In this month of “THE ENTIRE TRUTH,”
we will be talking about the purchasing of used
tires and what to look for when buying them. This
is a subject that comes up fairly often around
here, so I figure it’s time to address it in the magazine.
When it comes to buying used racing
tires, be reasonable, if you are going to a Tri State
or Pro Kart Tour event (or any race with excessive amounts of competition) DO NOT purchase
used tires, especially ones that you know very
little about. Yes, I know there is always going to
be a story from someone that tells you how they
bought a used tire for ten dollars and won a race.
However, you will never hear the story of the
hundreds of people that bought used tires and
didn’t even make the main event. I assure you
that the “Cinderella” stories of winning the “big
one” on “bargain basement” tires are few and far
between and will almost always have some very
interesting circumstances involved. Now, if you
are running a local event on a wet, muddy track,
used tires are excellent. You’re only going to “kill”
the tire with prep anyway, so why buy new tires
for that?
So where can you buy good used tires?
In most cases, reputable kart shops that have
drivers that go to a lot of money races will have
good used tires and usually a decent selection.
These kart shops normally mount new tires on
a weekly basis, so their used tires are fresher.
They do not sit around long enough to get hard
and dried out. Also a kart shop is more likely to
take better care in storing their used tires. It’s not
likely that they’ll throw them outside in the weather. Another benefit of buying from a kart shop is
that you can normally get a better price, because
they have so many used tires to sell.
If you can buy tires from the same shop
or person on a regular basis, you are more likely
to know the true background of the tires. If you
don’t know the history of the tire, you are taking a huge risk of getting a poorly prepped tire. If
you are using a very aggressive prep on the tire
anyway, it probably will not be detrimental to not
know the history of the tire. The aggressive prep
will overtake any prep that is already on it.
Remember too that a tire punching twenty to thirty on the durometer needs to have good
tread on them. If they are soft and worn out, you
won’t get much if any use out of them, no matter
what you do to them.
If you routinely compete at a medium
grade race track that takes tires punching forty to
forty-five, you need to be more selective on your
used tire purchases. You should not purchase a
heavily prepped tire for this type of race track,
even if there is a lot of tread left on it. This is
another reason to buy tires from reputable kart
shops that race the harder, faster race tracks.
Their tires will most likely not have been heavily
prepped for a hard track.
It is not a good idea to buy tires that
have been sitting around for an extended length
of time. These tires will most likely dry-rotted or
cracked. They will definitely not perform as well
as a “newer” or better cared for used tire. Running kicking and screaming from used tires that
have been left outside, especially ones that have
had water sitting in them.
In summary, used tires can be beneficial
if you know the seller and background of them.
When discussing used tires or any other racing
topic, remember some people may tell you the
truth. I will tell you the ENTIRE truth.