I have a new pair of pie crust slicks I am going to groove to make cheater slicks. Standard grooving tools come with a #4 blade but I think I need a wider blade.. Does anyone have a cheater slick they can take a measurement from? Here are the blade sizes for reference...
Will the car be entered in the Pebble Beach Concours??? just grove it,, hope its the hot grooving iron type or hit up a USAC Sprint car team to cut it for you with theirs
They left off 3/16" and 1/4". I just cut the ones on the old/new Inglewood Pos-A-Tractions for the Mysterion clone with the cutter that came on the tool. Didn't know there were different sizes.
I just bought a groover with a #4.... did you need to set the depth, hopefully the tool has some sort of intuitive gauge.
What was your trick to getting the lines straight? That's my biggest concern. Any help is greatly appreciated.
You have to set your depth of cut. Loosen the screws that hold the blade in place and slide the blade up/down for depth and lock your screws back down. Might want to do that before you plug it in . I would use a #4 blade. Make sure the blade is in with the sharp side facing forward and has plenty of time to get up to cutting heat. Don't rush it. If you have to force it it's either too cold or in backwards. A little corn starch or baby powder spread across the tire's surface will make it cut faster and easier. Use a scribe and score a uniform line around the tread surface off the sidewall/tread edge. SPark
I measured and ran a strip of duct tape around the tire. Just followed the edge of the tape for perfect line. cuts fairly slow, easy to control. Seems like it was a few minutes per cut. Not bad.
What about these Firestone Lightning grooved slicks as fitted to Ford Thunderbolts? Another difficult pattern to replicate would be these DoT approved M&Hs I'll be running Try this business, it may be able to assist? https://www.towelcityracingtires.com/Vintage/Pie-Crust-Cheater-Slicks
I wonder if you keep the tire on the car jacked up a little, then set the grooving iron on the floor fixed to something to keep the iron/grooving tool in the same location. Then rotate the tire on the car. You should get a perfectly straight line. FYI, I have never done this before so just a random thought on how to get a straight groove.
Practice practice practice, its not that hard but its not easy either. the pro knife I used was heat adj and easy to control, pressure pushed the contacts into instant heat and backed off cooled the blade. Iron type can be a little woobly without a extra handle at the blade. slow spinning of the tire while bracing yourself yeilds the best results, but practice practice practice
man, if you know of one, let me know. I have exhausted that option in So Cal. Even the race shops will only do tires they are sponsored by/sell due to liability issues. This used to be common, there was even a shop in HB that did my motorcycle slicks in the 90s, but they are long gone. With all the race shops around So Cal, I cannot believe it's this hard.
I agree with this ^^^^^something in the neighborhood of 1/8 to 1/4 is going to get you there and it seems like 3/16 is what I normally see them at.
I just remembered this place Nate Jones Tire in Signal Hill give them a call 562-597-3369 (closed right now)
Wow.... Nate Jones, owner of Nate Jones tire, is a legend in the automotive world. If you want to learn more, check out this link.... https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2016/07/11/nate-jones
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