Tyre grooving - comments please

[fallofalot]

Interested to hear comments on tyre grooving for track tyres. I have Dunlop slicks on my bucket racer. Which are awesome in the dry.

1. Is grooving tyres a recognised (good) practice.

2. Is it a good idea to groove your slicks will this give you better performance in the wet, or reduce performance in the dry.

3. Is there a recognised pattern and depth to follow.

Any other info please.

Cheers

[sugilite]

Interested to hear comments on tyre grooving for track tyres. I have Dunlop slicks on my bucket racer. Which are awesome in the dry.

1. Is grooving tyres a recognised (good) practice.

Yes, but only if you want to make intermediate tyres or maybe get heat into them on a cold day, but cuts with a razor blade is better for that.


2. Is it a good idea to groove your slicks will this give you better performance in the wet, or reduce performance in the dry.
Better in the wet, but less rubber usually means less grip in the dry.


3. Is there a recognized pattern and depth to follow.
Not really, just think about what it is you want to achieve...water channeling and such. Use an indelible marker pen to mark out a pattern before you start.


Any other info please.

Hot tip- if you have them....use tyre warmers on your tyre 1st, the groover goes through it much easier when the rubber is hot to begin with. :yes:



Cheers

Your welcome :lol:

[The Pastor]

I got slammed on kb when i re treaded my road tyre. I got too tread happy and went too deep....

[Ivan]

well my 125 has a cut tire on the front, was a dunlop slick, I have no complaints about it. For a bucket i Would be aiming to have cuts as dunlop slicks are not designed for the slow speed of buckets and you would never get enough heat in them, I reckon a wet is a perfect bucket tire

[Kickaha]

I have Dunlop slicks on my bucket racer. Which are awesome in

You'll find they're pretty bloody good in the wet to :yes:

[vagrant]

Years back when racing clubmans at Ruapuna, the hot trick was angled grooves on the right side of the rear slick, about 3 inches apart. The theory being the long distances between right handers let that side of the tyre cool too much, but the grooves would let a bit of movement into the tyre, and help it stay hot.
It sounded good at the time, but I don't know if anyone took lap times to see if it made a difference.

You could do them with a heated tyre cutter, or a heavy duty box cutter, just being careful not to go too deep. If you try it, a bit of maths to work out the spacing, and then a dry run with a vivid will prevent you winding up with a wonky pattern.

[fallofalot]

Thanks for the feedback fellas, I just brought a s/h Metzler slick which has been grooved it looks almost new and is still very soft. So I'm going to put it on the bucket and see how it goes.... Cheers Steve

[sasfmj]

hi, this may be a dumb question as im new to bucket racing but is there an actual tread grooving tool you can buy or what ????. cheers

[sugilite]

Yep, you can get them at speedway supply stores...think there is one in mount maunganui somewhere...bout $200 to $250