Smoke or not to smoke

Message

ticktock · #1 Unread post by **ticktock** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 11:15 am

Ok I have to ask? I had the luck of picking up a screw in my back tire last week and had to take my wheel off $155.00 bucks to replace. Lesson learned going to Harbor Freight and but tire machine to do my own from now on but to the point when I picked up my wheel the guy made the comment I should smoke the tire before hitting the road. This is a new one to me and never did it before on a cruiser.
So fact or fiction?

CNF2002 · #2 Unread post by **CNF2002** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 11:18 am

Ive never heard of that but new tires do have a coating on them that makes them slicker. You should be more cautious riding new tires.

If you smoked them wouldnt that just remove the film on the center of the tread? It wouldnt do anything for the sidewalls, which is REALLY where you want to have no slicky stuff. I dont see what good it would do.

I think you would get better results by just scrubbing the tires with a wire brush.

flynrider · Thu Mar 30, 2006 11:33 am

CNF is right on the money. New tires to have a protective coating on them that keeps the rubber from drying out in storage. The usual method of removing it is to ride carefully for the next 50 miles or so. The coating makes the tire a little less sticky. I usually just ride normally and avoid blasting around turns at high speed. Eventually, normal riding will wear the coating off.

Doing a burn out will remove only the coating on the center of the rear tire, plus some of that expensive rubber you just bought. It will do nothing for either the front tire, or the rear tire rubber on the edges. Sounds like a waste of rubber to me.

Thu Mar 30, 2006 11:58 am

I actually took some emory paper to my new tires. Used 80 grit. It took about 15 minutes per tire.

No big deal. Worth it for peace of mind.

P

#5 Unread post by **Jamers!** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:12 pm

i donno about smoking the new tires, but did ya smoke the dead tire before ya took it off? Seeing as it was no longer any good to ya coulda smoked it up a bit before gettin rid of it

JWF

earwig · #6 Unread post by **earwig** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:55 pm

I was told that the coating is actually there for when the tire is removed from the mold... not to protect it... anyway, I was also told in the MSF course that it takes 100 miles of riding to wear it off...

BuzZz · #7 Unread post by **BuzZz** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:34 pm

JWF505 wrote:i donno about smoking the new tires, but did ya smoke the dead tire before ya took it off? Seeing as it was no longer any good to ya coulda smoked it up a bit before gettin rid of it

JWF

That's what I did.....

Relsek · #8 Unread post by **Relsek** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:37 pm

Every time I get a new tire, I put the bike up on the stand, run it in gear and just run some sandpaper over the entire tire. I also take it easy for a little while. I've had new tires break our from under me on the way home from the dealership because I forgot they were new and hit the throttle a little too hard, usually in a curve. It makes for so exciting riding though.

Kevin

jmillheiser · Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:43 pm

the usual method of scrubbing in a new tire is to just ride and take it easy for about 100mi, the road will scrub the coating off better than you ever could

ticktock · Thu Mar 30, 2006 10:38 pm

When I bought my bike new the dealer smoked the tire. He said it It conditioned the tire so it was not so slick and felt it was safer to do for new riders. If I remember correctly he also said it took some of the roundness out of the tire making it better to handle on the road. I personally go with most of you guys and just took a nice 100 mile ride down the freeway on dry pavement.

On the other hand my son's ZZR600 Kawasaki has a low tread and I could see smoking it when it was new.I remember back to my track days when we would smoke our tires to get better take of (heat the rubber up to grab the track.)We have one friend who goes threw 2/3 tires each year on his bike it must be nice to be rich.