I had a bit of an issue with my front Krosswerx tire warmer yesterday. In the morning I noticed that the inside of the front warmer had become discolored by a small section of the heating coil. I showed it to the tire warmer vendor and he said that sometimes the coils get hot enough that they bake the dye out and it shouldn't be a problem. I put in on, plugged it in, and when I checked on it later it was smoking and had burned a hole in the warmer and my tire.
I sent an email to Krosswerx and he said that "burn-in's" are considered user error. I guess this is considered a "burn-in" (not familiar with that terminology). He said it could be repaired for $65 but he was going to search around to see if he has a spare front warmer so he can replace it.
I try to be really careful to handle the warmers properly. I do seem to remember one time on Saturday, pulling the warmers off before I unplugged them. Could that have caused this? They were not plugged in for more than 30 seconds while they were off the tires. Anything else to look out for when taking them off / putting them on / storing them / etc?
I noticed a small discolored spot on one of the coils on the inside of my rear warmer as well. Is the discoloration normal or does it mean that my rear warmer is a ticking time bomb as well. Having my tire warmer(s) screwed up sucks, but burning up that front tire sucks even more! I'd really like to avoid burning up a rear as well.
The only good thing was that Pat and I were able to get my wheel off in record time, Tim and Josh changed the tire in record time, Pat and I got it back on in record time, and I didn't miss 1 lap. I bet the total turn around time wasn't more than 15ish minutes. As I was going into the first hard braking zone I was thinking "I did torque all of the caliper bolts, didn't I?"...
