ACB10 Wear

[MikeE]

I have 8 inch ACB10s on the back of the duratec which are looking pretty tired. I've got a trackday booked at Bedford autodrome GT circuit this Saturday and was wondering when an ACB10 is considered past it's sell by date (tread wise) 🤔 At the moment you can still see the central grove (which runs around the circumference of the tyre) but the groves either side of this have worn away.

 

Are they stuffed yet or is there a trackday left in them

 

R400 Duratec 230bhp Build Pictures here

[Kevsta]

No personal experience of depth etc but I believe the compund changes on ACB10s from the soft outer to a hard inner, if they are stuffed you would know because they will quickly become slippery (a guy found this in a fury - thought it was something wrong with the car then realised they were sha*ged!)

 

Where as I believe 32s and 48s have the same rubber through to carcass.

 

Kev

[jerrypike]

mike

if you need some ACB10's in a hurry i've got a new pair of rears not fitted you can have and replace

might get them fited today if you're quick

0773 3328368

i'm in frimley

 

jerry

[rgrigsby]

Hmm not sure of a technical answer but my experience of ACB10's seem to be that you can pretty much wear them down to the canvas before they start to lose grip! when they do go they do get very very slidey though 😬

 

Rob G

www.SpeedySeven.com

[V7 SLR]

I find ACB10s get better the more worn they are.

 

I keep all my old ones now that I've made a rack for them in the garage. They're perfect for trackdays right down to the canvas as Rob says.

 

They have wear indicators which, when they're level with the main tread, means your tyres are illegal which is a shame because that's when they're normally at their best.

[Tight fart]

tyres are illegal which is a shame because that's when they're normally at their best.

Could you edit that to include a coment about the wet 😬

 

T.F@O.F.

A7 RDP

pics here

[V7 SLR]

No because they're still good. You needed to be on the LtL (Irish) tour in May 2003 to have seen ACB10s working very well in the wet. It's a fallacy that they're no good in the wet. They're just no good when they're cold. If you can work them until they're warm, even in the wet, you'll get them gripping well. On a rainy day I could pull into a petrol station and watch they tyres dry completely while I filled the car up.

 

What's more appropriate is the type of stone the road is made from. In perfectly dry conditions on the way to Italy in the Summer of 2003, I was suffering with very poor grip. It was as though the road was covered in tyre release agent as I drove over the Alps. On the flatland they were unbeatable.

 

They were consistently good in Ireland except when I drove over a river cascading over the road on one extremely wet day. That was scary however I believe it scared everyone, no matter what tyres they had.

 

I like ACB10s so much, I'm going back to them once I've worn down my set of experimental CR500s.

 

Edited by - V7 SLR on 10 Dec 2004 18:31:41

[stevefoster]

I have seen racers wear ACB's down to the canvas. So just go along and enjoy yourself.

Just be sensitive to the grip levels.

If things get slippery approach it like you would if you ran wide and were on the marbles...

As its a track day. Stop and check...

 

Hants (North) and Berkshire Area club site here

My racing info site

here

 

 

 

Edited by - stevefoster on 10 Dec 2004 19:02:29

[Tight fart]

New ACB10s are (or were) FF wets, but worn ACBs perform like slicks in the wet.

 

T.F@O.F.

A7 RDP

pics here

[MikeE]

Thanks for the advice guys. As it happens I kept them on for the Bedford autodrome day yesterday and they were fine. However I did have to change my 7" fronts mid-morning after I tried to get the wheels balanced. The on-site tyre fitters pointed out to me that the fronts where oval

 

Anyway the only replacements they had were part won non-Caterham compound 7" ACB10s. Interestingly this compound has "For motorsport Use" printed on the sidewall So I then go out again and find the car a lot better balanced in the fast corners (the new compound seemed to cure the understeer I was experiencing before). My thought now is, should I replace the 8" rears with this non-caterham compound?

 

BTW Whilst I'm not the fastest track driver I like to think I'm reasonably quick, so was surprised at the speed of the GT3's and M3CSLs on the GT circuit(or is that a reflection on my abilities 😳)

 

R400 Duratec 230bhp Build Pictures here

[jerrypike]

mike

they are probably the soft compound (caterham spec. is medium, i use the soft for endurance racing [2x75 mins for a w/e + testing] super soft very much sprint races)

 

jerry