SpecRacer.com

Hi!
First year competing in SRF3 and having a great time!
I was lucky to get a bunch of usable tires with the purchase of my car, but now getting to the time to get a new set.
I'd like to know if it's OK to do a whole Qualifying session on a new set without compromising their longevity?
Glenn

type in " Hoosier tire break in" in the search box

There are different options.
Just run Stickers
A leading driver told me about 8-9 heats are cycle then replace the tires.

Hoosier has a breakin procedure which may allow for more heat cycles with a + - level of performance past 8 heat cycles.
How much fall off I do not know.

See Ya in a few weeks

With a sufficienly long qualifying session, I like to warm up on the out lap, hopefully getting the mold release and other gunk scrubbed off, put in one or two hot laps to get a decent time, come in to check pressures, do one more flying lap hopefully better than before, and then park it until the race.
I think that's a decent compromise between the "scrub in and let sit for weeks" and "burn them up right off the bat". The scrub and age is good if you're getting a set of tires ready for an enduro coming up, but otherwise the Hoosiers seem a little more forgiving than past tires.
Just my opinion, I'd believe others pretty readily.

Thanks
So if I were to do the suggested break in, (letting them cure) I've heard that the tires are good for around 12 heat cycles. Would that be them capable of performing at top level to that point? , Or is there still a significant drop off after say 6 heat cycles? Conversely ,if new tires were run from session to session could you still expect top performance for a similar time of 6 heat cycles, but sacrifice the period where they are already loosing something?
I'm wondering because though I'm still looking for speed in my driving, and chasing the cars' set up, I can't say I've noticed significant performance between tires that have had 4 heat cycles and 12 heat cycles ,all of which are tires from last season.
Glenn

Drop-off on these tires are not significant in my opinion. I have run competitive times up to at least 15 heat cycles. I would recommend a break-in period as described above though.

In my opinion, the ultimate grip level is consistent out to at least 12 cycles. What changes is how quickly the tire achieves its full grip level. The more heat cycles you have on the tire, the longer it will take for the tire to come in. This is particularly noticeable if you are running in cold temps (50 degrees or lower) as we often do at the start and end of the season in the Chicago area. If I am running on a really hot day (say 85 degrees or higher), I actually prefer a tire with several heat cycles to a sticker tire.