Good tires for IMI?

[Auron]

I ride a CBR600F4, and I'm used to DOT race tires for Peublo and formerly SCR but I get a funny feeling I can't get them hot enough at IMI. Overkill perhaps? Especially the soft compounds. I'm considering an ultra high performance street tire like Pilot Powers but only if it would actually be better. Is it possible that the nature of IMI is better suited to street tires? or race compounds all the way? The fastest I've gone at IMI is just quick enough to knee drag in most of the corners and that's if I'm feeling pretty good and the track is in good shape, otherwise I'm just out sporting around.

[rybo]

I sure wouldn't buy tires specifically for IMI. That being said, getting heat into tires there has never been a problem for me.

The current breed of High Performance street tires is really impressive. I have pilot powers on my street bike right now and have done several track days on them at IMI and big tracks (PMP, Road America etc) without issue. If you're doing street duty on the bike at all I would say get a street tire and just leave it on for track days.

Any of the following tires are probably overkill for pure street duty and a good tire for a street/trackday mix

Michellin Pilot Power (regular and 2ct)
Bridgestone BT012ss or BT014

These are tires I've had on my bike and ridden with on a racetrack.

Dunlop Qualifier
Metzeler M3

These are tires that I know people have and like.

There are several others that I don't have any direct experience with.

Best to you.

[konichd]

Pirrelli Corsa 3's are the new black!

[rybo]

Pirrelli Corsa 3's are the new black!

Wow...a tried and true Qualifier guy converts.

I THINK the corsa 3 and the Metzeler M3 are essentially the same tire, and I've heard good things about both but haven't ridden on either.

[konichd]

Yup, as soon as I'm back from Utah TFOG is going to hook me up!

[Fly boy]

My Pirelli Diablo's are sweet on that track

[albinohickey]

Yeah but those are all still high performance street/track day tires. He's wondering about DOT race tires.

I also worry about IMI getting DOTs hot enough to really stick. I'd say once it's warm enough it wont be a problem (say from May on?). Of course this will be my first season on DOTs and I'm really not sure. What are you running?

I want to get some seat time on my new track bike before the MRA school, but the iffy surface and small size makes me worried about heating up my supercorsa pros. I don't need a binned bike before the season even starts

[Sully]

Hey Scott - how long would you say your Pilot Powers last you, mileage wise ?

[rybo]

Sully,

It really depends how many track days I do on them. If I stick to the canyons on the street bike I have gotten as much as 4500-5000 out of them. The last couple sets of tires have had a bunch of track days and I'm going through in about 3500.

The last set of tires I had on it weren't worn out tread wise, but were done in the heat cycle department. They went from being REALLY good, even when cold, to really scary and unpredictable almost overnight.


For everyone else...

I've never had any problem getting heat into the tires at IMI, slicks, dots, streets, whatever. I would say that it's less of an issue there beacasue you are always turning or on the brakes. High speeds do not equal high tire temps, and at pueblo I would suspect that your tires are COOLING during the longer straights. What really puts heat into the tires is stress. Braking, turning, accelerating. There is a lot of that at IMI, so tire heat shouldn't be a problem there. Take it easy for a few laps, let you, your bike and your tires warm up.

If you're going racing then go ahead and get yourself some DOT's, you'll be fine at IMI on them. If you aren't, do yourself a favor and get street tires. They are better in the conditions you'll ride in 90% of the time and will be just fine for you on the track. I suspect that 95+% of us (me included) would do roughly the same lap times on street tires at ANY track as we would on DOT race tires. Hell....I've got two sets of wheels, anyone want to buy me a set of DOT's and a set of High Performance Street tires from the same brand and let me try it out? My lap timer is set to go.

[Sully]

Thanks Scott.. I think I got about 4K out of my last rear (just before the nail punctured it)... and my front, maybe 5K-ish... <sigh>.... Of course mine tend to wear out more in the center since I have about 35 miles one way to get to any type of twisty

[rybo]

Yeah, I understand your plight. I used to live over there, and really where I am now is only slightly better. It's about 20 miles to the enterence to HWY 34 in Loveland, that gets me up to Estes....which reminds me, I need to put up a ride and road report!

[Auron]

I was on Pilot race soft's when I had my first crash ever in 10 years on the second lap on a January IMI day. They were old too, serves me right I suppose. I like the idea of only using DOT's in the summer. DOT's are designed to be used with tire warmers and without them on a track like IMI takes a while to heat up.

-Everything RYBO said seems correct except tires are not cooling on that 1/4 mile Pueblo staightaway. That's a constant stretch of full power forcing that contact patch to flex over and over again and that's what builds heat. The front tire at Pueblo heats up real fast because there is a ton of braking unlike IMI where you are always turning, but unless there is lots of acceleration and braking to heat up the tires it can be difficult to build enough heat to generate the kind of corner speed that causes enough flex to heat up the tire to. Clear as mud?

[irdave]

IMI = Pirelli take-offs. But then again, the street = Pirelli take-offs. I suppose I buy take-offs and just change them 4 or 5 times a year so that I always have rather good (www.rathergood.com and look for bananas to start with) tires. I'll do 4 or 5 track days on a set and sell them to someone not going very fast on the street or just recycle them...