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Old 2012.07.30, 12:45 PM   #4
color01
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Los Angeles (Pasadena), CA, USA
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I believe the big reason is that foam tires dry out a little faster than "modern" rubber and silicone tires, and to refresh foam tires you have to use solvents and oils (e.g. traction compound or WD-40), both of which are absolutely terrible for the RCP foam. To avoid the risk of anybody bringing these chemicals to the track, foams are not allowed in general.

In my own opinion, foams are great but hard to live with. They take forever to wear out, grip well, don't "catch" on the RCP (one reason for traction roll) and are less temperature sensitive than rubbers, which makes them great performing tires. But they will dry out before the next race, and you CANNOT use refreshing compounds if you want to keep the RCP intact, so eventually you end up throwing away more sets of foams than rubber/silicone tires.

How new is your track? Has the dust been vacuumed out yet? I like the newer PN tires (X15 front, Radial 6 rear), I have three sets that have at least 20+ packs each run through and they're definitely still gripping... well, the front tires are down to the rim so it's not great for steering anymore.
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