hpfiend

Hey all-

Had my first autox event in our 2003 z06 a few weekends ago.

Though it was frustratingly difficult I still had a good time. The first two runs I went the wrong way on the slalom and so got DNF's but proceeded to drop about 5 seconds and then 2 seconds off my time the next two and then my last run I got .3 seconds better but hit a cone. My car is factory stock (ride height and all) and has the original Goodyear supercar tires on it with 17K miles of driving. They are a bit hard but I know my limit right now is not the tires ;-).

However- I will say that a local autox guide mentioned I should bring my tires to max inflation. I brought them to 44 psi as marked on the tires and I swear it felt like I was on roller skates. I was tempted to drop to the 30 psi I run on the street as I seem to have LOTS of grip there but did not want to chunk the tires so I went to 39 psi and it seemed to be MUCH better even with my limited driving abilities? Was I imagining this? I didn't notice any tire damage at 39 psi and plan to start this weekends event at 40 psi, unless reccommended otherwise and my wife plans to pilot for the first time as well in SSL.

Thanks for your input!
Andrew

Jason

There's not much you can do to 7 year old tires that is going to effect their grip, or lack thereof.

JiminVirginia

With any luck you'll destroy the OEM tires and be forced to buy a new (and much stickier) set.

Seriously, try 35 pounds and see what happens. I'd be wary of anything more than that.

TedDBere

I always recommend to newbies on street tires to set the fronts to 40 and the rears to 36 lbs. That will keep them from chunking as you learn the car and keep you from damaging the tires from your almost-certain overdriving.

After you decide if you want to continue having fun with the car then come back after 3-4 events and look for some more advise...like reading the sticky thread at the top of this forum section.

Good luck.

hpfiend

Thanks for the tips guys! I will try 40 front and 36 rear!!!. I was using 39 all around. I will tell my dad to do the same in his 08 c6 coupe as plans to try it the first time in his car this weekend as well.

Datawiz

Good advice.

The only bit I'll add is that if the autox bug bites you and you get serious, try running a year on street tires. In Super Stock, the urge may ultimately be there to start running on race rubber to be competitive with the pack leaders. If you get on race rubber too soon, you will feel like Superman, but the tires will be hiding your over driving, and thus you will wear out extremely expensive tires in short order. I made that mistake in my first year. It took the Evolution Driving School on street tires to show me I was over steering.

With 2-3 drivers, my car burns $1,800 of Hoosiers in 3 Sundays.

2009 Season Set #5 goes on this Friday.

froggy47

IMO that is way too high a pressure for old oem tires.

I don't think you'll need to worry about chunking on that old rubber and whatever grip that might be left in them will be erased at those pressures.

I'd run 30 to 32 rear and about 4 psi more front.

These are not floppy sidewall Pep Boy tires that need lots of pressure just to keep them on the rim.

I have taken some runs at the pressure I suggest on some old F1 SC tires and they were fine, just little grip compared to fresh a6 or 710.

Your dad with much fresher tires (maybe runflats with uber stiff walls) certainly does not need those pressures.

Don't be afraid to vary your pressures & try hard to "FEEL" how the car handles differently.

drivinhard

regardless of miles, the F1 SC's are good for 2 maybe 3 yrs. then they are junk