How hard is it to burn a set of tyres?!

[theyoungen]

Not really sure if this is so much an 'Advanced Driving' question as a 'Specialist Driving' question. Still, no doubt Darren will move it if it's in the wrong place.

My question, to anyone who knows, is roughly how long can one spend powersliding, spinning the drive wheels and generally driving like Jeremy Clarkson before bits start needing to be replaced?

Fear not - I'm not about to do this on a public road!! I'm doing some filming for my degree in a press car (model tbc) on a local airfield. For all intents & purposes, I'm making an episode of Top Gear, complete with all the automotive lunacy that goes with it.

What I don't want to do is do a couple of dohnuts, and then find the car's illegal to drive home. Not to mention the cost of a new set of tyres!!

I realise it's impossible to give an exact answer, but I wondered if anyone knew whether I'd get a few days, a day, half a day, a couple of hours, or a matter of minutes of crazy driving out of the tyres.

...or the clutch!!

[SammyTheSnake]

Not to mention the cost of a new set of tyres!!

I've never done more than a tiny bit of skidding / wheelspinning, so I don't know what figures you're likely to get, but wear rates vary a *lot* between different tyre compounds, so I reckon you're best off finding the hardest tyre compound you can get hold of cheaply, giving it all you've got, then changing back to your normal tyres for going home.

Using a hard compound gives two benefits, 1) you'll get more use out of them, 2) they'll lose grip more easily and therefore give you more skiddy powerslidey fun more easily and with less harsh treatment of the rest of the car. (the harder tyres may even be cheaper, too)

Cheers & God bless
Sam "SammyTheSnake" Penny

[theyoungen]

Thanks!

Unfortunatly I won't have any control over the tyre compund. It'll be whatever the manufacturer put on it. Normally, the press cars I've had have had standard road tyres on, usually made by a 'big' name company.

It's a no-budget film, with the exception of fuel, so replacing anything would cause a bit of a problem!

[vonhosen]

You can get a brand new set of tyres down to metal in a morning easy

[jont]

It will have as much to do with the airfield surface as the tyres. Airfield surfaces are usually very abrasive - the better to help plane tyres grip. And they do tend to shred tyres. I've done a couple of events organised by Chelmsford Motor club at West Raynham airfield. It's run as a series of short tests around the airfield, most quite tight. A typical event mileage might be only 20 miles. I've gone from 5mm to illegal doing that (lots of power understeer, handbrake turns - generally hooning around like the topgear people, but at lower speeds). Most people take at least 1 set of spare tyres. This year the event is running again, but I'm not competing as I don't want to risk an illegal drive home (I haven't got any spare wheels for my current car) If you're planning on lots of powersliding, donuts etc, then you may well get through a set of rear tyres.

If you can find out the wheel sizes (as in wheel bolts pattern), get hold of some wheels and tyres from a scrappy. Who cares if they are illegal if you're only using them on an airfield. Most wheels are 4 or 5 stud, with something called the PCD describing the diameter of the circle the bolts are on. Common sizes might be 4x100 (ie 4 holes 100mm PCD) or 5x114.

Other tricks - swap the front and rears halfway round as the driven wheels will wear faster. And if you can't get hold of any spares, keep a close eye on the tread and stop when you get down to 2mm!

Have fun!

[theyoungen]

Thanks guys. I think it'll have to be a short 'n' sweet filming session!!

Good idea about going to a scrap yard. Trouble is most manufacturers I've dealt with tend to put at least 18" wheels on their press cars, so I imagine wheels/tyres would be a bit tricky to acquire from a scrap dealer. It'd probably be even harder if we end up with the Westfield! Worth a try though.

I've yet to actually drive on the airstrip, but the surface did seem quite rough under foot when I walked up it. It's in very good condition though, despite having been disused for over 20 years.

Even though that location is really good, maybe we'd do better to petition some of the smaller racing circuits (complete with nice, smooth, tyre-friendly tarmac) to give us a couple of hours free if we put a big "WITH THANKS" at the end. Who knows...

[Roadcraft]

Thought this was a Winnie Mandela thread ?

[jont]

Good idea about going to a scrap yard. Trouble is most manufacturers I've dealt with tend to put at least 18" wheels on their press cars, so I imagine wheels/tyres would be a bit tricky to acquire from a scrap dealer. It'd probably be even harder if we end up with the Westfield!

You won't find any alloys in a scrappy (not cheaply anyway). But wheel size is only dictated by the brake calipers. Just because they can have 18" wheels doesn't mean they need them (unless you're getting something seriously exotic ). If the brakes are the same as the base model with 15" then you might find some that fit. It won't look very pretty on film though (although if the tyres are hidden by smoke....)

[vonhosen]

Use the spare steel wheels on the airfield, save the alloys.

[PeteG]

I was going to say, if it's something (for arguments sake, my mum's 307). As standard it comes with 15" wheels, you could spec it up to 17s, but the 15s will retrofit since nothing else is swapped.
Also, quite often, different cars from the same manufacturer have the same wheel fitting - Astra wheels on a Corsa, for example.

[theyoungen]

Just for argument's sake, I tried to find out how much (or little) a new set of tyres for a Focus ST (one of the possible cars) would cost. Including fitting, the best price I could find was £300.

If small, cheap wheels could be fitted, I might change the focus of the film and make it a comedy! Imagine that - a Focus ST with standard 18" alloy wheels rolling 'round on a set of 14" Fiesta steels!!

I do think the answer is going to be to just keep the filming as short as possible and, as already suggested, stop when we get to 2mm.

[theyoungen]

Oh, and if they send us the Ferrari 430, a new set's £574.66!! That's half my student loan for the term!!!

[James]

It may be worth investing money in a set of decent tyres. I know you son't have much funding but a set of 4 Yokohama's on Ebay can't be that much money, and that way you have all the fun you need, they should last longer and you have the original tyres to put back on afterwards.

[nuster100]

If your talking doghnuts and powerslides in a RWD car, your rear tyres will be gone within 10 mins. The best bet would be to see if you can trailer the car back after you have torn the rubber from the rimms or fork out for 2 new tires.

The focus ST you mention is FWD though, so in order to get that sideways, you will need the scandinavian flick with lift-off overstear. The dissadvantage being that you are shreading all 4 tyres as opposed to 2 on a rwd car.

Hope This Helps

Jay

[TripleS]

You can get a brand new set of tyres down to metal in a morning easy

<makes mental note not to lend old CUBby to Von>

Best wishes all,
Dave.