New tires tend to give more grip to the front than to the rear wheels?

When you have a new set of tires you usually feel you gained more grip to the front, to the rear, or equal grip gained? Any theory to explain your feelings?
Do thin tires tend to lose grip and/or rubber quickly?

Totally depends on the compound.

We used to have to run Bridgestone YLBs for one series, and MG Yellows for another. The Bs always picked up more front than rear grip, and the balance always shifted to the front on new Bridgestones. The MGs stayed balanced on new tires.

Now with new MG Reds we find the balance tends to shift to the front on fresh tires, like the old Bridgestones did.

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I agree with TJ and to add to that also depends on how you kart is handling before you slap stickers on. If you kart is pushing, you will likely get more front grip temporarily until your kart starts to replicate what it was doing prior and eating up the front tires. If you kart is sliding, new tires will give you some extra rear grip temporarily, then start eating up the rear tires. The kart needs to be likely adjusted to fix the original issue

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So, if we have a old set of tires in our kart and the kart seems to be balanced in terms of front and rear grip not presenting issues like pushing or sliding, it is likely to appear a little bit of oversteer when we give the kart a new set of tires. Is that what you meant?

It depends on what compound you are using. Some new tires pick up more front grip than rear, some pick up more rear than front.

What tire are you running?

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I am using MG SH (red). It is the only tire manufacturer we have here in Brazil. Monopolized market. We pay here a set of new tires USD 135. There are some drivers in other countries paying for the same tires less than what we pay here in the country where the tires are made.

$135??? They’re about $210 in the US.

Like TJ said, the new SH tires have a bit more front bite than used, but they stay pretty balanced overall in my opinion.

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Yeah as Aaron said, we pay $210 a set or so here for MGs, so you guys have it good!

And yes, the Reds stay fairly balanced but they do tend to pick up a little oversteer on new tires. The rears don’t seem to dig into the track as nicely as the fronts when new.

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That’s a smoking deal. About 210 in NJ as well.

So as a local I pay more lol. I just ordered a part online from Europe and the shipping was as expensive as the part! No idea how they are so much less expensive in Brazil. Maybe it’s subsidized somehow?

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As MG production facilities are in the south of Brazil, I think there are some costs with logistics/freight, exportation/importation taxes, importer indirect costs + profit, etc etc etc. So, it could double the price there. I think any Brazilian manufacturer has tax incentive from government to export. Therefore you do not pay the double I pay here.

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I did not know that! I thought they were manufactured in the States.

Google Street View in front of the factory

House in front of the factory. It is a very small city in the south of Brazil.

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I wish ours were that cheap $270 here

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Shipping is a killer on tires. On the ice tires I import from Germany, shipping almost doubles the cost. Add customs\duties and everything else it and it starts to ramp up real fast.

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I’m going to add a little more to this, you will have more front bite on new MG Reds compared to old ones, but you’ll also notice that the rear stays loaded better as well. The kart will feel more “twitchy” (that’s a bad way to describe it) but it won’t necessarily be oversteering because of that.

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