Tire Pressure Inquiry

[NightmareMoon]

I just had a thought for you track guys and I realize track/carving corners is way different than mostly city or highway driving.

What if you track guys measure your tread depth at your standard track pressure, do your track day and then remeasure. You could then tweak your pressure and pickup some time maybe. Might be worth a try.

Oh we do. One hard lap at an average track is about equal to ~150 miles of street driving, so we get lots of practice with tire pressures and tire wear. I’m on my 6th set of RE71Rs and my 4th set of street tires at this point.

Track pressures can climb 8-9psi from cold temps to hot pressures We’re more interested in maximizing grip and usually adjust pressures to achieve even heat across the tire using a pyrometer and not a tread depth gauge. The pyrometer lets you know what parts of the tire are scrubbing the hardest before you’ll see the same results in wear. Camber is a major factor too, since we use the outside of the tire a lot harder when cornering than any street car. Lots of tires get thrown out because the shoulders of the tire were destroyed long before the tread was worn on the center or inside. Even without a pyrometer or before tire wear shows up, we can experiment with pressures and feel significant differences in grip as the front or rear of the car starts to loose traction sooner or later. Oversteer is hard to miss.

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[Assh]

Oh we do. One hard lap at an average track is about equal to ~150 miles of street driving, so we get lots of practice with tire pressures and tire wear. I’m on my 6th set of RE71Rs and my 4th set of street tires at this point.

Track pressures can climb 8-9psi from cold temps to hot pressures We’re more interested in maximizing grip and usually adjust pressures to achieve even heat across the tire using a pyrometer and not a tread depth gauge. The pyrometer lets you know what parts of the tire are scrubbing the hardest before you’ll see the same results in wear. Camber is a major factor too, since we use the outside of the tire a lot harder when cornering than any street car. Lots of tires get thrown out because the shoulders of the tire were destroyed long before the tread was worn on the center or inside. Even without a pyrometer or before tire wear shows up, we can experiment with pressures and feel significant differences in grip as the front or rear of the car starts to loose traction sooner or later. Oversteer is hard to miss.

Great, now I need to buy a pyrometer, thanks!

Understand, all that makes good sense.

 

[VinnAY]

Here's how I do it. Start with the Mustang placard tire pressure on a new set of tires. Measure tread depth all along the width of the tire, write that down. After some mileage, remeasure tread depth and then compare to what you wrote down. If the middle tread depth wear is greater than the outside worn tread depth then decrease the cold air pressure 1 or 2psi till the wear is the same across the width of the tire. The opposite is true if the outsides are wearing more more than the middle.

The tread depth gauge will tell you what your tire is doing quicker than your eyeball. The gauge will tell you if you need to align the vehicle and also if the tires need balancing. It tells you the trend of the tire.

I honestly just lol'd for a solid minute. I bet you're a real blast to have at a party.

 

[WildHorse]

So with the ass end having 4% less weight then the front, I kept the front's at 32 psi & lowered the rears to 30.5 psi. Call be crazy, but the ass feels more 'planted' now.

 

[Braski]

I run 31 psi on all 4 corners, + or - 1!

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