Wheels for Rain Tires

M

mbtech22

New member
Hello. New to karting and we acquired a set of rain tires which I need to buy some wheels for. These are 5" Vega, 10 x 4.2 and 11 x 6.00. What size wheels should I look for? Birel AM29 with LO206. Thanks in advance.
 
There you go, and you can't beat the price. Might add, Gary is a good guy to do your 206 work as well.
 
Not trying to disrespect anyone, but you certainly don't want to use magnesium wheels under the reain or under cold weather, even if they are low volume. They are good on hot weather, but on wet conditions you will have issues to get the right tire temps using magnesium wheels.
 
In my experience (USPKS wet) wheel material and width are equally important.
You have to have 2 sets anyway, so it only makes sense to have Mag Low-Volume wide for the dry, and Aluminum skinnies for the wet.
 
I don't doubt width is the most important factor, but if you are running a 2 stroke at top level you will never be competitive on magnesium wheels under the rain or extreme cold, same way as you won't be competitive on extreme heat using aluminum wheels, though volume is another factor to consider too. There was a time magnesium wheels were super expensive and they banned them, but as long as they are allowed they are the choice on hot weather, but will not get the right tire temps on wet tracks. I have spent last summers testing over 30 sets of tires on my KZ and I can assure you wheel material is not overrated at all, at least not to be fast when competition is tough.
 
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I’ve personally won national events in the rain by large margins on magnesium wheels. I guess I would’ve lapped everyone if I had aluminum. Or it’s not a big deal. Get your pyrometer out when it’s 50° and raining and tell me if you see if difference in your tire temps with each wheel. “Perfect is the enemy of good”
 
gary10 said:
I’ve personally won national events in the rain by large margins on magnesium wheels. I guess I would’ve lapped everyone if I had aluminum. Or it’s not a big deal. Get your pyrometer out when it’s 50° and raining and tell me if you see if difference in your tire temps with each wheel. “Perfect is the enemy of good”
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With all respect for your National championships and othe accomplishments If I say I was testing over 30 sets of tires at different tracks in Europe it shouldn't be very difficult to know that we were using plenty of data, including and especially tire temps, not just tire pressures. Tire pressure grows way faster too on alluminum. We were testing on KZ shifter karts, Modena engines, multiple different tire brands and compounds, multiple tracks. Some days on wet tracks too, of course, on both slick and rain tires. Maybe I haven't won so many nationals as you but I have probably ran more kinds of karts and engines you have. What engines are you talking about? /low power 4 cycles are not so demanding on tires, in fact you can run way harder compounds at many tracks compared to higher power 2 strokes or my Wankel too. Go to a World Championship and You will see what perfect means when you are trying to get extra thousandths, not even tenths, and when you are paying way over $20,000 a race to a team. Of course at 50 degrees and raining I can see a difference in temp and pressure built.
 
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Kenan Thompson Popcorn GIF by Saturday Night Live
 
gary10 said:
“Hello…I’m new to karting and racing a Birel 206….”

Me- Here, these wheels will work fine.
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I didn't mean they wouldn't work at all, but why spending the extra money on magnesium when alluminum would work better? "New to karting and we acquired a set of rain tires".
 
gary10 said:
The magnesium wheels I proposed are 268. The cast aluminum rain wheels are 320-340 depending on brand.
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Interesting because given similar build quality and size magnesium are more expensive. If that's the case might work good for him.
 
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