Measuring Heat (in tires, etc.)

[F0J]

I'm looking at tire/rotor pyrometers right now and some kids are using FLIR in interesting ways. Pokin' tires takes plenty longer than taking a picture with FLIR when every second counts. Plus FLIR is generally much more useful than a pyrometer (is my chicken cooked? haha).

What do you guys use?

I currently have a crappy laser gun that does an OK job though I haven't really been measuring. After dropping the pressure on the stock tires, I don't expect much more grip from them.

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[NightmareMoon]

I use a crappy laser gun, its a more general-purpose tool than a tire pyrometer, and doubles as a cat toy.

Those FLIR iphone attachments were almost too cool to pass up as a gadget, but no I don't *need* one.

 

[F0J]

I use a crappy laser gun, its a more general-purpose tool than a tire pyrometer, and doubles as a cat toy.

Those FLIR iphone attachments were almost too cool to pass up as a gadget, but no I don't *need* one.

http://www.flir.com/thermography/americas/ca/view/?id=58154
http://www.flir.com/corporate/display/?id=68275

The cheapest one with a wide temperature reading range is:

http://www.flir.com/instruments/tg167/

The videos of the guys running an IR camera on a go kart is pretty cool.

I used to read tires for an amateur racing team and all they ever gave me was a cheap laser gun.

Though 400 big ones isn't that expensive for something that can help you identify cooling issues on the car (and the house, etc.). I could just buy one and let you guys know how useful it is.

 

[NightmareMoon]

Yeah I was looking at the FLIR ONE for ~$200

Temp range is -4F to 248F, which seems like enough for tires?

 

[F0J]

Yeah I was looking at the FLIR ONE for ~$200

Temp range is -4F to 248F, which seems like enough for tires?

https://www.hoosiertire.com/pdfs/TCTR7_A7.pdf

Tire Temperature Recommendations

For best performance the expected temperature range will vary from track to track. Generally,optimum traction will be generated when the pit lane temps show 180-200 degrees for the R7 in Roadrace applications, and 110-140 degrees for the A7 in an Autocross application.

To get accurate hot tire temperatures, you should use a needle probe. An IR sensor surface temperature device will read cold and this may cause you to miss your hot target temperatures.

Which I guess is true that a FLIR camera won't do much better than a laser gun because you have to read in the tire.

 

[dontlifttoshift]

With the FLIR camera, what's the resolution like? Worded another way, will you see 5 degrees difference across the tire?....how about 15?

 

[F0J]

With the FLIR camera, what's the resolution like? Worded another way, will you see 5 degrees difference across the tire?....how about 15?

The resolution of the TG167 is 80x60 pixels at 9hz. The minimum measurement distance is 10 inches. I'm guessing that particular model won't have a hard time reading tires. You can spend more money for more resolution.

 

[Brent Dalton]

I use a longacre pyrometer. I got it long before FLIR was affordable though. As someone who has used FLIR equipment alot at work, it would def. be cool to have for many uses.

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