Does anyone know what the orange ar yellow tape seen on the tires in NASCAR?
Almost every car has a strip of colored tape on the tire that starts at the rim and sometimes goes all the way to the "tread"

It's for the tire carrier to help orient the wheel onto the hub. I can't find a good picture of it now, but on the hub there are 5 pieces of tape (or maybe it's painted) lines that go from each stud to the center of the pointed dust cover. The tape of the tire/wheel lines up with one of the stud holes in the wheel, so the tire carrier uses that to line up the tire with the studs when he is putting the wheel on.

Well, WAYJOMO as FISHA695 said it is for wheel alignment when the wheel is placed on the hub. Attached you will see a photo of how teams paint lines on the hub as a quick way of being able to determine where the lug studs are located. The majority of teams in Cup use pink paint on their hubs as well as on the ends of the lug studs. This photo is of a West Series car, and the team has used the second most popular color yellow. Now on a pit stop the carrier simply aligns the tape which runs from a lug hole on the wheel to a stripe on hub which indicates a lug stud.



In the second picture below some Cup crew members are changing wheel spacers to adjust tread width on a COT while going thru inspection; if you look close at the hub you will see the pink alignment marks and pink studs. Another bit of trivia is that as a general rule teams only run marked hubs on race day. So you know these guys are going thru pre-race tech because they have marked hubs and they are cone shaped, which are much easier to get the wheel on.



On this third picture of the Cup number 7 going thru pre practice inspection at Atlanta a couple of years ago note that it has no marks on the hub and they are flat or blunt faced. That is because they are only practicing so there is no need for fast tire changes. The teams run the flat nose hubs in practice because it is much easier to take caster camber readings as well as check alignment, and all the other black magic they perform with strings and flat plates.




On this final picture note the bright orange tape next to the E in Eagle that “Budman” is working on. This is the tape that WAYJOMO diligently noted and had the question about. I hope this helped you out and I hope the pictures are not too big. That’s a sharp eye to notice that tape because it doesn’t stay on long.

To ask a (somewhat, not really) related question - I've always been curious how often a lugnut will crossthread during a pitstop, anyone have some perspective there?

I would assume it happens fairly often, but on the off chance it is actually rare, is this something the team has to address if an official notices?

GoRealSlow - 29 September 2008 06:25 AM

To ask a (somewhat, not really) related question - I've always been curious how often a lugnut will crossthread during a pitstop, anyone have some perspective there?

I would assume it happens fairly often, but on the off chance it is actually rare, is this something the team has to address if an official notices?

Rarely, I believe; the first 1/2" or so of the stud has no threads, so the nut will slide on nice and straight before any threads engage.

That's a good question and as wilmywood8455 already stated it does not happen all that often. The main thing the teams do to combat cross threading, and also to keep the lug nuts from falling to the ground if the adhesive breaks away when the wheel is thrown on is use a bullet nose lug stud. The picture below is an example of that from a rear end for the 21 wood brothers car. The lug studs are 5/8th inch 18 threads per inch so the size also helps. Note the copper colored area on the lugs; some teams use the copper Permatex Indian head gasket shellac for thread lubrication and others use a graphite based compound. Both accomplish the same goal of providing more accurate torque. It doesn’t really matter which compound they use most of the time it is essentially gone after a few tire rotations. The other thing the teams do to combat cross threading is to change out Lug studs after every race; by doing that they minimize the chance that a nick in a thread could cause a cross thread at another race down the line. They also do not reuse lug nuts. I hope this helped to answer your question.

pontiactim43 - 29 September 2008 10:48 PM

That's a good question and as wilmywood8455 already stated it does not happen all that often. The main thing the teams do to combat cross threading, and also to keep the lug nuts from falling to the ground if the adhesive breaks away when the wheel is thrown on is use a bullet nose lug stud. The picture below is an example of that from a rear end for the 21 wood brothers car. The lug studs are 5/8th inch 18 threads per inch so the size also helps. Note the copper colored area on the lugs; some teams use the copper Permatex Indian head gasket shellac for thread lubrication and others use a graphite based compound. Both accomplish the same goal of providing more accurate torque. It doesn’t really matter which compound they use most of the time it is essentially gone after a few tire rotations. The other thing the teams do to combat cross threading is to change out Lug studs after every race; by doing that they minimize the chance that a nick in a thread could cause a cross thread at another race down the line. They also do not reuse lug nuts. I hope this helped to answer your question.

