Out of curiousity, how much do you all adjust your cold pressures up for cold ambient temps? How much compensation is too much? I usually don't add more than about one or two pounds maximum if it is really cold out. However, I have heard some people argue that you should actually *decrease* cold pressures when it's very cold out. I'm guesing the reason is that on a cold track you slide more, and the tire generates more heat than usual, which obviously increases the pressures more. Any thoughts?

 

Bueller? Bueller?

 

Cold air is denser than warm air. So I would imagine that cold air acts as a stiffer spring than hot air. This means a cold tire will flex less and take longer to come up to temp if you leave your cold pressures the same as when its warm out.

I want my tire tread to be as hot as possible without getting greasy. To accomplish that I lower cold pressures when its cold so that the tire is squirmier (look ma, a new word :-) when I start out. This causes the tread to flex more which in turn raises the temp more quickly. And, since the operating temp relative to the cold temp is a larger change when its cold out than warm, I can expect my warm pressures to see a greater increase than when running in the summer.

So my answer is lower cold pressures when its cold.