Track Tac

Tire questions, trying to figure out if I can salvage any of the tires I got in this package.

E

ephenj93

Member
Hey hows it going. New to the Karting deal used to race MX. Picked up a tri set legend thats from 2002. "dunno if that's a decent frame handles well the short bit I've ridden it. Came with a ghost 212 but going to put a built tillotson 212r on it instead. The kart itself Only had one season on it then the guy lost time to race and then had to sell all his kart stuff to these kids I got the kart from and they were just trying to make an extra buck. Anyway I have a bunch of tires def a set of dirt slicks cuz they are super super soft not sure of the name on them its all messed up on the side start with an R though they def old. Bummer is ones good the others way to dry rotted but I got a bunch of other tires 4 of which I think are a medium compound. This got me to thinking cuz we used to do it for a super moto race we would put VHT on our tires before the race and even though you had no heat in the tires yet you could still go into the first corner like it was the 10 lap wide open after the gate dropped. Other riders then started doing it the following year too. So if dirt tires are just softer compounds couldn't you just soak or put VHT on them with saran wrap over some street tires to make the compound break down and soften it up enough for dirt use? Has anyone tried this just to use them up. I'm just back yard racing nothing really serious yet at least. I mean I'm not saying eventually I won't race something but we already have about 15 guys with karts at this dirt oval so it's already a ton of fun.
Let me know what you guys think your all the experts on this stuff sorry if this is a repeated question or a dumb one. Just figured I would try and use up what I have and see if I can use it before spending a ton on tires. Currently it has some treaded ones on the back I havent changed them yet.
 

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Left rear is a burris . pretty common tire theymake slicks also .
Hopefully you have the bumpers and nerf bars .
 
Yeah I have all guards, nerfs, and the body too, extra seat, full set of extra rims with slicks, then a ton of tires some older than others. Back to the tire question is it at all possible to run street tires on dirt even if they are few years old as long as you prep them with say VHT or what ever method you decide to make the compound softer? Figured like I mentioned before if it's possible I'd like to try and save the loot since I have so many extra tires, or am I being a complete super newb and all tires require prep. I read somewhere someone would put kerosene on them, dunno if that works or not, totally looking to hear from you guys since I'm just doing some back yard racing.
 
I have never seen a street tire for a racing kart .
Slicks and treads .
If you have vht its worth trying .
Wd 40 works on burris .
No kerosene .
Nothing beats new tires .
 
Flattop thanks for clearing up some of the terms for me lol. Sorry for being such a newb. Just trying to figure out what slick tire is good on dirt, out of all the ones I have won't hurt to see if I can soften them up myself before buying all new. What slick do you like for dirt?
 
There are certainly much better chemicals for use on tires used in competitive kart racing, but for just tooling around in the backyard, you could mix some diesel, toluene, and transmission fluid together and soften them up to get some backyard life out of them.
Take some time to read through the tire section on this website and you'll gain a lot of insight to the extent of effort and chemicals that kart racers are currently using, as well as some "home-brews" that might be of interest to you until you decide to go all in with kart racing.


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Brian Carlson
Carlson Racing Engines
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34 years of service to the karting industry ~ 1Cor 9:24
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Thanks a ton Carlsonmotorsports, heading over to that section now. Should have done that already used to dirt-bike stuff lol only prep for those is making sure the rim lock is good haha.
 
They all have a place .
At the age of your chassis.
Im going to guess you could have burris and maxxis .
 
Yeah I have a bunch of Maxxis and Burris slicks. Buddy of mine hooked me up with his home brew for his track stuff has done wonders.
 
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