What about tires?
All motorsport drivers go through an overwhelming journey on learning about tire set up for their car. Every genre of racing requires a set of tires designed specifically for that genre of racing. Not every motorsport goes through an amount of tires that is equivalent to the drift events. If you ask any experienced grassroots drift driver how many tires they go through during an event, they will most likely shake their head, and say many. Drifting is also a motorsport like no other, forcing a car to do what it’s not designed for, and throwing it into a “synchronized dance”, and the dance puts a heavy toll on the “dance shoes”.
Now what kind of tires should a grassroots drift driver use for his set up? First of all , one of the major factors that play on a tire life span, is temperature. Average tires that are commonly in day to day use are not designed to withstand high temperatures, that’s caused from the friction of the tires spinning through the tarmac. Drifting on those tires would decrease the lifespan and could cause the tires to explode much quicker than a higher performance tire. What makes a high performance tire? Rubber compound, thread, and tire size.
Rubber Compound
Majority of high performance tires are summer tires that can withhold a high temperature during a hot day. Always have the tire pressure gauge on you to be checking the tire pressure, especially when weather changes.
With the soft rubber compound, the tire actually performs better when reaches hot temperatures, but with the softer compound your tires would have a lot more grip, making you work a little harder to put the car sideways. If you already an experienced driver, you’re most likely shopping around for summer tires.
Thread
Thread pattern plays an important role in your front tires, if you pay attention to cars and their tires at a drift event, you will see that most likely the tires they run in the front are different from the rear.
Thread pattern and the width of the tire is needed to have a consistent traction in the front as that’s where your steering is, you want your front tires to always have consistent traction and keep you leaving corners successfully. In the rear, the thread should be less since you require less traction in the front to promote the wheel spin.
Size
Size of the tire is one of the biggest factors to look into when purchasing your set. The bigger the dimension of the tire, the more effort you have put into keeping your car sideways. The profile of the tire determines how much rubber there is on the sidewall, the more rubber, the more power needed to spin those tires. Everyone runs tires they fit their preference and style of driving. If your car is low horse power, then you want to get the smallest tire possible, with the least amount of sidewall.
Cost
This is the part that no one likes. Prices of the tires have increased dramatically during over the year, the production has slowed down, and the prices are just over the head for a performance summer tire. Who wants to spend $200 a tire that will hopefully last half of the day? If you’re over 500hp in your car, you will have to increase your tire budget.
As a grassroots driver with a low power car, there are a few cheaper options that require some effort. You can out source local tire shops and ask them if they have used tires you can purchase. Some shops are nice enough to agree, some are not. Used tires will not perform as well as a new tire, but it is still tires you can put to use for seat time. Another cheap option is buying Chinese tires, they are still not so cheap, but cheaper than brand name performance tire. Some even perform almost as good, such as Ling Long tires for example.
Nevertheless, start from the cheaper options and understand how tires behave during hot and cold times. After trying out a few different pairs, you will find your favorite ones. Make sure to check out our Buy Guide page for our recommended tire retailers. As long as they keep making tires, we will keep buying them, because we love drifting.
Recent Stories
