Avon ZZR Tyre Life

[JFKW]

I have started using Avon ZZR tyres in the dry. I've done two evening track sessions and a test day and am wondering at what point I should change them for a new set. They must have done around 7 hours of hard use so far but going for race conditions so trying not to get too much drift. Is there a rule of thumb or something to look out for? I appreciate that all sorts of things will make a difference but sone general advice would be useful.

[Honda Rush]

Keep going until the heat cycles change the tyres charistics to worse than before, or when down to the wear bars

Very good tyres good step up from cr5000

[JFKW]

Sounds dopey I know but I hadn't checked for wear bars. Presumably they're within the tread as with any other tyre. I agree they're a great tyre. The entire car feels better on them. When I made the initial switch I had to recalibrate my driving as the turn in was so much crisper and the braking sharper. Haven't tried any other semi slicks. Anything else you'd recommend?

[subirg]

I have been using my first set this year on my R400D. So far have done track days at Oulton, Spa and the Nurburgring, plus driving to and from all venues from Cheshire - so a decent amount of miles. Still plenty of tread on the tyres and I haven't noticed any drop off in performance. Overall, I've been impressed with the wear rate. I was expecting much poorer life than they seem to be delivering.

Re other advice - I assume you have recalibrated the set up to suit the tyres. For instance, mine have lots more camber on the front (3.5 degrees) than I was running with CR500s. Get the right folk to do any set up work for you as I have found that the number of folk who really know how to set the car up for these tyres is limited...

I'm definitely sold on these tyres and will be getting another set when this set wear out.

[JFKW]

Thanks for the setup advice. I've changed the anti roll bar but I haven't altered the camber. I've bought some new "ears" (don't know what else to call them) to increase rear camber to 2.5 degrees but won't get a chance to try them before my next race. I'm not sure what the angle on the front is but it must be at least 3, if not 3.5. I must get it checked. At the moment I'm running bilstein dampers that are fixed rate. Not yet sure it's worth my while having them altered to variable damping. I know in theory it'll make a difference but don't know if it's the law of diminishing returns - I could probably get a better return working on my own driving!! Again, any advice or thoughts would be very welcome.

[DCL]

Yep, just done my first tracknight with the ZZR and took a second off my PB. They felt really good and less snappy when you go over the limit - won't be able to go back to CR500's now. Wear rate looks higher than the CR500's to me, but it is early days.

[JFKW]

Watch out for them in the wet!! Not much grip. I'd go back to the CR500s for anything more than very light drizzle.

[subirg]

JFKW - interested to hear how you get on with the increased rear camber. My set up advice was only to increase front camber. My rear camber is set similar to CR500s right now.

[JFKW]

Will report back about rear camber when I get a chance to make the switch.