I had a set of the new Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD08's installed last week. My favorite tires have been the previous-generation Neova AD07's so I've been anticipating these for a while. The reviews say they're even better than the AD07's. I run 265/35/18 on all 4 corners.

So last weekend I went to Texas World Speedway for a track event. I ran 4 sessions on Saturday, 3 of them with my student passenger. The temperature was hot -- 85 or 90 degrees ambient. I'm driving a 2003 350Z. On Sunday at lunch, I noticed my right-front tire was cracking along the outside edge. We're running counter-clockwise, so the front-right is the most abused.

I went back to my local shop who installed them. I use Soulspeed in Austin (highly recommended btw). They contacted Yokohama and Yokohama had them ship the tires back so they could determine if the tire was defective or not (to determine whether I get a new one via warranty). I've chunked tires before (BFG KDW, and BFG KD), but never Yokohamas, so this was unexpected. I'd like to get any opinions from folks who have a lot of experience with tires. Especially neal@tirerack, if you're reading this. thanks.

Here are the pics.

 

They look like blistered tires to me...

 

Verified with my tire information supervisor and he confirmed full depth, new right front tire, on a high banked track on a hot day… blister city. From the description and appearance I believe the shoulder of the right front was simply over heated. Any tire from any brand can and will do this given the right conditions.

 

Thanks Neal for the response. So to prevent this while still using the same tires, any steps I could take in addition to these? -

1. Heat cycle my tires at least 48 hours before hitting the track
2. Wear the tires down a bit, so they have less tread and don't get quite as hot (less tread squirm)
3. Increase my negative camber so the outside of tire gets less abuse in high-G turns

 

Those are great places to start. H/C will help increase the tires life and shallower tread will help the blocks from rolling over as much in the corners and won't retain as much heat. Keep an eye on air pressure as well. I'll typically run higher pressure to increase response and reduce roll over.

 

what is that red goo on your rim ???? you take out an animal or something ??

 

Camber would be suggestion. When you measured time temp after the session, was it even across the tire?

 

looks like bearing lube

 

I'm not sure, actually! I didn't notice it until I saw the photo... looks like piece of an animal or maybe ketchup??


Unfortunately I didn't check the tire temps. I have a pyrometer and I'll check it next time. Judging by what I did to the tire, I'd guess it was hotter on that outside edge

 

If you're wearing the outsides like this at the track, and it seems like you only have this on the outside edge, this suggests that you need more static negative camber to get the tire back into optimal angle with the pavement. It's that or you need to improve your dynamic camber curve to stop rolling the tire over the outside edge. Given the fact that this happened at the track, it's very likely you overheated the outside portion due to the wheel going into positive camber when at the limit. Just thinking out loud.

 

this would help
http://www.tirerack.com/accessories/detail.jsp?ID=55

as far as I understand, past 135F some brands start accelerated wear.

I've got a brand new Orange system sitting on the shelf at home, I couldnt get the 2pc wheel adaptors in time to install them, but I also have run the smart tire gen 2 system and it was very interesting to see what tire temps can do on a long sweeping off ramp on a hot day in the south.