Do you lower your tire pressure ?

[wishIhadaturbo]

Simple question. I might be going to Kil Kare Dragway tonight. I have looked through the posts, does anybody lower their tire pressure while running the 1/4 ?

Will

 

[4g63dsm]

I have it seems to get better traction when you do.
On street tire i wouldnt go lower then 25

 

[dsm]

i put mine down to 14psi

 

[CL MaNTis GST]

what if i have 18" rims and 225/40ZR-18 88W on??

should i leave them the way i always have em? or drop psi?

 

[CBgst]

I run 22psi on the track. It seems to help.

 

[Turbo Guru]

There was an article written in a racing magazine (I do not remember which one) that dealt specifically with this question. Several tire manufacturers were asked about the effects of tire pressure changes on their street tires (not inclusive of drag radials, which have a different construction) for drag racing. Most said that the optimum pressures were around 35psi (an average depending on the tires rating.)

Radial tires, however, do not require less pressure to gain traction. In fact, when you deflate radial tires it deforms the contact patch. This causes the center of the tread to bow up, leaving only the two outside edges of the tread to make contact. This happens due to the Tire's rigid sidewall and casing construction.

There was also a discussion on doing burnouts with the same radial "street" tires (as discussed above.) Radial street tires do not require burnouts, in fact, the heat generated from these unnessicary burnouts actually causes the compound to become slippery (which makes a radial tire burnout counter-productive.) They do, however, recommend a short "dry-hop" to clean the tires surface for maximum traction, but not for heating purposes.

In short most people firmly believe that lowering pressures and doing burnouts is required because they see everyone else doing it. Some people actually have success with these practices, but in my humble opinion this is because the ones who are successful actually get better at launching their car. What most don't realize is the only ones who do it and really need to are running slicks and drag radials.

My $.02,
Joe

 

[FlaToUt-GST]

I laid down by best 60' (2.35..eww) with my nittos @ 3o psi. The last time i ran i lowered them to 20 and couldnt do better than a 2.44...

 

[larryd]

I ran my best 2.16 60ft on my Kuhmo Ecstas at 20psi.. but I agree on the burnout on radials as being a waste of time/tread.. your not supposed to heat up a radial

 

[TRBOTSI]

I got a 2.19 on nitto 555r's with a decent burnout and 16-18 psi... and I can't drive though worth a shite.

 

[FlaToUt-GST]

I'm thinking of getting some drag radials to throw on my stockers for the track. The stock tires that are on my old rims are REALLY bald, might this kinda help traction seeing how they are more like drag radials now?

 

[candela]

Hhahaah...ya right. Its not the same compound as a drag tire, as a bald tire will just leave you spinning. I think every tire is different, but as a general rule of thumb for ay street tire is that, anything lower than like 20-22psi will end up hurting you. It may shave a tenth of your 60ft, but overall it will kill your mph and et.

I feel embarassed to own a Honda most all the time I go to the track. I see all these dummies racing swapped hatches (high 14 to mid 15) running slicks with like 12 psi, saying " Dud Im still bogging, and only trapping like 91mph...). If you dont have the power and you run slicks or drag radials or W/E with a low low tire pressure it ont help...

 

[FlaToUt-GST]

...by no means did i mean a bald street tire would be any where near as good as a drag tire.... I was simply wondering if a bald street tire is better than a street tire with alot of tread, since the bald one will have a larger contact patch...only because im buying a big16g right now and have 0$ for drag radials and i REALLY need a logger, i think im gonna start whoring myself out..at least until i hit 12's

 

[candela]

I know how you feel...No they wont be beter than a radial with tread left, by any means... Yu should get the logger first

 

[FlaToUt-GST]

I should be getting the logger right around the time i can get the install kit for my 16g, then i gotta learn how to use the damn thing. I dont know much about tuning by i think im fairly intelligent so ill get the hang of it...wether i blow my car up before hand is another question entirely....

 

[candela]

Well if you have any questions about anything just pm me...good luck

 

[FlaToUt-GST]

Cool, thanks alot!