to drive your car. If the tires aren't perfect, you actually learn more than if they are. It's very challenging to learn to handle your car at the limits if your tires are track oriented because they're more likely to let go suddenly instead of progressively the way street tires do. If the rears are a little less sticky than the fronts, challenge yourself to learn to drive the car like this so when you have a full set of stickers and you rotate the car with the throttle, you'll already know what to do because you learned it at a lower speed with the lesser tires.
If your goal is to brag about all the cars you passed, then just get track tires and suffer the consequences of never learning to drive well.
JHMO from the track time I've had on two and four wheels.
Oh, get your front end toed out a little more to avoid this problem again. It looks like you've got way more toe in than you should for track work.
Tire Issue/Question
