Nissan 370Z Forum - Shaved tires

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- - Shaved tires (http://www.the370z.com/track-autocross-drifting-dragstrip/60331-shaved-tires.html)

Drove home from track day- fealt like I had two square bricks for rear wheels. I clean off the inside of the rims as melted rubber can unbalance the wheel before I leave the track. When I pulled tires at home to rotate and change pads noticed I had 1/8"- 1/4" built up rubber on inner 1/3 of tire (not on inner shoulder). I took an autobody - 15 tooth flat body file- and shaved off the excess rubber that was clearly not original to Pilot Super Sports. Took my time to not damage tire- left about 1/16" built up rubber and figure that will just wear off pretty quick. Spent about 45-60 minutes per rear tire. Test drive- all OK - ran smooth was happy with results. Tires 16 months old with 18K miles and 12 track days-one more track day at The Glen this season- will do a new set of PSS in spring.
Not sure if how you guys deal with excess rubber but this seemed to work good- I just stayed away from the actual tire.

You might want to get in a habit of cleaning your tires after each session, that should eliminate any rubber build up (get the cheap $2/pair gardening gloves. Plus you might want to consider running more pressure to not overheat the tires so much. You can certainly shave tires, but what is the point of running the PSS and get rid of its treadlife?

Good idea on the garden gloves to clean up between sessions will try at the Glen in a couple weeks.
On pressure - in AM first run drop "cold" to 31-32 psi. check after each session run 37 psi hot. 40 seems to just slide hard rock

I understand, but that would eliminate some of the build up. Also when you start with a higher initial pressure, it shouldn't heat up quite as much. So let say you start with 31 and it gets to 38 hot. When you start with 32, it might only get to 37.5 hot. This is a common mistake people make. You NEVER set tire pressure when it is hot, always start cold and fine tune it. Michelin has a nice little article on how to set tire pressure on their tires. I personally start with the high 30s on my tires, it never gets above 41.

drive them in the rain and they will look like new afterwards.