Need tire warmer advice.
 

I have decided to get some tire warmers for the trackday season this year.

I was looking around on Fleabay and I found that there are 3 varieties that I want to know about. Thermostatically controlled, DIGITAL, and 240Volt are the terms that I am unsure about. What's the difference between digital and non digital besides 50% price? My Generator will do 240v without any problems, so do I gain anything from getting these [do they heat faster, or some other benefit]. If I get 240v warmers, I will have to get/make an adapter from the 30A twistlock on my Genny to double 2-pin plugs, any hints there? Are there any brands or styles of warmers to either look for or avoid?

TIA.

Digital supposedly lets you set the temperature at which you want the warmers to be at.

To be honest, I'd be wary of any warmers off fleaBay. There's no telling what these warmers will and will not do. I've heard of some sketch brands overheating the tires. Others have piss-poor wiring and fall apart after a few uses.

I've heard mixed reviews about Chicken Hawk warmers - mostly good, though.

A friend of mine just tested some Sumomoto warmers (a local shop is about to import a large number of these) and he had nothing but good things to say about them.

The digital ones are adjustable so you can change to a different model or brand of tire and not have to buy new warmers. The thermo ones bring it to a certain set temp,(149*, 195*), and some have thermostats that you can change out to change the temp. Chicken Hawks are probably the most popular and most racers I've talked to say they're the best but you'll pay for it. I've seen alot of the ebay warmers at Jennings and haven't heard alot of bad things about them. I don't really know about the 240v but could check into it, it's also best to have the warmers that wrap tight so that air doesn't come through and let heat escape.

Those are the ones I've been seeing alot of,(from ebay), and so far nothing but good things said about them.

Really?? That's news to me. I'll ask the importer about this.

Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Unless their quality control has been improved...? :|

Here are some threads about the Sumomotos...

http://forums.13x.com/showthread.php?threadid=81456
http://www.wmrra.com/forums/archive/...hp/t-2004.html
http://www.speedzilla.com/forums//ar...p/t-22276.html

The third one isn't really a thread about it, but rather a group buy - he claims they are used by many of the top teams in Asia...

EDIT - oops...I totally misread SH22's post. I thought he was saying they were bad. *sigh* Engrish?

I've been seeing a lot of these 2 and SO FAR, (let me emphasize that), they've had good reviews from everyone I've talked to. Now keep in mind, it's a small % of people so who knows but from the 10-20 people I've talked to they work well.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DMP-S...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DIGIT...QQcmdZViewItem

digital is the way to go if you can afford it. differant tire companys reqire differant temps, the same goes for differant compounds from the same campany. if your going to be running the same tire all the time ask the person who pervides them what temp works best with them and go for a warmer set to that.

I don't have a tire preference, really, but NESBA always sems to have a dunlop guy around, so those are the most likely...

As far as fleabay, I have found it's a good cross sectin of the market, especially when you are trying to learn about a product...


So, where *is* a good place to buy tyre bakers?