tire compound

[bigbake19703]

Maybe someone could help me with tire compound and weather. Is it better to run a harder compound in the cold like 50 or do you run a softer compound in the cold. I know the softer compound wear faster in the hotter weather like 80 to 90. But is there a like some kind of rule of thump on tire compound and weather conditions.

 

[Matt H]

Generally, softer compounds give more grip at the expense of life. However, in really hot temperatures soft compounds can actually get too hot and thus greasy, thus lowering the overall grip level. With cold temperatures, this isn't an issue. Some people will run more street biased tires in cold temperatures instead of race rubber as street tires heat up more rapidly and take less effort/pace to get them to proper operating temperatures.

 

[Sklossmonster]

The thing about tire compounds is there's a bit of a misnomer when it comes to "soft" and "hard" compounds, really it's all about lower and higher operating temperatures.

The softer the compound, the lower the tire's temperature needs to be to grip according to design. The harder the compound, the higher the necessary operating temperature.

Thus, "softer" compounds for cooler conditions, "harder" compounds for hotter conditions.

One more factor to consider in the equation is that one manufacturer's "hard" compound is another manufacturer's "medium" compound, etc...

And to think when we started this crazy game all we wanted to do was ride!