User Guide - Vega Tires

Internal Prepping: Internal prepping is recommended on these tires for most situations. On tracks where Vega tires are the tire of choice, internal prep will enhance their performance. We wouldn’t roll prep inside for hard red-clay tracks, or for tracks that produce higher than normal grip, especially in the summertime. But normally, we wouldn’t run Vegas in these conditions anyway.

Venom Juice Original is the only recommended internal prep for these tires. A baseline of two ounces in the left-side tires and three ounces in the right-side is standard. Let the tires roll for 24-hours without heating them. Only do this once during the life of the tire. If you find you need more bite, you can go up one ounce per side, or if you need slightly less bite, go down one ounce per side. For karts requiring a hard left rear tire, use one ounce less in the left rear than instructed above. Do NOT prep from the inside for high bite tracks, or extremely hot weather conditions.

Pre-Treatment Procedure – Pre-treating should be done during the week, prior to race day. You will normally be using Venom Bite Pink or Venom Soak II for your pre-treatment. This process should begin as early in the week as possible for best results.

ü If you plan to use these tires on a dusty track, use Venom Bite Pink for your pre-treatment. Wipe three coats on Tuesday night and three coats on Wednesday night. Because these tires drop very quickly, watch the durometer reading after each wipe. Stop use if you are over softening your tires. Do not roll Vega tires in a pan for these conditions.

ü If you are getting these tires ready for wet tracks, you will want to roll these tires in Venom Soak II, using a prep pan. Normally we will roll them for one hour per night until the desired durometer reading is achieved. It is not uncommon to get these tires to durometer 30 or lower for very wet tracks. You can achieve this by wiping on the prep, but it is much more time consuming than rolling the tires.

At Track Prepping – Prepping at the track is best done with a cloth rag, using light coats of prep. Unless otherwise noted, this is the way we intend all Venom Juice products to be externally applied. Prepping with paper towels is not recommended. Vega tires do not need to be warm to absorb prep. Just make sure the tires are not cold to the touch. However, these tires normally run best when they’re already hot when you go to the grid. A hotbox or tire warmers work nicely to get these tires hot. Make sure all prep has dried into the tire before going onto the track. Below is a list of track conditions, and the preps we recommend for those conditions, when running these tires.

· Wet Tracks: A tire pre-treated with Venom Soak II would be ideal. Venom Soak II is also the best for this situation at the track. Wipe it on with a rag for surface bite. For tracks that have a lot of surface moisture, tires should be wet at the grid. If you need to further soften the tires, apply multiple coats to a warm tire. If this prep is over softening, or seems to be locking down the kart, you can switch to using Venom Bite Blue as a less aggressive prep.

· Damp Tracks: Damp tracks can often fit in the same category as wet tracks, but the moisture is normally less or is not concentrated on the surface of the track. Tires pre-treated with Venom Soak II are ideal. At the track, Venom Bite Blue will work well. If your tires need more softening, use Venom Soak II. If the track starts to dry out, refer to the Dry Slick recommendations.

· Dry Slick Tracks: Normally at this point we would recommend switching to a Maxxis or Firestone tire. If you need to run the Vega is this situation, you should lightly apply Venom Bite Blue, cut 50/50 with Acrysol. Keep the wipes very light to avoid softening.

· Dusty Tracks: Wipe on a coat of Venom Bite Black to fire-off the tires. If the track is severely dusty, use additional coats. Make sure the slick film left on the tire by Venom Bite Black, is completely soaked in before going onto the track. Applying the treatment to a warm tire will help it soak in without leaving the film.

· Hard Biting Tracks: If you are forced to run Vega tires on hard biting tracks, the most prep you would want to apply would be a very light coat of straight Acrysol.

· Cold Weather: Treat your tires for the track condition described above. If the weather is cooler than normal (usually below 55 degrees), you need to prep as described, plus use an additional light coat of Venom Bite Green. Make sure that all prep has adequately soaked into the tire. Allow extra time, as prep takes longer to absorb into cold tires.

Retreating Tires – After running tires, or even after taking them to the track without running them, they will require work before your next outing. If you have run the tires, follow the same directions as for pre-treating, expect use about half as much prep. Pay attention to durometer readings, to avoid over-prepping your tires. If you haven’t run the tires and they still feel the same as when you first treated them, do not retreat them at all. At the most, they might require a single coat of Venom Bite Pink to get them reconditioned.