This was written by the AMA Dunlop Race Tire Rep.
Tire Pressures
What is the right pressure?
Lets start of by establishing some basics.
#1, we need to understand that every tire may perform differently at different pressures. What works for one tire may not be the very best for another.
#2, Splitting hairs on tire pressure is not going to part the Red Sea. Meaning, 0.5 Psi or 1 Psi change in pressure is not going to change your lap times by 2 seconds or more. So keep perspective, if you ride 15 seconds off the track record your not going to magically go 10 seconds faster with small change in tire pressure. Stick to the recommended till you are going very fast.
#3, Higher pressure increases stability at the cost of traction. Lower pressures increases traction at the cost of less stability. There is a workable window here, so don't get extreme variations from the recommended.
#4, Tire pressure and tire temperature are linked. As the temperature of the tire rises, so does the pressure. Don't try to control this, let it happen, its normal.
#5, (and most important) keep your tire pressure set point consistent. Don't change from cold to hot to off the track. pick cold or hot and stick with it.
Definitions:
Cold pressure is the pressure you set the tires at if they are cold. The tempature without warmers, just sitting there in the pits or in your garage.
Hot pressure (also called off the warmer pressure ) is when you set the pressure on the warmers, when the warmers have been on for 45-60 minutes and the tire is up to temp.
Off the track pressure is the pressure of the tire as it comes right off the track after several laps.
The urban legends say many different things:
some say only check hot
some say only check cold
check them cold, then check them hot, then reset them when they come of the track
some say to adjust the pressure till the hot and off the track pressures are the same
some say make the warmers hotter if your don't get a 2 psi rise from cold to hot.
These are all methods people have used. lets let these go and start fresh. They are not all correct.
Lets look at track day pressures for D209GPA, D211GPA, D211GP N-Tec and N-Tec Slicks. BTW: all of these have N-Tec construction.
The recommended Hot is 33 front and 23 rear. That is hot off the warmers. Don't change or reset them. You are done. That's it. That's all you need to know! Go ride. Ride all day.
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