[Tall-Paul]

I know its been covered before but I can't find it in the search etc, does anyone know the recommended tyre pressures for track use on 225 40 18 prada spec 2's?

Going Oulton park tomorrow

Cheers, Paul

 

[Paulted]

It's hard to say for different tyres but I generally go up 2psi to 34 on my Falken 452's which are normally 32-33psi for road use.

I might get chance to call down tomorrow and watch, pretty gutted I wont be going on myself as it looks like its going to be a good day

 

[RIK]

Generally the tyre pressures are LOWERED when on track !!!

Alot more heat is generated on track comnpared to the road which in turn HIGHERS the resulting tyre pressure , so you start with a slighhtly LOWER pressure when cold than what you normally run !!

 

[Paulted]

It's personal choice and you need to find the balance that suits yourself the tyre and weather.

I personally higher my pressure certainly on a cold and possibly damp day and think my car handles better with less tyre wear on the walls. I have tried the Falkens at 32psi and didn't like the handling.

 

[Lancastrian]

Recommended manufacturers settings for me.

 

[Tall-Paul]

I left them at 32 front 30 rear and after a few laps the fronts went up to 40psi. I let them down to 35psi seeing as they were at their max!!

 

[fishface31a]

QUOTE(Tall-Paul @ 23 Jan 2010, 08:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I left them at 32 front 30 rear and after a few laps the fronts went up to 40psi. I let them down to 35psi seeing as they were at their max!!

Tyre pressures are set with the tyre cold to allow for the pressure to increase as the air in the tyre gets hot! Playing around with the pressures once you have heat in the tyre introduces too many variables to make it a good way to set pressures!

 

[Tall-Paul]

yeh I knew there would be risks but I thought it was better than exceeding the max tyre pressure

 

[troy45]

The max tyre pressure would be taken with the tyres cold so you wouldn't actually be exceeding that. I've seen tyre pressures go up 4-6psi when hot so 40psi warm could actually only be 34-36psi cold.

Golden rule - check and set tyre pressures first thing in the morning while they're still cold, or after an hour of being stood.

Also seen some race tyres on the bike where you actually set the pressures with the tyre hot (achieved using tyre warmers), usual advice for riders on road tyres was to drop pressures for the track.

 

[Rich A]

A bit of thread necromancy here for my first post.

I'm looking for some advice for tyre pressures for a little bit of track time. I have contisport 5s and run at the standard 33psi. I recently spent 20 minutes on Silverstone (pistonheads sunday service) and killed 3 of my 4 tyres which had plenty of tread left at the start of the day. The wear was around the centre of the tyre suggesting they inflated with the heat and wore down quickly (shoulders were feathered but had plenty of tread depth). I know I wasn't driving smoothly and its my own fault, but as i'm going on a trip to the continent with some more short blasts on track, I'm hoping i can make it home on legal tyres at least!

I don't do track days so can't justify a second set of wheels - it's literally for a lap or two of the nordschleife and a short blast of the GP track (1 25 min session, max)

Generally advice is to raise pressures slightly to help the tyre wall. But my experience suggests lowering slightly. I'd appreciate any thoughts you guys have

 

[Rich A]

Just a quick follow up on my previous post in case someone else finds this in the future... from the usual 33psi, dropping the fronts to 28psi and rears to 30psi gave a good feel, even tyre wear across the width of the tyre (no extreme wear in the centre or shoulders) and saw pressures raise to about 35-36psi once warm after a 15 minute track session.

 

[teeman]

Just a quick follow up on my previous post in case someone else finds this in the future... from the usual 33psi, dropping the fronts to 28psi and rears to 30psi gave a good feel, even tyre wear across the width of the tyre (no extreme wear in the centre or shoulders) and saw pressures raise to about 35-36psi once warm after a 15 minute track session.

My mate runs his megane trophy R at 28psi, but other people have ran those as low as 22psi and said they were good, my mate used to race BMW compacts and he ran 22psi all round.