We know that slick tyres offer more grip than grooved ones.
Then, I want to know why they are illegal to use on regular road cars ?
Slick Tyres on road cars ?
Started by
Indian Chief
, Aug 13 1999 10:02
11 replies to this topic
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#2
baddog
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Posted 13 August 1999 - 11:35
because of their performance in rain or on less than perfect road surfaces
Shaun
Shaun
#3
narhuit
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Posted 13 August 1999 - 15:57
May I say it in another way... Road car simply have to use all weather tyres.
And may I add, the grooves on rain (or all weather) tyres totally differ from the grooves that have been introduced in F1: the F1 grooves cannot drain water; these tyres are as useless as slick tyres when it rains; rain (or all weather) grooves are meant to drain water so that the rubber can be in direct contact with the ground, or else, if there is water between the rubber and the ground, the car is aquaplanning.
And may I add, the grooves on rain (or all weather) tyres totally differ from the grooves that have been introduced in F1: the F1 grooves cannot drain water; these tyres are as useless as slick tyres when it rains; rain (or all weather) grooves are meant to drain water so that the rubber can be in direct contact with the ground, or else, if there is water between the rubber and the ground, the car is aquaplanning.
#4
MrAerodynamicist
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Posted 13 August 1999 - 17:13
I might (probabily) am wrong but I believe their greater grip means that the car would tend to wonder about the road and need more steering corrections. Not that it's a biggest enough reason to ban them.
#5
V Squared
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Posted 13 August 1999 - 20:34
Remember also that in order to provide grip, slick tires must be hot. If you ever watch Champ car racing, following a stint with the safety car out (where the cars are only going about 80mph) on the restart there are often numerous accidents where the driver has overestimated the grip he'll get.
When slicks are cold they offer almost no grip.
Also remember that another issue that provides grip are the soft rubber compounds used.
Instead of getting 25,000 miles on a set of tires, you'd be lucky to get 1000. And by the end of the tire life they would be more dangerous than anything !!
When slicks are cold they offer almost no grip.
Also remember that another issue that provides grip are the soft rubber compounds used.
Instead of getting 25,000 miles on a set of tires, you'd be lucky to get 1000. And by the end of the tire life they would be more dangerous than anything !!
#6
narhuit
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Posted 13 August 1999 - 22:56
MrAero - I somewhat agree: too much grip would be too difficult for a "regular" road driver to handle.
VSquared - Any tyre needs to be hot to be efficient; grooves or no grooves; wet or dry; racing car or road car.
VSquared - Any tyre needs to be hot to be efficient; grooves or no grooves; wet or dry; racing car or road car.
#7
Pascal
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Posted 14 August 1999 - 09:08
About a decade ago, the Japanese tyre-manufacturer Yokohama introduced what has been to date the design closest to what slicks on the road would look like, as the treads were kept to a decorative minimum. Their A008R tyre I'm talking about was a direct evolution of their A008 asymetrical design, and though very impressive in its performances it failed miserably on the marketplace...
The reason was excessive wear. Race cars only have to run at most a few hundred kilometres on one set of tyres. But try telling a customer that he would have to change tyres on his road car every 5,000 km, and you're likely to get laughter in return... That's exactly what happened.
The reason was excessive wear. Race cars only have to run at most a few hundred kilometres on one set of tyres. But try telling a customer that he would have to change tyres on his road car every 5,000 km, and you're likely to get laughter in return... That's exactly what happened.
#8
DangerMouse
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Posted 14 August 1999 - 10:57
The grip when cold thing has more to do with the compound of the tyre rather then whether it's a slick or not, tread on road cars tyres isn't just to disperse water, the tread has a controlled amount of "squirm" to encourage the generation of heat in the tyre, that's why worn tyres perform badly in the damp where you'd not expect them to be at a disadvantage (you only need lots of tread to disperse standing water right?) wrong! the worn tyre in the wet runs too cool and lacks grip for that reason - let a couple of PSI out and bingo your grip is back!
The aforementioned Yokohamas had a much softer compound than most road tyres (I loved 'em!) and therefore they do not need or indeed have much in the way of tread - if they did, they'd overheat!
Sports bike tyres are interesting at the moment, they are softer than F1 tyres and often have very little (read bare legal requirements) in the way of tread, the tyres on my Bike (Michelin Pilot Races) are actually slick past a certain angle of lean! and where there is tread there's not much! - lots of fun in the wet!! saying that they are a road legal race tyre anyway rather than a full on road tyre!
[This message has been edited by DangerMouse (edited 08-14-1999).]
The aforementioned Yokohamas had a much softer compound than most road tyres (I loved 'em!) and therefore they do not need or indeed have much in the way of tread - if they did, they'd overheat!
Sports bike tyres are interesting at the moment, they are softer than F1 tyres and often have very little (read bare legal requirements) in the way of tread, the tyres on my Bike (Michelin Pilot Races) are actually slick past a certain angle of lean! and where there is tread there's not much! - lots of fun in the wet!! saying that they are a road legal race tyre anyway rather than a full on road tyre!
[This message has been edited by DangerMouse (edited 08-14-1999).]
#9
MvT
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Posted 16 August 1999 - 21:38
Just a bit of trivia
I read once that in normal rain, your average tyre on your average car needs to disperse 4 1/2 litres of water per second to maintain contact with the road. In heavy rain (I'm talking downpour here) the tyre needs to disperse 9 litres of water per second. The only thing that can remove that water is the tread.
I read once that in normal rain, your average tyre on your average car needs to disperse 4 1/2 litres of water per second to maintain contact with the road. In heavy rain (I'm talking downpour here) the tyre needs to disperse 9 litres of water per second. The only thing that can remove that water is the tread.
#10
Indian Chief
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Posted 17 August 1999 - 09:33
Alex Zanardi once mentioned that these Bridgestone tyres are harder than those used on road cars.
Is this true ?
Is this true ?
#11
Martin
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Posted 19 August 1999 - 13:53
IC - You must have noticed that here in India it appears that most of the trucks and buses (and too many cars) are already running on slicks. Judging by the number of wrecks littering the highways these don't seem to improve roadholding!
#12
Keith Sawatsky
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Posted 23 August 1999 - 01:29
Hoosier now manufacturers a "street" slick...if you can call it that.
It passes DOT safety regulations, has "minimum" tread requirements (like a current F1 tire...4 grooves...very shallow depth)and offers incredible roadholding. One of my clients has a set on his Hennessy Viper...it will be interesing to see what their treadwear life is in "real world" use.
It passes DOT safety regulations, has "minimum" tread requirements (like a current F1 tire...4 grooves...very shallow depth)and offers incredible roadholding. One of my clients has a set on his Hennessy Viper...it will be interesing to see what their treadwear life is in "real world" use.
