{"id":45963,"date":"2024-03-25T04:07:29","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T11:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/?p=45963"},"modified":"2024-12-05T14:49:09","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T22:49:09","slug":"q-whats-the-best-way-to-break-in-a-tire-and-then-learn-to-drive-it-to-its-peak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/q-whats-the-best-way-to-break-in-a-tire-and-then-learn-to-drive-it-to-its-peak\/","title":{"rendered":"Q: What\u2019s the best way to break in a tire, and then learn to drive it to its peak?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q<\/strong>: \u201c<\/em>I have a tire question, and I’m sure you have an answer. There is a lot about tires, how to get the best temp or camber or pressure, but I haven’t seen anything about how to figure out the best way to understand the tire, and break it in the best way, and then understand how best to drive it to get the best performance. You have great info on how to get the best pressures and temps, but how do you ‘learn what a tire likes’ at break-in and then in the qual<\/em>i<\/em> or races.\u00a0Each tire has a different construction, stiffness, compound etc., etc. and likes to be driven in a different way, some tires like a lot of quick load and some like a more gradual steering input, and others want something different. So as the engineer or teacher, how do you tell the inexperienced driver how to understand each different tire, since a Cooper is different to Toyo or Michelin or?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

A<\/strong>: As you point out, every tire is different, so I don\u2019t believe anyone can come along and tell you how you should break in all tires. What I\u2019ll do here is give you some ideas on how to become more sensitive to what the tire needs, so you can figure out what\u2019s best for the specific tire you\u2019re using; I\u2019ll also refer you to a friend\u2019s website for all sorts of really good info about tire tuning.<\/p>\n

As a driver, if you\u2019re looking for a quick fix, it\u2019s not going to work. It\u2019s like training to run a marathon: if I said to you, \u201cGo out and run 26 miles, and you\u2019ll be ready to run a marathon,\u201d you\u2019d laugh, right? Developing the skill to sense what a tire likes for break-in, and how to adapt your driving style to it takes time.<\/p>\n

And just like having a training plan to run a marathon, you need a plan to develop your skills. First on the training plan is something I call Sensory Input Sessions. Go to the \u201cHow can I get better at sensing my car\u2019s limits?\u201d post to read about this, my single most important and effective coaching strategy. What this practice drill will do is make you more sensitive to what your tires like, how to react, how quickly they come up to temperature and reach their peak grip levels, and when they begin to lose grip. When you develop this skill further, and really pay attention to your tires, you\u2019ll learn how to break them in, and how to adapt your driving style to them.<\/p>\n

Two other things you should do:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. After every single session, write notes about the number of laps you drove, what the ambient and\/or track temperature was, and what you felt. Specifically, write down how many laps it took to get the tires to their peak grip level.<\/li>\n
  2. Pull out your smartphone and take photos of the surface of all four tires. Over time, you\u2019ll relate what you felt with what the tires look like, and this is super-valuable knowledge.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    As for specific break-in procedures, you can start by asking the reps for the specific tire you\u2019re using. Sometimes they\u2019ll give you good info, and sometimes not \u2013 but you\u2019ll get more good than not-so-good. Use that as a starting point. You can also ask around of other drivers using the same tire on cars similar to yours. But from there, you have to experiment. There\u2019s no other way to know for sure. Even if you have the head engineer from Michelin tell you what to do, you\u2019re going to need to fine-tune your procedure for your car, your track conditions, and your driving style.<\/p>\n

    Next, to repeat what I said in an answer to a question a few weeks ago:<\/p>\n

    I strongly recommend reading the info that my friend, Samir Abid, in the UK has written about this at\u00a0https:\/\/www.yourdatadriven.com\/?s=tyre+pressure<\/a>. On this page are many separate articles, all with the goal of helping you understand and figure out what the right pressures, cold and hot, are for your car. But notice that even Samir, who I consider to be an expert around this topic, does not simply tell you to set your tires to, let\u2019s say, 33psi and be done with it. But he gives you the knowledge and resources to figure out what pressures you should use, and how to adjust them from different track conditions and handling issues.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Samir and I did an online course all about tires (\u201ctyres\u201d in his case!), and his approach is by far the best I\u2019ve ever seen. I think you can get most of what you need from the info on his website, but if not, I\u2019d recommend contacting him.<\/p>\n

    \n

    \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Q: \u201cI have a tire question, and I’m sure you have an answer. There is a lot about tires, how to get the best temp or camber or pressure, but I haven’t seen anything about how to figure out the best way to understand the tire, and break it in the best way, and then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-ross","category-driving-tips"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45963"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107855,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45963\/revisions\/107855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}