Tires not staying soft.

intimidator3

New member
I am kind of new to softening tires and having some difficulty. I have burris 33s that are older. The lefts are like 2005 or 6 and rights are 2011s.I am trying to get them to punch in the 40s. The rights were punching 65 and left front 60. The left rear was punching 52.

I am using track tac grape. I roughed the tires up with a sander. I prepped many coats. Got them down to 55 rights....50 left front...

Couldn't get them any lower...so I took an electric heat gun and got them hot and then prepped. Got left front to 46 and rights to 50/52. Once the tire cools...rights go back to 55.....

Stuck now and can't get them lower
Any thoughts or ideas? Wrong prep?
Is this normal for older tires?
And I do not have a tire roller or hot box so no way to prep internally
 
I cant' speak for Trac Tac, but I would think you could get your 33s down lower with grape than you have.

Of course they were punching softer when they were warm...all tires will do that. Try to be consistent about temperature when you check them with a duro.
Room temperature works for the most part.

There certainly are other brands of prep that will soften your tires more/quicker than grape...but if you choose to stick with TT products, you might consider BTGP or Topaz as an alternative to grape (I believe you'll get better/longer lasting results with either.) Give Chris a call at Trac Tac -- he (and Randy) knows their prep better than anyone.

It could also be that your tires are simply "dry" - that is, out of natural oils in them (think pencil eraser - sure you can get them soft, but there's just no grip in a soft dry tire.)

Our Monster Bite will get you down in duro and it will stay down (even through several heat cycles.) Krug Green, goat pee, etc will also bring them down lower and quickly.

If I can answer any questions about our prep line, please feel free to call our shop.



-----
Thanks and God bless,
Brian Carlson
Carlson Racing Engines
Vector Cutz
www.CarlsonMotorsports.com
26 years of service to the karting industry
765-339-4407
bcarlson@CarlsonMotorsports.com
 
I would guess that by now that set of tires is way overprepped for most track conditions. If you do anything else to them, try rolling the grape internally and keep that set for a wet track or low bite, but even then there are better tire choices to be on than 33's. Best way I have found to soften a set 15 points or more is to use an aggressive softener, apply heat then wipe, apply heat then wipe again, repeat as needed. I prefer Palmetto Extreme Green for softening, but with Track Tac products BTGP would be my choice.
 
I like the BTGP Red over Grape for softening but I like them them mixed 50/50 more than I like either one by itself. With the Red and Grape mix you should be able to take them as soft as you want them. There comes a time when a tire can get "preplogged" once its been wiped with many coats. When this happens the best thing to do is either let them sit for a week or two or to run them on the track, this will knock off everything on the surface and put the tire through a heat cycle. I experience that from time to time with Black Sand and on prepped tires.
 
If you haven't run them on the track and are just preping them to get them down ... I'd say its time to run them once get a good heat cycle threw them ... Not very experienced with 33s but ive had Vegas drop 10 points after running them a heat lap session
 
2011 33's punching 65 are worth some money depending on the depth. If it were me, I'd get a newer set to soften and leave the older ones hard. 30-60 thousanths flat cut rubber like that is valued in bigger money shows when the track bites up and you aren't allowed to run anything else but 33's.

I like bgtp and sqs inside and bgtp outside to soften a 33 way up. I'm not a fan of grape. But each person has what they like and what works best with them in their area. I also suggest refinishing the tire before prepping them.

Later,

WV Race Fan
 
intimidator3, been two racing weekends since you asked bout it and tonight's the 3rd.

Did anything offered help you out?

Did you do anything and if you did, did anything change?

How bout some feed back on it, so everyone can learn with you.
 
Sorry about not replying. I had krug green. I used it. Softened them down to like 48 to 50 rights and left rear. Ran them and they were junk. Must have had way too much prep in them because I was going nowhere. Just in the way and slow. I let the tires sit two weeks. The left rear stayed the same and the rights went back to 55. The kart was great though this past week but the track was super dry. I feel like I won't see these track conditions again for a while. So I still want them a tad softer.
 
Have you used tire tuff mint on them? I love the mint but I have learned that you need to soften them before you put mint on because it seems to prevent them from softening after.
 
Have you used tire tuff mint on them? I love the mint but I have learned that you need to soften them before you put mint on because it seems to prevent them from softening after.

This is what I liked about the mint....i would get the tires to the duro I wanted them to stay at then hit them with a few coats of mint, then let them sit for at least a week to cure. Once they cured, those tires would stay within 2 points of that duro no matter how aggressive of a prep I threw at them. It worked really well for me. So if you have used tires that seem to not want to soften at all below a certain duro no matter what, its possible whoever had them before has worked them with Mint and not much you do will change them. Thats just my opinion
 
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