• Welcome to the Ford Mustang forum built for owners of the Mustang GT350, BOSS 302, GT500, and all other S550, S197, SN95, Fox Body and older Mustangs set up for open track days, road racing, and/or autocross. Join our forum, interact with others, share your build, and help us strengthen this community!

Nankang AR1

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Hi Guys,

Just looking for a bit of advise on tire wear/condition and if there is anything i need to worry about, i had tires on the car for about 12 months now and have used them about 3 times now doing circuit work and also have rotated them as it is a square 305 setup that im running. During this time rotation i have noticed that all 4 tires have blue ring on the outside and also what looks like a cut or a joint line in the middle, there is plenty of tread on the tires as you can see from the photos, just not sure what this could be from?

I had car sit on my race car trailer for about 8 months after it had done 2 track days parked in the garage, where the cold temperatures during winter would get as low as 59F and then it would get to 77F during the day. The last 2 track days the temps would be as high as 94F.

I have seen tire pressures at 26-28 psi hot, am i running them too low? do i need to start off with that as a cold reading instead? What should be ideal pressure setting at hot? or ideal PSI increase from cold to hot?

@blacksheep-1 your input and wisdom would be greatly appreciated on this ;) :)
20231008_060657.jpg20231008_060901.jpg20231008_060939.jpg20231008_060951.jpg20231008_060958.jpg20231008_061011.jpg20231008_061018.jpg
 

blacksheep-1

Epic Contributor
Hi Guys,

Just looking for a bit of advise on tire wear/condition and if there is anything i need to worry about, i had tires on the car for about 12 months now and have used them about 3 times now doing circuit work and also have rotated them as it is a square 305 setup that im running. During this time rotation i have noticed that all 4 tires have blue ring on the outside and also what looks like a cut or a joint line in the middle, there is plenty of tread on the tires as you can see from the photos, just not sure what this could be from?

I had car sit on my race car trailer for about 8 months after it had done 2 track days parked in the garage, where the cold temperatures during winter would get as low as 59F and then it would get to 77F during the day. The last 2 track days the temps would be as high as 94F.

I have seen tire pressures at 26-28 psi hot, am i running them too low? do i need to start off with that as a cold reading instead? What should be ideal pressure setting at hot? or ideal PSI increase from cold to hot?

@blacksheep-1 your input and wisdom would be greatly appreciated on this ;) :)
I'm at a tire test today...
That blue ring is pretty common, but it is not a really good thing. Some our slicks for that after heat cycling, after sitting for a week or more. I think it is basically the chemicals working their way out of the tire. Truth is, with sitting that long outside,with those temp variances,they might be toast. If you look up " rehabbing old race tires" in search, you might be able to bring them back to life for a little while.
With regards to pressures, I'd check the mfg recomendations for hot pressures, then start them about 8 psi under that. Run about 8 laps and bleed them down to the hot psi.
 
I'm at a tire test today...
That blue ring is pretty common, but it is not a really good thing. Some our slicks for that after heat cycling, after sitting for a week or more. I think it is basically the chemicals working their way out of the tire. Truth is, with sitting that long outside,with those temp variances,they might be toast. If you look up " rehabbing old race tires" in search, you might be able to bring them back to life for a little while.
With regards to pressures, I'd check the mfg recomendations for hot pressures, then start them about 8 psi under that. Run about 8 laps and bleed them down to the hot psi.
Yea ill look into that, The blue ring i only noticed after last months track day #3. It also looks like im running way too low pressures according to mfg info that i just quickly googled. :( So will be bumping that up to atleast minimum of 34PSI

Any idea on the centre cut line? what that could be or cause of it?
1696713539268.png
 

blacksheep-1

Epic Contributor
Yea ill look into that, The blue ring i only noticed after last months track day #3. It also looks like im running way too low pressures according to mfg info that i just quickly googled. :( So will be bumping that up to atleast minimum of 34PSI

Any idea on the centre cut line? what that could be or cause of it?
View attachment 90487
Remember it's the hot psi that dictates the cold, not the other way around. It doesn't matter what you start at, as long as you get to the correct hot psi.
That cut looks like debris, I wouldn't worry too much about it, just keep looking at it.
 

PaddyPrix

If breakin' parts is cool, consider me Miles Davis
I found them liking things around 31-32# hot with a decent camber starting off around 23-24 cold, and recall having delamination issues on fresh tires a few times. They started off quick and I thought they were a great bang/buck tire right around when the RE-71R was going away and the SC3R rose to prominence, but since, the secret is out and AR1 prices have come up and put them pretty evenly priced against the other "Super 200" tires like the Yoko A052, BS RE-71Rs, or the more enduro-minded Conti ECF, Falken RT660, and Hankook RS4.
 
I found them liking things around 31-32# hot with a decent camber starting off around 23-24 cold, and recall having delamination issues on fresh tires a few times. They started off quick and I thought they were a great bang/buck tire right around when the RE-71R was going away and the SC3R rose to prominence, but since, the secret is out and AR1 prices have come up and put them pretty evenly priced against the other "Super 200" tires like the Yoko A052, BS RE-71Rs, or the more enduro-minded Conti ECF, Falken RT660, and Hankook RS4.
Hea I'm going to bump the pressure up on them this weekend and see how I go, I'm still carrying alot of weight as i stripped the back seats and have front race seats, otherwise full interior. They are still cheaper tyre compared to other choices that we have down here.
 

TMO Supporting Vendors

Latest posts

Latest lap times

Buy TMO Apparel

Buy TMO Apparel
Top