Importance of Taking Tire Temps - Part 2

[dj2motorsports]

In the previous post, I discussed how the tire temps will look if the tire is over, or under, inflated. Now let’s look at what the tire temps would look like if we do not have enough initial negative camber set. (Remember that negative camber is the top of the tire tilting toward the center line of the vehicle.)

If the temperature on the outside of the tire is significantly hotter than the inside, this indicates that the tire is riding too much on the outside edge, and more initial negative camber needs to be set to lean the top of the tire toward the centerline of the vehicle.

If the inside of the tire is too hot, then you need less initial negative camber and to tilt the top of the tire away from the centerline of the vehicle a bit more.

What does it mean when the inside temp on both of the front tires is warmer than the outside of each tire? You either have too much initial camber set on both wheels, or it could mean that you have too much toe-out set, or maybe a little of both.

If the outside of both tires read hotter than the insides, then you either do not have enough initial camber, or too much “toe in” set, or a combination of the two.

And toe settings definitely do not need to be played with, or monitored, like the camber and tire pressures unless you get off track or hit something.

Recommended toe-out is 0 to no more than 1/8 inch depending on what feels better to the driver.

As you can see, your tire temperatures can tell you quite a bit about your set-up, so pay attention to them to get faster. To get the maximum traction from any type of tire, you need to maximize the tire's contact patch in the corners by having the correct pressures set, and have the suspension components set so that they position the wheel/tire at the most efficient angle while cornering.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Guest

[OHIO4DRTEG]

Thank you for the information

[Stoopalini]

It seems tire temps & wear patterns are your indicators for performance, and tire pressures & alignment setup are your tweaking points to impact those indicators.

 

So what is your recommendation for measuring equipment? Do you prefer a probe pyrometer or an infrared pyrometer?

 

And for front tire wear, are you really looking for even tire wear across the front in a road course?

[dj2motorsports]

It seems tire temps & wear patterns are your indicators for performance, and tire pressures & alignment setup are your tweaking points to impact those indicators.

 

So what is your recommendation for measuring equipment? Do you prefer a probe pyrometer or an infrared pyrometer?

 

And for front tire wear, are you really looking for even tire wear across the front in a road course?

 

 

There has been debate over which is more accurate, however to me the probe type seems to be more appropriate due to the fact that you are actually getting into the rubber to take the temp rather than the surface temp that an infrared takes.

 

The thing to remember is that consistency is the biggest key.

You want to take your temperatures in the exact same matter, and pattern, and with the same device every time. If you started with the drivers side and took outside, middle, inside temps and then moved to the passenger side and took outside, middle, inside, then you want to repeat that pattern every time you come off. You are looking more for a pattern in the temp ranges rather than actual temps because your temps at 2 p.m. on a summer day will be warmer than the run you took at 10 a.m. that day because the track temp will be higher.

 

As far as the tread wear, if you are keeping tabs on your temps and able to keep the suspension set-up correctly, you should have pretty even wear, and maybe have a bit more wear on the outside edge. Don't go off of appearance of wear though, use a tread depth gauge. You can get a tread depth gauge fairly inexpensively.