Sunday is going to be my first event, and I have no idea what would be a good tire pressure. I assume I would want them all filled a little more to keep the sidewalls from buckling much. Any suggestions?

 

It depends on the length of the course, surface conditions, driver preference and the ambient temperature. Typically autocross courses are short (1 minute in length) and thus you really don't get the tires really hot. That is why a lot of guys run very high tire pressures (40-44 psi front - cold) to make up for this.

What you don't want happening is the tire "rolling over" onto the sidewall. The best way to check for this is to apply something like white shoe polish or chalk to the side of the tire onto the tread. Select the appropriate tire pressure which gives you optimum usage of the tread (requires several runs)

Ask around while you're at the event and watch others. Most people will be glad to give you some help. Just remember opinions are like ******** - everybody's got one.

 

*checks his pants*

yup, I got one of those.

Pressure will also depend on what tire you are running on.

When I was on the Potenzas, I ran 38F/37R without a spare tire and with almost no fuel in the tank. That worked pretty well for me.

The main thing is to inflate your tires a little higher than you need, then use chalk put on the edges of the tire (part of the tread and then partway down the sidewall) to see how far or if your tire is rolling over.

When you have a run that removes the chalk up to the edge of the tread while leaving the sidewall talk untouched, use something pretty close to that pressure.

Have fun!!

 

Thanks, guys. I am on the stock Potenzas. Looks like a little trial and error time.

 

Hey, R-Type it will be nice to have another R running this event. I'am usually only one. My pressures seem to be typically higher than others run. On stock RE010 I ran 45f/40r last weekend. This is very similar to what I use in KUMHO's which turned to toast in last Saturdays event.
In any event if you use one of those cheap pencil type gages you probably need to add 10 lbs to what it says. I have a good gage and will be glad to help you.
45GS

 

For the stock itr on re010's, I've found that 40-42 all around is safe... any lower up front and you might get some rollover.

For the rear, anywhere between 40-44 should be fine. The higher you go, the more it'll rotate.

hth

 

Check the archives occasionally, I know this question was asked in the last week!

Anyway, I autocrossed my bone stock ITR for an entire season on the RE010's and ran the following pressures.

39-40 F
33-34.5 R

Set the front where the tires don't rollover and reduce pressure in the rear for more rotation, add for more stick.

I'd personally start at 39/34 and then adjust after I had some heat in the tires.