Cold Tear - What Does It Mean?
You often hear racers talk about 'cold tear' but just what are they talking about? No, they're not talking about a European music band from the early '80s, it's also unlikely that they talk about a record company from Lithuania, cold tear happens on tires when they aren't properly up to temperature.A tire, especially a motorcycle tire, requires both the carcass and rubber compound to get up to temperature for it to work correctly and cold tear generally happens when the carcass isn't hot enough The variation in heat between the colder carcass and hot rubber causes the rubber to be torn from the tire, creating a series of small rips in it.
Road tires are very unlikely to suffer from cold tear as their carcass and rubber compound are designed to heat up quickly and work over a wide range of temperatures, unlike race specific tires which have a very narrow and sensitive temperature requirement.
