fadiizzaldin
Registered
Track junkies …. whats the best tire pressure for track use, temperature here is around 72-75f …
Thanks for your help....
Thanks for your help....
Tire pressure for track
- Thread starter fadiizzaldin
- Start date
What kind of track and what kind of tire? Personally, I find that 30psi works great for me, but that is not on a drag strip.
fadiizzaldin
Registered
Something like Laguna Seca and tires are Pirelli Rosso Corsa
fadiizzaldin
Registered
...............................
fadiizzaldin
Registered
Thanks guys,,,, i really appreciate the help ...
max1580
Registered
Hey "fadiizzaldin." From what I have read on here, choosing a tire pressure seems to be a big guessing game. I have road raced for many years and I believe the tire pressure recommendations posted are to low. The reason "Acehole" says "My first track day I was amazed at how much the pressure went up after a couple of sessions" is because he was running to low of an air pressure in his tires. The following procedure should be performed for an optimal tire pressure for road racing on tracks like Laguna Seca. Before going out onto the track you want to take an initial cold tire air pressure reading. After completing numerous laps on the track, you will want to pull into pit lane and immediately take a tire pressure reading before the tires have a chance to cool down. Ideally you want to see a 10% rise in tire pressure from your cold tire pressure to the hot pressure reading taken when you came off the track. From my experience a good starting point is to set your front tire cold pressure reading to 34 psi. Set your rear tire cold pressure reading to 36 psi. When you come off the track your front tire pressure reading should be 10% higher which would be an increase of 3.4 psi with a front tire pressure of 37.4 psi. Your rear tire pressure should increase 10% which is 3.6 psi added to the cold pressure of 36 psi giving you a pressure reading of 39.6 psi. If your pressures don't rise to those numbers than let out 1 psi and then check the pressures after your next track session. If that still doesn't get you to a 10% rise, then keep letting out 1 psi per session until you get the correct rise in pressure. On the other hand, if the pressures are more than a 10% rise, then you want to add 1 psi per session until you get the correct rise. Remember this, if you get more than a 10% rise in pressure, the tire is running to hot and you need to add more air. If you get less than a 10% rise than the tire is running to cold and you want to let air out. Always let 1 psi out at a time and always record your readings in a log. Different tracks will produce slightly different psi increases or decreases. The rear tire will always run hotter than the front tire and this is why you run 2 psi to 4 psi higher than the front. If you run tire pressures like "Acehole" and get large increases in pressure readings, your tires will overheat causing your bike to loose traction where you need it in the corners which in other words you will crash. Good luck and keep the shiny side up. Please post here after your next track session with your results.
Last edited:
:rudolph:
Temeraire
Registered
I usually run 37 psi on the street, on the track I tried to start out with about 34 psi but after a recommendation from an instructor I dropped it down to 32psi. Kept checking my tires the whole day and I kept coming up to about 37.5 psi hot in the rear, and 34.75 in the front. I kept adjusting until my hot and cold pressures became consistent and I was very happy with my traction all day.
Mythos
Registered
If tires "live" too long, they get hard which reduces traction even more. Still have the stock tires on my 08 and they seem very slippery in wet/ cold conditions. Worse than I might expect. I don't dare corner hard on them. Need to take some long road trips next Fall and finish those babies off so I can get some real tires on there.
max1580
Registered
The information I posted above is what I learned from years of racing with "Dunlop Tire Guru" Jim Allen. If you don't know or never heard of Jim Allen, then check out this link >>> Dunlop's Jim Allen To Retire In my post above I recommend to run a tire pressure where you see a 10% increase in psi from your initial cold tire pressure reading to a hot tire pressure reading. Your hot tire pressure reading should be performed immediately after pulling into pit lane after a track session. For more detailed information see my post above. To answer your question, ddd269, your street tire pressures should be a little lower than the above listed recommended track psi's if the ambient temperature is cold like here in New York where today it is about 48 degrees. In the cold weather I would run 32 psi front and 34 psi rear for the street. If you are riding the street twisties in the summer or live in a warmer climate, then 34 psi front 36 psi rear is perfect. If you increase the front psi more than that, the tire may never heat up enough and when you hit the twisties (street riding), you may lose the front end when you really need the traction. Bottom line, if you run 44 psi in your tires, you will be just fine if you are cruising straight up on a freeway and never plan on leaning into a turn, exit ramp or twisty road. If you plan on pushing your bike like it was meant to do, 34 psi front, 36 psi rear is a perfect place to start.
You prove my point, and i will also give you the benefit of my, and some others around here, bad experiences in the hope you won't make a mistake like we did....if your tires are handing bad, REPLACE THEM. If they are 2 years old as your OEM's are now, REPLACE THEM. If they are "slippery in wet/cold", REPLACE THEM! The cost of the new tires is minor compared to the cost of new plastics, gear and hospital bills, all for just trying to "finish these babies off". You can find a set of Dunlop Q2's for around $300 on the net if you watch for them.
I sure wish I could take back the last time I tried to "finish off" a set of tires (Crashed), when I had a brand spanking new set in the back of my pickup ready to mount.....
fadiizzaldin
Registered
Max1580, Thanks for all the useful info,,, it makes perfect sense... i've got Pirellie Diablo Rosso Corsa and they should be good, got them a couple of months back.... i also have BST carbon Fiber wheels which wont hold heat as much as alloy wheels...
i've done a few track days but never managed to crack down the pressure theory, I'll take your advice and i'll you know how it goes....
Thanks again
No, not at all. But, you might consider a trackday if you want to go that fast...
max1580
Registered
I’m glad you learned to reduce your pressure before it was to late. Running low to mid 30's tire pressures is absolutely safe to ride at 60 mph or 160 mph and will not negatively effect driveability. All pro racers as well as club racers run these exact pressures on the track. Daytona Speedway sees speeds as much as 200 mph while setting a tire pressure at 34 psi front 36 psi rear. Dunlop representatives at the track always have a display board set up for racers recommending pressures just like these.
Similar threads
