What do you make of this tire wear pattern?

[myBailey07]

Had new Toyo RA1 tires out at Circuit of the America's for three days and this is the wear pattern. What do you make of it? I did not have the tires shaved down and started tracking them at full thread, have -2.5 camber and started them out 32psi cold on first session and then 38psi hot after every session?

All four tires look like this...??

Tire pressure wrong? Camber? Just normal wear for how the thread blocks wear off if not shaven? Never see anything like this...

[Richbot]

Looks normal for full tread. You will see more even wear (though they still won't last as long) with a shaved tire.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Think you had serious steering wheel vibration with tires in this condition .
Looks like they saw too much heat .

[bigjae1976]

That's pretty normal for NT01s which have been overheated. R888s are essentially the same tire as the NT01. But you're close to the cords, probably due for a flip.

[roastbeef]

i'm no track expert, but it looks like feathering from a toe in. have you checked your alignment lately?

[aus]

You working your front tires to slow down in turns as you turn?
But that wouldn't explain the rears. Looks like you drove the hell out of those tires.

[Richbot]

It's my understanding from running this tire back when Spec Miata was on it and there was good engineering info on the tire, that the tread wear pattern you see on the outside blocks is from the whole block flexing and heating up internally from flexing because they were run in the dry at full tread. Think of each block, turning about 800-2000 rpm, flexing each time it smacks the pavement and then each time it is unloaded again. As you wear into the tire you get less flex but you also continue to heat cycle that portion of the tread and it basically heat cycles faster than the rest of the tire. This was one of the reasons they went with the larger block tread design and shallower molded depth they did on the R888 (which was a botched design IMO, for other reasons...)

[myBailey07]

Thanks guys, good feedback, as always! Had my suspension fully checked out this week and all seems fine. Must have been a combination of the way the RA1's wear as mentioned, little less camber than they like, and the fact that I drove the crap out of them at COTA. Sunday I did 5 sessions doubling up yellow and red groups back to back with only a few minutes grid time in between. Guess that put a lot of strain and heat in them. Also, yes, there are a few turns at COTA where I definitely used the front tires and turning to scrub speed if coming in slightly hot rather than braking.

I flipped them this week and will see how they behave at TWS this weekend ;-)

Later...

[Patrón]

Originally Posted by myBailey07

Thanks guys, good feedback, as always! Had my suspension fully checked out this week and all seems fine. Must have been a combination of the way the RA1's wear as mentioned, little less camber than they like, and the fact that I drove the crap out of them at COTA. Sunday I did 5 sessions doubling up yellow and red groups back to back with only a few minutes grid time in between. Guess that put a lot of strain and heat in them. Also, yes, there are a few turns at COTA where I definitely used the front tires and turning to scrub speed if coming in slightly hot rather than braking.

I flipped them this week and will see how they behave at TWS this weekend ;-)

Later...

That is a lot of track time at COTA. you are soon going to be an instructor!