Does anyone have their tires shaved?

Hey all..
Looking forward the the coming track season, hope you guys all have good ones..

Does anyone shave their tires to get them back to 'neutral', after they get worn on a bias - like after tracking on predominantly left turns.. Is this done? Is it recommended? Is it legal?

My situation is I have used my dedicated set of track tires for 5-6 track days and the right edges are wearing more than the left.
I have enough overall tread to get them back to 'neutral' wear by having them shaved.
... but I haven't heard of anyone doing it since I was in High School - a looong time ago, LOL.

- I have tweaked the front camber to get more even temperatures (and wear) across the tread.
- I don't believe there is anything I can do about the rear camber, rigid axle.
- I rotate my tires.
- I'm asking my local friends if they know of a shop that'll even do this sort of thing,

If the bottom line is to forget the shaving and just replace the tires, then I will do so, but I'm the sort to maximize useful life.
Thank you,
- Art

Dismount and flip them on rim?

Pure Stock drag racers do it to their Polyglas tires if they don't have time to wear down a set and a race is coming up soon. Local circle burners have the equipment set up to do it.

Autocross guys do it. Or at least used to do it.

Contact the local scca autocross club. They usually are sponsored by a tire shop/seller and if you get a lead from the club, make sure you tell the shop and give credit.

Put the fronts on the back, do a couple burnouts, and call it good. That is a benefit of running a square setup.

I have never heard of tire shaving to correct a basically, it seems to me, an alignment/set-up deficiency, which may not be correctable easily.
Also seems to me, not much to be gained here, especially if there is a cost involved, the tire is wearing on one side heavily when the other side is likely not wearing at all, again due to likely camber? issues, that means you will not be gaining any additional tire contact in cornering by shaving, but might in a straight line. Normal shaving goals are for less weight, less tread squirm, less heat buildup.

Pure Stock is allowed to shave their tires?

It happens. Gotta keep them above the wear bars though.

Reproduction tires or radial tires only. No soft compound tires of any kind allowed. Retread tires are not allowed. Use of traction compounds or rubber-softening chemicals on tires is strictly prohibited. Suspicious tires will be durometered. You are allowed to run tires one size over stock, with G70s being the largest size allowed for cars with 70-series tires, and G60s the largest allowed for cars that came with 60-series tires. All four tires must be the same size. No 60-series tires will be allowed unless they were originally available for the car's year and model. 60-series tires must be run on 15-inch rims as they were originally. Cars built before the introduction of 70-series Polyglas or Wide Ovals are allowed to upgrade to 70-series of appropriate size.

https://www.psmcdr.com/rules

Ralph's rules may be slightly different, but I'll bet not a whole bunch.

The problem with Mopar t-bar set-ups is that they are not as adjustable as one would like. Are they directional tires? Can you take any weight off the front end? How is your weight transfer. If you are braking heavy into the turns it is going to put extra stress on the tire.

Hello Art -- I used to have my tires shaved all the time for hi-level autocross competition... many years ago (70s, 80s, 90s)... and they can still be done by those who know how to do it. TIRE RACK shaves tires all the time... for the most serious competitors... and extra cost.

There are different reasons to do so:

1. Less tread depth = less block squirm = better transient handling
2. In the past, we were told that, additionally to above #1, the rubber compound progressively heats and cures to a steady hardness. So, as the tread depth wears away, the hardness stays steady. BUT, if you shave a tire, you'll get to a softer (more grippy) rubber density = better grip.
3. Less overall weight = fractional potential better lap times (autocross or track).

Shaving tires would ONLY be done with brand new tires... once they are worn, their balance changes and shaving is no longer applicable.

How fast do you want to go? Shaving costs extra $$ = fractions of seconds to go faster.

Some clubs have rules that strictly don't allow shaving. Realistically, it can be done, then drive and greak-in the tire... difficult to see and confirm IF it had been done.

If your tires are worn un-evenly, then swap them F-R, or else toss them and get new ones.

Thanks all,

Great advice, alignment can be improved. But Mitch hit the real issue:
If shaving isn't appropriate for tires with a few seasons of wear, then I thank you for the input and this discussion is over. I need new tires.

(For entertainment purposes - I already conceived a back-door plan, besides the obvious "new tires":
- The club I race with is run by a good bunch of guys. I'll bribe to run us in the opposite direction on the track this year - BaddaBing! - I'll be racing the tires with the "better" side providing the most grip).



Thanks Mitch and thanks Dean,

My only goal with this idea was just to get a few more "training" sessions out of the tires I have, not to get a competitive edge - yet.
I rotate my tires F-R every track session, so the uneven wear is the same on all 4.
There is some life left before they hit the wear markers.
I'm an amateur driver, and still improving skills.
My skill level gives me 0.5 second variations on a 1:54-1:55 sec lap time.
Each season, I usually focus the first two track dates (May & June) brushing up and learning.
The last date(s) I fine tune and push hard for my best times, after the summer heat has dropped (Sept & Oct).
This will be my 6th season tracking.
Gains are harder to find, but I was able to improve by 0.3 sec per year the past two years.
I did a bunch of things the first years, but not much has been done to improve the hardware of the car the past 3 years, just regular maintenance.
Therefore gains have come from improving my skill, alignment tweaks and careful tire pressure.

Cheers,
- Art

Here is what one of the tires looks like. Wear is mostly on the right (top of photo) half.
Sorry, not sure why the photo won't rotate properly.

Seems remounting, rebalancing and moving R to L would be easiest, cheapest solution?

your tires are telling you what to do.... you need to correct the camber gain and loss and check toe , and confirm roll steering is good. just adding camber will not fix it. stagger in the will help some more rear than front... how the car enters a corner is -everything-.

Thank you - I was told pretty much the exact same thing from an instructor/friend. I will learn.
- Art