question about racing in the rain

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

racing on DOT's in the rain is just plain not fun. 

Thats all we used to be able to race with in supersport until 02 or so.

[Garywc]

most DOTs work well in the rain
i ran super corsas last year and we raced in alot of rain HPT solo challenge and CMP solo last season on dots and black hawk i used the rains. all three races were nasty rain almost the whole race

[Jeff]

be REAL careful with used rains.  Rains, when used properly, don't wear a ton, so you can have a set that is a few years old.  They get hard and you WILL fall on them. 

A set of STREET DOTs is better than a set of 2 year old rains IMHO...

[r1owner]

Jeff,  anything you can do to mitigate them from going bad?

[cbr-racer]

Someone told that pilot powers were good for the rain.

[DakotaCBR]

No expert here, but my very first race was at Jennings a few weeks ago. I was on Pilot Powers and I only slid around a little bit. I'm usually pretty slow, but I was a lot more confident on the Pilot Powers in the rain, especially because most of the guys on DOTs were really backing off.

They didn't heat up as much, but they were pretty warm and sticky when I came back in. I noticed that there were no balled up wads of rubber on the edges of the tire and it didn't seem to tear up as much when the track was wet.

I don't think I'm good enough for DOTs yet, but I'll be picking up a set of 2CTs for the next race in May. Afterwards I'll hold on to them as my 'rain set.'

[wolf44]

if you're going to be racing you might as well get some rain tires because its going to happen and its noooo fun riding on the track on DOTs when its raining
if new rains aren't in the budget get some used ones
*cough*
http://www.ccsforum.com/index.php/topic,20213.0.html

[Toves33]

I have a set of Michelin rain tires, but they slid around a LOT a few weeks ago at Jennings during my races. HBy looking at the sidewall, how can you tell what year the tires were Manufactured?

[Gixxerblade]

I am not sure about Michelins but some tires have a date code on the side that is 4 digits. xxxx the first two determine what week of the year they were manufactured and the next determine what year. so 0208 says that it was made 2 week of 2008.

[hamurobby]

The big problem with rain tires is trusting them and getting a feel for them, and the only way to do that is by running laps on them. Dots need alot more heat to work (grip) than rains, so I personally would take shagged rains over dots in the RAIN anyday. If you race in the south east, your probably going to get rained on, the dry weather paterns we have had seem to be giving way to rain again  My 2004 (1404) built Dunlops that were overheated at Daytona  in October are still working good (jgp and cmp). As far as michelin rains, the Melk-man has run 22s in the rain at jgp on them, so I think they have exellent grip. Shoot they all have good rain tires, and from what I hear, the Bridgestones are awesome  8) Just be sure to ask your tire guy what preasure to run in your rain tires, they run different preasures than dots.

[MELK-MAN]

running street tires as your "rain set".. yikes.
Michelin and all the mfg. rain tires are going to offer WAY more grip than DOT or street tires, period. The material full rain tires are made from are SUPER DUPER soft, not kinda soft.. real soft. THat is why they deteriorate if you ride them on a dry surface for much time. You do need to get them a bit up to temp to get them working optimally. Coming out on-track with them 70deg from the ambient air temp, dont expect to drag a knee right away. IF you really get going, they will be hot when you come in. THe lead guys were all draging knees in the rain races at Jennings, and Brad Graham was on michelins simply FA-LY-ING in the rain. Robby and others were as well, and did great at CMP in the rain.
My last performance in the rain at JGP was not anything to brag about, but i have been know to go pretty darn fast in the rain when things are going well.
Sell the street tires.. get full rain tires..

[DakotaCBR]

What kind of life can you (or I, being much slower) expect from a set of rains? 1, 2, 3 wet weekends?