Great pic and explanation, Tim, thanks.

Question: are the rotors bolted solidly to the hat as it looks in your pic? I ask because in sports cars and open wheel quite often the rotor slides on bungs so it does not become 'coned' as it expands with heat. If it is solid it might be because the hat is so deep, most Indy/F1/sports car setups I have seen the hats are not nearly so deep, in fact they are almost flat.

pontiactim43 - 28 September 2008 11:12 PM

Well, WAYJOMO as FISHA695 said it is for wheel alignment when the wheel is placed on the hub. Attached you will see a photo of how teams paint lines on the hub as a quick way of being able to determine where the lug studs are located. The majority of teams in Cup use pink paint on their hubs as well as on the ends of the lug studs. This photo is of a West Series car, and the team has used the second most popular color yellow. Now on a pit stop the carrier simply aligns the tape which runs from a lug hole on the wheel to a stripe on hub which indicates a lug stud.

Wow that's a big ol RR spring compared to the LR

Thanks for the info. I guess every little thing helps on pit stops, there aren't many places you can get 4 tires, fuel, and a clean windshield in under 15 seconds.

red376 - 01 October 2008 10:42 AM

pontiactim43 - 28 September 2008 11:12 PM

Well, WAYJOMO as FISHA695 said it is for wheel alignment when the wheel is placed on the hub. Attached you will see a photo of how teams paint lines on the hub as a quick way of being able to determine where the lug studs are located. The majority of teams in Cup use pink paint on their hubs as well as on the ends of the lug studs. This photo is of a West Series car, and the team has used the second most popular color yellow. Now on a pit stop the carrier simply aligns the tape which runs from a lug hole on the wheel to a stripe on hub which indicates a lug stud.

Wow that's a big ol RR spring compared to the LR

The difference in rate may not be as much as the different wire sizes might indicate, since the LR has fewer coils, which gives it more stiffness compared to a spring with the same wire size and more coils.

wilmywood8455 - 01 October 2008 08:30 PM

red376 - 01 October 2008 10:42 AM

Wow that's a big ol RR spring compared to the LR

The difference in rate may not be as much as the different wire sizes might indicate, since the LR has fewer coils, which gives it more stiffness compared to a spring with the same wire size and more coils.

As you can see they are Eibachs. Eibach, as most makers that produce springs for stock cars, are consistent in that you can tell whether the spring is heavy or not with a visual look, which is typically the wire thickness. I have never seen two springs similar in rates look so vastly different, especially from the same company. I might be able to go along with what your saying if the LR spring was a Hypercoil or something else. Every spring I've dealt with, the higher the rate, the heavier it looked, and the heavier it was to pick up. Also just as a side note, NASCAR type cars aren't allowed to run variable rate springs, so the distance between coils should be consistent through the height.

I tried looking up the number listed next to 'Eibach', however per the online Eibach catalogue, their spring part numbers go by the spring height, wire diameter, and rate. A common Cup rear spring height is 13", with a 5" wide coil. Their product list shows, a 550 pound spring rate weighing 9.72 pounds whereas a 300 weighs 6.53 pounds. The spring travel for the heavier spring example is 7.72(in inches) and the lighter is 8.90. These spring rates that I picked aren't my guess as to what is on the car, just two different rates...

It's interesting to me with the visual differences in rear springs that there is a rear sway bar. Judging that the sway bar is disconnected, the car could've been loose. Might be something to do with that split... lol

Great pics Tim!

this whole screen width thing happening on this site is irritating.