Howdy,
On Tue, 2 Feb 1999, Mari L. Clements wrote:
> I have 6 new BFG R1's in my garage, waiting for Meridian. They have not
> been heat cycled yet. When I ordered them, I was not counting on all the
> ice (and accompanying road treatments) we'd have in PA (it had been a mild
> winter so far--really). What do I do know? Does the ambient temperature
> affect heat cycling? (In other words, if 100 highway miles is recommended
> to heat cycle normally, do I change that amount because it's 20 degrees
> outside? Or should I just plan on arriving in Mississippi 48 hours before
> the event and heat cycling them there [not as unrealistic as it
> sounds--keep reading]? If the road *looks* clear and dry, how much should
> I worry about what road salt might still be out there?)
I wouldn't worry about the road salt & such. As I understand it, 100
miles is just a guestimate anyway. What you really want to do is to get
the tires up to operating temperature gradually. The way I do this is to
drive 5 or 10 miles or so at normal highway speeds, then go to a parking
lot and go round and round near the limit. Don't slide, but get the tires
hot. Then, if you have a front heavy car like a neon, swap the tires (or
put the 205's on the front and street tires on the back) and do the same
thing since the rear's never get any heat in them.
> Thursday. We're already planning on getting into Meridian on Wednesday, so
> we could heat cycle them Wednesday, rest them Thursday and Friday, and run
> them Saturday. BUT--that means we'd have to do the McKamey school on
> street tires. How big a deal is that? I know you can do McKamey's on
> street tires, but I'd rather not for two reasons. First, I'd rather have
> my car as close as possible to its real setup. Second, I've never driven
> on R1's before, so I'd rather not be figuring them out during the actual
Certainly I'd want the day or two of practice on the R1's to get used to
'em, but bear in mind that in a two day McKamey school (70 runs on the
phase 1 course) I wasted a set of fronts on the Neon. From what folks
have said, that's not uncommon. So the R1's might not make it anyway.
Mark
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