So 35psi asphalt/38psi concrete then? :thumbup:

That isn't even close to what I said. Straw man arguments typically come from people who don't understand logic, or who are arguing from a losing position. Which one are you?

Try it out and see how you like it. Did you read the link I posted? As long as the tire doesn't start becoming a torus and lifting the edges off the ground you can add more pressure. If you have some white printer paper you can drive over it to see what your contact patch looks like. Regardless of whether you think a sufficiently rolled over tire can flip a car, the physics of higher tire pressures creating more grip are unchanged.

The car will be harder to drive with higher pressures, because the tire will be less compliant over bumps on the surface. My personal opinion is you should learn to drive this way. I'm not alone in this, I know a few people with multiple national championships under their belt who run higher pressures than everyone else. Maybe they're on to something.

From the site that you quoted (which I revisit every so often)


================

From all this, we can assume the following:

1. A tire will gain grip with increasing tire pressure until the internal pressure overcomes the strength of the carcass portions that keep the tire cylindrical, at which point the tire will start losing grip;
2. A tire with a fairly rigid construction (a DOT-approved tire) will want more total pressure than a tire with a floppy construction (race slick);
3. A wide tire (with a large unsupported beam section across the tread section area) will stand less total pressure than a narrow tire; and
4. A soft tire will need less pressure than a hard tire.

And this is pretty much what is observed in the wild. A wide, floppy, soft, and sticky race slick might use 15 PSI, but a narrow, stiff, hard, and smooth OEM street tire might use 55 PSI.

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this is why I'm fairly comfortable running 27~28 psi on a 235 R1R on a 2800 lb car. But will run higher on other tires like the RS3 or ZII




having said that, 22 psi on any street tire is suspicious..... No way that's enough air to support the carcass under comp use, it is bound to deform.

Thanks for all the responses, guys.

That link is awesome! A wealth of information; things I've known to be true but never quite understood until it was all laid out for me. Thanks for that.

While I have several RE-11 driver's in the house, how do you guys feel about doing an AutoX event or two with temps below 40*F? In November when I swapped back to my stock wheels I was noticing that the RE-11 (old 140TW version) was a bit slippery at ambient temps below 40*F...have 3 events in March alone and they're done in a beach parking lot on Long Island's south shore, so temps are generally between 28*F and 40*F for the month of March. Will I be struggling for grip or is one run enough to warm them sufficiently? Can't be worse than the OEM Michelins......can they...?

you're not really gonna have any of the high performance summer tires do well at 40*F, so really, everyone is on equal footing.

the best thing to do for those really cold days is have a smaller section width tire with taller sidewalls, they will heat up quicker

What 7thgear said is about right. Your all seasons will be on equal footing ( I would guess) as the ultra/extreme performance tires get really hard at temps that low, which is why tirerack lists min. temps. Your all seasons may actually be softer at that temp. Funny thing, has anyone tried a performance winter? They will be the softest of the bunch at that temp.

Yeah, the Nokian WRG3 supposedly started as a race tire for such conditions. Very good feedback on my wife's Prius, makes me want to get her better tires for the summer. And makes me wish I had them too, though I just don't drive much if at all in the winter.

I also have our first autocross event of the year this weekend. Temps in Charlotte are going to be around 25 to 37 degrees F. Should be quite interesting!

I am really debating if keeping my OE Michelins on would actually be any better than the RE11As.

Interesting…maybe I'll bring both my OEM Michelins and the RE-11's and do some testing...