what's up, I'm a NASA HPDE newb, my question right now is what tire pressures are you guys running on CRX's? I just got a set of A048's and it seems like I have to run fairly low cold pressures to make use of the whole contact patch. looking on some lotus elise forums (since that's their stock tire) I found they were running fairly low cold pressures too. on guy said he was running 24 F / 26 R hot pressure, if you flip that front and rear that's about where I'm at now. is anyone running these tires on CRX? if so what pressures?

thanks again!

oh yeah, anyone on here going to be at the December HPDE event at Homestead? I'll be signing up for HPDE 1 once the registration opens up.



Modified by candymanjlCRX at 2:05 PM 9/6/2008

 

I'll be the first to say it: A048s + HPDE1 = bad news.

Maybe think about picking up some Azenis or something?

 

out of curiosity why would you say that? I had Falken 615's before these tires and I have a ton more grip now just with the little bit of driving I've done.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by candymanjlCRX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">out of curiosity why would you say that? I had Falken 615's before these tires and I have a ton more grip now just with the little bit of driving I've done.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

What Stinky was trying to say is that learning on less stickier tires builds your skill level to control your car. When you upgrade to R-comps before more hpde experience they tend to over look their mistakes since r compounds will recover for them. I too, would suggest you stay with a street compound tire; re01r, r1r, z1, 615 before you jump onto the r-comps. You will definitely learn a lot more from your car then you will from the r-compounds. You shouldn't be worried about getting as much grip as possible on your first hpde. Your most likely going to learn how to get situated with how your car handles at those certain speeds.

 

Yes, they would have more grip. If you're a noob though, that's the problem. That extra grip will cover up mistakes and poor driving technique you'll undoubtedly have. The breakaway characteristic of the tire will also be more sudden, and the recovery characteristics are nearly nonexistant. That means when you lose it, it'll happen fast, and you'll have a much lower chance of saving it.

If you're just a NASA-specific noob, and have other significant track experience, disregard what I'm saying. However, from your first post it doesn't sound like that.

 

I appreciate it, I see what you guys are saying. I needed new street tires to hold the power I'm running, about 270whp, the 615's are pretty useless at that point. I figured I'd be better off getting a grippy handling tire rather than just a drag radial that would be all sloppy in the steering. I'll be in HPDE 1 with an instructor, I doubt I'll be pushing the car too hard my first trip out but who knows.

well I've got these tires now any idea what pressures to start at?

also should I worry about brake pads? right now I've got brembo rotors with PBR pads, should I get some hawk pads and put them on for the track or just not worry about it for now? the brakes feel pretty good for the street but it's easy enough to swap out the pads for the track.

 

24-26 psi hot, as you mention in your first post, is ridiculously low for most R compound tires. I haven't used the A048 so I don't know how they compare with most R comps, but most R comps will generally feel best around 38-40 psi hot, although you may want a few psi less than that in the rear.

On my ITR, I generally start with my R comps around 33F/31R cold, and that seems to work out fine. IIRC, they usually wind up somewhere around 40F/35R hot that way.



Modified by nsxtasy at 7:57 PM 9/6/2008

 

Michelin has a lot of good info in their Pilot Sport Cup R-compound broshure...

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/...g.pdf

they suggest starting at 25 F / 28 R cold to end up at 32 F / 36 R hot. considering they're generalizing and that the example car is most likely a car over 3,000 pounds and RWD I'm going to start around 25 F / 22 R cold and go from there. honestly seeing how these tires sit, especially in the rear, any cold pressure near 30 psi and I'll be riding on half the tread. when I got them mounted they put them at 35 psi and I barely had the tread on the ground.

 

oh yeah, anyone on here going to be at the December HPDE event at Homestead? I'll be signing up for HPDE 1 once the registration opens up.

Modified by candymanjlCRX at 2:05 PM 9/6/2008[/QUOTE]

i am going and im getting my car ready im also a noob but i do have a lot of karting experience on shifter karts many people told me that will help me out alot but we will see anyways if u need any help or any questions contact me i might have some simple awnsers on somethings

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by candymanjlCRX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> when I got them mounted they put them at 35 psi and I barely had the tread on the ground.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Pics? I find that hard to believe, unless you're slizzammed and running like -5* camber.

 

I'll take a picture where they're at now, my car has the street alignment at the moment which is 0 degrees all around, I might get is aligned before the track to -1.5 degrees as a starting point.

it's funny, I'll see if I can find the link to the thread on the other site but a guy running A048's on his exige was talking with a guy running the A048's on his STI and they were running about 10psi different from each other both with good results. in their case the STI was about 1,300 pounds heavier than the exige and that's why their pressures differed so much. your car weighs about 1,100 pounds more than my car so I know my pressures will sound low, that's why I was wondering if any other CRX guys were using them.

oh yeah, just found the link to the other topic...
http://www.trackpedia.com/foru...23720