I recently put more air in my tires and am running them a little hard. Max PSI is 52 I think, I'm running at 36-37PSI all the way around (that's cold PSI). This is up from 31-32 where they were before.

I'm noticing a lot less traction. I thought it might be associated with the warmer weather, but today is fairly warm and a quick passing effort in second gear resulted in loss of traction so I'm thinking they're a little too hard.

What are you guys running? Do you run different PSIs on road trips vs. around town?

 

any kind of performance tire needs to be heated for it to grip better. Higher the PSI it takes longer time for them to get hot but will maintain the grip for long time. On the other hand if u have the tires 30-32 psi it will warm up quick and start gripping early but will become smushy after hard driving and lose its performance.

 

Yeah I drive long distances at a time and notice it generally after they're warmed up. I know the principles of tire heat, etc, and don't expect a ton out of the tires on really cold days. I was more curious about what pressures people are running to try and find the balance between fuel efficiency, tire longevity, and performance. I personally think 36-37 PSI gives a little too much up in the performance department (for everyday street driving, etc.).

 

I just leave mine at 35 PSI cold, for everyday. I pump about 3-5 more when im at the canyons.

 

I was thinking of going to 34.

 

I don't have a "road trip" specific recommendation, but high 30's is best for autocrossing where you need optimal sidewall support, so they might be a bit high if you're not cornering that aggressively on your road trip. You could chalk the sidewalls to gauge the extend of the flex and adjust tire pressure accordingly. You need just enough pressure so that the chalk marks on the sidewalls are barely rubbed off.

 

Ok this is not for racing or auto-crossing. This thread is for everyday driving. If I were to go back to my racing days, I'd have a different set of wheels/tires for that anyways.

When I said road trip, I meant do you put run at different pressures if you're driving on the highway to another city (say 500 miles away) versus the pressure you run while driving around town.

Thanks for the input though!

 

Same issues with mine as well Brian. My RE050's on my Z slide around a lot now since it's cold. Last I checked I had around 36 in all 4. I think the tires kinda suck anyways.

 

35psi I can't wait to get PS2's!

 

Yeah I filled them up to 36ish a couple weeks ago and haven't really been driving it. However, today was pretty warm and I drove 20 miles to lunch and 20 miles back. On my way back, almost at work I passed someone in second and the car completely lit it up until VDC kicked in. It wasn't like a little slip then go, it was like first gear in the rain lit it up.

I'm driving to Dallas on Friday, I'll probably leave them at 36 and see how it does on the road trip.

For as expensive as the tires are, and for how crappy the tread life is, the tires do kind of suck, but they're not that bad. I think they're notably better than the Goodyear Eagle RS-As or whatever came on my 2004 G35 w/ Sport Pkg.

 

if u are talking about strait line traction then it must be either the weather or ur camber might be way off over -2 degrees. That would cause good chunk of ur tire to not grip the ground which, combined with cold weather, would cause u to have minimal traction.

I used to have RE50s on the coupe 19s and i liked them a lot. They would actually last much longer than the Gooodyear Eagle DSG3s under hard cornering. The only downside was their noise.

 

Yea exactly the same. 2nd gear 1/2 throttle in my Z is breaking them loose. I will probably lower the tire psi down to 34 tomorrow and see how that does.

 

Let me know. Yeah for me even half throttle causes problems, and I don't think it's because of camber problems or anything. It happened when I inflated my tires up to 36-37 PSI and now that it's cooler, but again, today wasn't that cold. It was 73F out when I lost it big time in second with maybe only 3/4 power and not in the peak of the power band either.

 

I've been running 35 cold, and they're handling well; I do notice the little ripple bumps / cracks in road a bit more, but that could be all the construction around here rather than a one pound diff.

 

Just a update. Changed the tires down to 34 cold all around, and the car rides much better. Even handles better too.