Track tire damage
Drifting
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,441
Likes: 557
My stock tires with a proper track alignment in 3 sessions, when the car was bone stock. Tire presure was 36 to 38 hot. I tried to keep it around 36.
Last edited by rb185afm; Apr 12, 2018 at 08:17 PM.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 5,692
Likes: 1,451
That's crazy. I retract my statement but 38 is too high for those tires. Your center treads chunked off, likely the center was ballooning out. You sure it didn't go closer to 40?
Last edited by BrunoTheMellow; Apr 12, 2018 at 08:54 PM.
Drifting
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,441
Likes: 557
It may have on track, but not when I checked in the pits. I was pushing through understeer exiting the sweeper at Buttonwillow. I did not treat them nice. They don’t seem to like understeer at triple digits lol.
Last edited by rb185afm; Apr 12, 2018 at 09:54 PM.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 5,692
Likes: 1,451
Last edited by BrunoTheMellow; Apr 13, 2018 at 04:22 AM.
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 4,786
Likes: 425
From: North Georgia, USA
The "optimum" pressure is going to vary some depending on which tires, how they are prepared (tread depth), car setup (alignment and weight balance) and which track you're at.
Aiming for 34 psi to 36 psi hot is probably going to get you in the ball park. At Palm Beach International, I doubt you could ever get down to 32 psi hot unless you are driving slow.
One clue that you're getting too low is if you drop a pound out of the things before starting the session and your hot pressures go up. When that happens, you're definitely too low.
If you have access to a tire pyrometer (with the probe that sticks in the tread), you can get a better idea of what's going on with temperatures. An infra-red, no contact "point and shoot" thermometer is pretty much useless, though. You need carcass temperatures, not surface temps. The only way the no contact infrared thermometer works is if you have 3 of the sensors on board for each tire, and a data recording system. Then, looking at the logs in the middle to end of the hardest turns can give you some useful data points.
Aiming for 34 psi to 36 psi hot is probably going to get you in the ball park. At Palm Beach International, I doubt you could ever get down to 32 psi hot unless you are driving slow.
One clue that you're getting too low is if you drop a pound out of the things before starting the session and your hot pressures go up. When that happens, you're definitely too low.
If you have access to a tire pyrometer (with the probe that sticks in the tread), you can get a better idea of what's going on with temperatures. An infra-red, no contact "point and shoot" thermometer is pretty much useless, though. You need carcass temperatures, not surface temps. The only way the no contact infrared thermometer works is if you have 3 of the sensors on board for each tire, and a data recording system. Then, looking at the logs in the middle to end of the hardest turns can give you some useful data points.
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Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 109
Likes: 49
From: Fort Lauderdale FL
Thanks for all the great feedback. I had tracked with the MPSS run-flats but they also chunked off. I assumed that was because of the stiff sidewalls. My runs on MPSS were good but I wore them out really fast. That got expensive. That's why I'm trying out cheaper tires. I remember when I first bought my C7, the GM website published recommended track alignment specs but I can't find them anymore. Does anyone have them? With the stock wheels, what are the best bang-for-the-buck tires?
Track Rat
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 6,466
Likes: 3,464
I ran full tread MPSS earlier this week on my Z06 for 4 sessions without issue. They did lose grip after 3-4 hot laps and if I wanted to get another good time I had to back off for a lap and go again. I managed a 2:00.21 at VIR on them. This is with DSC recommended track alignment.