Tires blistering

jacobsdad

Member
After cleaning my daughters tires I noticed the surface looked rough. On the inside edge of the right rear it was showing a ridge if thin rubber that was raised like it was peeling off. She is running on 1/8 mile dirt oval, 360 pounds on a legend kart. Punk Maxxis rights. In the feature race I could hear some squealing from her tires.
So, am I running the kart too right, too much prep or wrong air pressure. Or all of the above? She was loose coming off the turns. She couldn’t tell and I couldn’t tell by looking if it was pushing or loose she just knew it was coming off too high on the track and she couldn’t bring it down. I am planning on loosening her up a little to see if that corrects the problem but got today I’m curious about the tire wear. It is time for a new set, but I hope to get a few more weeks out of these!
 
Yes just the inside edge right along where the sidewall and tire surface meet. I took pictures but it says they are too large to post. Not sure how to reduce size on this phone.
 
Yes just the inside edge right along where the sidewall and tire surface meet. I took pictures but it says they are too large to post. Not sure how to reduce size on this phone.
As mentioned a Maxxis that is working real close for conditions will do that, was what She felt was loose off the same almost the entire race or start later in the race and get worse ?
 
so my set of maxxis ht3 had the same thing last race,but was more across the whole tire (right sides), kart looked like it had some what of a 4wheel slide up the track coming out of turn, from midddle to end of turn 2. I know not much info but any insight would be appreciated
 
The loose off was pretty much the same all the race. She thought she was coming into the corner good. At the halfway mark out she couldn’t hold it low, looked like 4 wheel drift coming off. At the very end of the corner she was drifting sideways. She started in 14th place in the feature and made her way to 4th. She was running faster than the third place kart but couldn’t stay with him off the corners. Every time she got beside him to pass he would swerve into her, so to save the kart she backed off and stayed in 4th place. So it was hard to tell how it handled the last 4 laps because she slowed down at that point. The other guy got a black flag warning. But yes the kart handled about the same the entire race. Her kart died in the heat race so she didn’t get much of an idea on handleling early in the night.
And the surface of the tires don’t have the smooth feel they usually do, they have a rough texture.
 
so my set of maxxis ht3 had the same thing last race,but was more across the whole tire (right sides), kart looked like it had some what of a 4wheel slide up the track coming out of turn, from midddle to end of turn 2. I know not much info but any insight would be appreciated
so my set of maxxis ht3 had the same thing last race,but was more across the whole tire (right sides), kart looked like it had some what of a 4wheel slide up the track coming out of turn, from midddle to end of turn 2. I know not much info but any insight would be appreciated
If it was whole way across Tire it was sliding most likely to hard, not enough prep, to much air, combination of all above possibly, For it to feather all the way across it would of had to be way to soft, 4 wheel drift is sign of to much left % age.
Give better details on Tires as raced ? What chassis ? Class ? current set-up ? Describe track condition ?
 
Well we were not exactly ready for the raving season so I don’t have much information! I had not worked on the kart when I should have, she had applied to study overseas for the first part of the summer. That fell through so the racing was on but with all she is involved in we haven’t had time to get ready.
Tires are the Maxxis pinks and blues That came with the kart when we bought it last year. They have 2 seasons on them. Prepped outside with Uncle Franks Moonshine, no inside prep. Running an older Legend kart in unrestricted clone class. She is 370 on the scales. Tire pressure is at 7 left 8 right. We have dropped air pressure in the past and lost speed so we usually start at 7 and 8. 1/8 mile high banked dirt oval. It was about 55 or 60 degrees out.
I suspect our left side is too high, she was light on the scale so I threw 10 pounds in the left and 5 pounds on the right.
 
jr1class. tires looked grainy after run if that makes sense, After talking to some other guys I believe i had to much air, the medium and heavy guys was on about 3 pounds less then what i had my son on.
 
The loose off was pretty much the same all the race. She thought she was coming into the corner good. At the halfway mark out she couldn’t hold it low, looked like 4 wheel drift coming off. At the very end of the corner she was drifting sideways. She started in 14th place in the feature and made her way to 4th. She was running faster than the third place kart but couldn’t stay with him off the corners. Every time she got beside him to pass he would swerve into her, so to save the kart she backed off and stayed in 4th place. So it was hard to tell how it handled the last 4 laps because she slowed down at that point. The other guy got a black flag warning. But yes the kart handled about the same the entire race. Her kart died in the heat race so she didn’t get much of an idea on handleling early in the night.
And the surface of the tires don’t have the smooth feel they usually do, they have a rough texture.
The fact you heard tires chirping and the handling was off the entire race, sounds like the tires were little to soft for conditions.
 
Well we were not exactly ready for the raving season so I don’t have much information! I had not worked on the kart when I should have, she had applied to study overseas for the first part of the summer. That fell through so the racing was on but with all she is involved in we haven’t had time to get ready.
Tires are the Maxxis pinks and blues That came with the kart when we bought it last year. They have 2 seasons on them. Prepped outside with Uncle Franks Moonshine, no inside prep. Running an older Legend kart in unrestricted clone class. She is 370 on the scales. Tire pressure is at 7 left 8 right. We have dropped air pressure in the past and lost speed so we usually start at 7 and 8. 1/8 mile high banked dirt oval. It was about 55 or 60 degrees out.
I suspect our left side is too high, she was light on the scale so I threw 10 pounds in the left and 5 pounds on the right.
When you say Legend Kart, that's the make or Model of a Regular Kart chassis ? Or a complete different Beast ?
 
I don’t know our current setup. We have not had a chance to scale it this year yet. Between my work schedule, her cheerleading, sports, FFA, honor society, speech, FCCLA, we don’t get much shop time together. I am going to start her at 55 left 55 cross 45 front and see where it goes from there. Last year that was close. We dropped the cross to about 47 for our best results, but she is in a heavier class this year. Going from 310 minimum to 360 minimum.
 
Last edited:
I don’t know our current setup. We have not had a chance to scale it this year yet. Between my work schedule, her cheerleading, sports, FFA, honor society, speech, FCCLA, we don’t get much shop time together. I am going to start her at 55 left 55 cross 45 front and see where it goes from there. Last year that was close. We dropped the cross to about 47 for our best results, but she is in a heavier class this year. Going from 310 minimum to 360 minimum.
With the heavier weight might want to start little more left, keep cross same as left nose could be little more than 45 %, I would get some Internal in those Maxxis and Re-Surface them, If they were never flipped on the wheel flip them.
 
That sounds like a good plan. She just got home so we should be able to have some quality shop time tonight. We also need to service the kart. Change oil, clean clutch, check bearings, clean and oil chain.
 
If its just the inner edge, that edge is probably wore out. When the edge is gone, you get pretty thin rubber there that will start to "eat" off the tire. This is the reason people flip their tires often.
 
Back
Top