Paying for Heat Cycle?

[bigchallah]

When you guys order tires; do you pay for heat cycling, do it yourself, or just totally ignore it?

[CoMZ302]

When you guys order tires; do you pay for heat cycling, do it yourself, or just totally ignore it?

If I don't heat cycle, the performance dropoff after the first few uses is dramatic. When I do heat cycle, the performance is only slightly worse over the usable life of the tire.

I heat cycle by taking a couple laps slow, then medium, then one hard lap. I immediately come in and take the tires off the car and store them for 24+ hours. A week is better.

I've contemplated the Tire Rack heat cycling for a while now. I'd love to hear from someone who self heat cycles vs the Tire Rack deal to see if they're comparable. If not it's a total waste of money as you'd need to heat cycle yourself again after you got them.

[bionicbelly]

I have heard directly from manufacturer that heat cycling the wrong way is useless. You have to follow the manufacture's recommendation, and they are very specific. In other words, do not pay to have tires heat cycled, do it yourself, on the car.

[emoore924]

^ same thing. 1 session where I slowly get the tires up to working temp (and evenly if I can). Then I put them away for 24 hours. Allows the rubber molecules to crosslink and finish the vulcanization process. Means more consistent, durable and sticky tires over the full tire life cycle.

[Emre]

I've been running Hankook Z214 medium compounds on the race car for a while now. Hadn't bothered with heat cycling because I've only got one set of race wheels, so heat cycling on track was never a practical option. Even without heat cycling, I found they wore very evenly and lasted well.

With this last set of Hankooks, I paid for heat cycling from Tire Rack just for the hell of it. I was surprised to find an even better wear pattern and at least 5-6 more race sessions before grip fell off. For an extra $60 per set of tires, it was definitely worthwhile.