Difference between dry and wet tyres?

[FIA]

What is the difference between Dry Tyres and Wet Tyres?

Can you use a Wet Tyres in the Dry?
Can you use a Dry Tyre in the Wet?

Does it affect speed, grip, durability, etc.

[cos]

Can you use a Wet Tyres in the Dry?
Yes.


Can you use a Dry Tyre in the Wet?

Yes.


Does it affect speed, grip, durability, etc.
Yes. Hence why the scenarios above are not ideal :p

[wedge]

What is the difference between Dry Tyres and Wet Tyres?

Well its the same concept on all across motorsport whether it two wheel or four or F1 or GTs.

Slicks offer optimum grip, Wets are designed to clear water. Inters (intermediates) are slicks with shallow grooves and has a wider operating window between wet/dry conditions but suffer the same disadvantages as wets.


Can you use a Wet Tyres in the Dry?

Yes but it depends on the conditions. If its totally dry, then you'll destroy them within a few laps. Thats because

1. the compound itself is very soft to deal with the low track temperature

2. the tread blocks (that make up the groove pattern) move about because of the friction and mass heat buildup - therefore in drying conditions drivers will always look for damp asphalt on the straights to cool down the tyres.


Can you use a Dry Tyre in the Wet?

Yes depending on the conditions. On a drying track - if there's a dry line looking like railway tracks then you're commited to use that single groove.

When it starts raining then you'll be praying its a passing shower! You'll need considerable skill and car control up there with Senna and Schumacher! Schumi on dry tyres famously held up Hill on wet tyres in Spa 1995

FIA - I think its safe to assume you're a rookie petrol head enthusiast? You'll enjoy reading this, nothing new the average enthusiast would not know: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=552153&nmt=RE:%20British%20GT%20-%20Tyres

[Daniel]

What is the difference between Dry Tyres and Wet Tyres?

Can you use a Wet Tyres in the Dry?
Can you use a Dry Tyre in the Wet?

Does it affect speed, grip, durability, etc.
Stop asking dumb questions and try to work out the answers for yourself. Perhaps try to watch a race or two.....

[MrJan]

Wet tyres have grooves which shift the water allowing better contact with the asphalt (where the grip will be).

In the dry the tread blocks move about as they heat up. Obviously if the tyre surface is moving it means traction is not as good.

To be honest Daniel is right, these are pretty much motorsport 101 questions which are answered most weeks in programmes on TV.

[Abo]

2. the tread blocks (that make up the groove pattern) move about because of the friction and mass heat buildup - therefore in drying conditions drivers will always look for damp asphalt on the straights to cool down the tyres.

It's a chicken and egg situation too; the blocks moving about also locally increase the heat buildup in the block, adding to the problem.

[MrJan]

Yup, the more heat you have the more movement you get which genrates more heat which.....and so on :)

Incidentally I started time trialling (sprinting) this year and on my first event found how dry tyres in the wet aren't good.

We don't run slicks (strictly a budget attempt at the mo) but do have dry and wet tyres (besides having bigger cuts I'd have thought the compund is different). Anyway first event it hammered down but I didn't have time to change the wheels so went out on the drys (still have cuts that would be legal on the road). From a combination of the standing water and the rubber on the track (slippery when wet ;) ) it was like driving on ice and the back just kept stepping out on me. I managed half a lap before I was heading backwards towards the barrier :D

I'm now trying to persuade the old man that we need slicks but having spent so much money thus far he is somewhat reluctant.


EDIT: Oh and why is there an advert for 'Gaydar on your cell' at the bottom of the page?

[wedge]

Stop asking dumb questions and try to work out the answers for yourself. Perhaps try to watch a race or two.....

Hey! Don't be too harsh on the poor kid!

Motorsport is very technical. Don't you remember your first time following the sport?

Not all fans have an engineering/science background.

We have few wet races and the TV commentators can be very lazy at times. They'll say so and so is trying to cool down his tyres but don't necessarily explain what is actually happening to the tread blocks in drying conditions. Anyone remember Brundle explaining this sort of thing at Monaco or were they too busy having an orgasm over Lewis Hamilton?

[Les]

yeah - it's a good question. There are a lot of newbies and youngsters who want to learn.

Heck I prefer these type of questions to the numerous rumours/who is in what car etc etc

I always get confused with toe-in, cambers etc so any lessons are good to me

[wedge]

The chassis stuff I learnt most from computer games.

GT and Forza have good explanations when you set the car up.

The tyre stuff puzzled me. I thought graining (bits of rubber building up on the tyre surface) was only a problem on grooved tyres but actually happens on slicks as well.

Chunk-ing or a patch of particular rubber build up on the tyre surface was new to me when Lewis Hamilton went off in Turkey last year. This year some guys in Le Mans suffered from this problem.

We just need more people like Steve Parrish and Brundle who can explain technical things to casual fans.

[Daniel]

Hey! Don't be too harsh on the poor kid!

Have you seen how many threads he/she's posted in this forum asking these questions? :mark:

[MrJan]

And to be honest there isn't much point on posting on this forum unless Daniel's insulted you at one time or another :D ;)

If you watch the WRC they wheel out the same tyre feature every couple of events, likewise in MotoGP it gets mentioned a lot. Also having followed F1 for years I often hear Brundle talking about how compounds work differently.

[Daniel]

And to be honest there isn't much point on posting on this forum unless Daniel's insulted you at one time or another :D ;)

If you watch the WRC they wheel out the same tyre feature every couple of events, likewise in MotoGP it gets mentioned a lot. Also having followed F1 for years I often hear Brundle talking about how compounds work differently.
It's a rite of passage ;)