Quote:
Originally Posted by GTR
........I'm totally unfamiliar with how a tire actually wears and why. Does the amount of heat generated by normal highway or city driving affect how fast the tire wears to any significant degree? If it did, a tire gas that transferred heat from the tire to the wheel might have some benefit for tire longevity over the years. Say getting 55k miles instead of 50k or something like that. Just a thought I had.
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First, when we talk about racing tires, it isn't wear that is causing the tire properties to change; it's the heat history and the tread compound is what is changing. To some extent the tire manufacturer can change how quickly such a change can take place - and that has been what Pirelli has been doing in F1.
I would think that the issue with the inflation gas is either about keeping heat in the tires, or getting heat out of the tires. I don't recall there being any issues of brake fade in F1 for quite some time, so I don't think conducting the heat away from the brakes is what this would be about.
Heat does have an effect on a tire's wear rate, but a) the inflation gas is not going to have a major effect, and b) the temperature affect is small compared to other things. It would be better to spend one's time concentrating on alignment and gentle driving, rather than messing with the inflation medium.