Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Autocross and Open Track 51 lbs air in front is too much!!

I'm not sure what kind of tires you folks are running, don't want to assume, but if you're not using stickies go get'em. last week Sunday I didn't use my Kuhmo Victors cause one tire blew out from Solo I, but with my Bridgestone Postenza RE730's 215/45-17 at 42psi in fr. and 41 in back I landed a 72.6 in ESP landing me in 24 out of 93 overall and 21 PAX, might I add that was with 2 miss shifts thanks to my tranny starting to f*** up. Maybe if I run with my street tires ever again I'll try 45psi and see how it goes, I'm new to this forum but I enjoy everyones opinions, but some times there pretty rediculous, but I guess the experience of others makes up for the lack there of./...Hawaii Solo I & II...Aloha

Just an FYI and my $0.02 re tire pressures: I run my G Stock 2.5 GL with Hoosier R3S03's. One of the Hoosier reps specifically recommended running at or near 50# for autocrossing to create "artifical heat." Reality is, my times have consistently dropped MUCH lower, with a result that I have 2 seconds this year in Western Ohio Region (Dayton) solos (third got rained out & 4th I was working the GrandAm weekend at MidOhio. I'm sure the pressure thing is also a factor of brand/model tire, but the higher sure has been working for me!

SeiCo Mike
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98 GL Sport 2.5 MTX
K&N on one end, Dynomax the other
SVT E1 struts - stock springs [Works well!]
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Tire brand/type is almost certainly a factor. I've still got some four-year old BFG R1's and get my best times (on asphalt) with 31F/24R. The sidewalls on the R1's are about the stiffest ever made, so you don't need lots of pressure to stiffen them up to prevent rollover. I'm just trying to finish off the year with them, then I'll have to get some other tires. Any good suggestions/commentary between the Yokos, Hoosiers, and Kumhos anyone? BTW, I do have some spare Hoosier 205/40-16s with eight autocrosses on them. Anyone interested ($150 + shipping for all four)?

GS8, I had heard that the Comp TA R1 used very low pressures.

How could there be much tread left on those Hoosiers. A guy with a lightweight Miata says he can only get 40 runs out of a set of Hoosiers which sounds like 7 or 8 autocrosses to me.

A heavier SVT Contour would get even fewer runs I suspect. Heck I could only get two autocrosses out of my new G-force TAs. I'm going to have to dismount them off the rim and switch car sides because the outer edge is already shot.

I'm not ready to wave the white flag yet but I have been doing some experiemnting with lower air pressures. Maybe that explains my recent losing streak? Seriously, at Peru I ran a more conventional 46 psi in the fronts on the second day. I was very unhappy with the car (pushing) on the first day so I decided to give it a try. I'll admit the car "felt" better. Seemed to turn-in about the same but felt better in the middle. Might have gotten off the corner a bit better. However, my times (relative to the front runners) were slightly slower on less psi the second day. Goes back to the motto of what feels fast isn't neccesarily fast.

This last weekend I was back at it. Started at my usual 52 psi front. On the first run I noticed we had two very hard braking zones in which I locked the front pretty badly. The car also pushed through the middle of the corner. Alot of the push could no doubt be attributed to it being the first run. Anyway, I let 4psi out and tried again. Car felt about the same with big wheel lockup under braking. Went down to 46psi in the fronts and got MUCH better braking and the car felt alot better in the middle of the corner. It felt about as good on a small course as it has all year. The problem is that my times remained constant across all six runs. I'll usually put down two snozzers and then make pretty good gains the last two or three runs. It never happened Sunday. My dilema: is it my driving or does this situation fall back to the aforementioned motto???? My head hurts now and I can't wait to get back to the big track this coming Sunday!

As a side note there was a former KY autoxer that now lives in Texas that came up and ran STS in his Neon. He won the class pretty convincingly. He said there is a guy in Texas that does very well with an SVT in STS. I told him about this site and asked him to relay the message that we would like any input from SVT racers. Keep an eye out for someone from Texas.

Chris

to be honest I plan on running one air pressure setting until my times become consistent.

It looks like your like me with highly inconsistent times over your runs. It makes no sense to change your tire pressure until you've become consistent because all your doing at that point is guesswork. Become consistent first, then play with hardware and see what works and doesn't work.

Change 1 thing at a time, not many things and you'll slowly improve until you become one of the winners in your class.

I wish you all luck, I'll be running my 40 psi as recommended by bfgood.. until I become consistent. Then I'll see about doing other things. (shocks, tire pressures, etc.)


Almost forgot something here.. if your inconsistent.. how do you tell if it's the tire pressure or you making the change in times?????????

I didnt even notice that j00 guys were talking about me. So i'm a bit late on replying. But some points:

-My ITR is absolutelly GS legal, nothing to contest at all, I havent even changed the shocks yet. The car is stock except for the following (Stock Class legal) mods:
-Front brake pads- porterfield R4S
-R tires (currently Yoko A032R) on 98 ITR rims
-Cat back exhaust (loud mofo)
-6pt harness
-drop in K&N filter


-I am running on yokohama R tires, A032Rs are track tires, and are definatelly slower then Kumho V700s, and are propably a lot slower then Hoosiers which i think i would need to run to be competitve at a national level. But then again, its all talk till i get off my butt and actually go to one of the events, i have a feeling it would be a very humbling experience for me.

-Carlos is definatelly the guy to beat, when we usually race against each other we end up consitently going faster and faster. I'll lead, then he'll lead, then i'll lead and then usually he'll end up leading in the end. Although i've beaten him two times in the row last 2 races i had with him :P But competition is a really good way to make you drive faster. Last season when i didnt have much competition i wasnt learning much, this season i'm trying new tricks like left-foot-breaking to improve my performance.

-I need to finish off my used kumhos mounted on my 3rd (Yes, 3rd!) set of rims so i can either mount a fresh set and see how i do with those, or splurge for the hoosiers and save those for "special" events...

3rd set of rims??????


You still selling???

If so I think I can see why.

And competition is the ONLY way to make you faster in a hurry. Why do you think I've stuck with GS and not moved to STS?

Rrxp689...Chris. I think we have found one of your problems. You have an SVT without anti-lock brakes!!! Seriously, how can you lock the front tires. Do you left foot brake? Was there a bump in mid-braking zone that caused the lock.

Also, now I see that Dave Andrews only uses 40 psi in front. My head is spinning.

Also noted that Matt (el pollo diablo)uses a racing harness. A great idea for hard core autocrossers. A much better solution than mine which is brace myself against the door in right hand turns and drive with one hand and the other on the passenger seat during lefties.

Poor use of the term on my part. I should of said the ABS was pumping hard. I've debated unplugging the module as some do but don't have that much confidence in my abilities or that much ambition. I do left foot brake and swear by it.

A harness is a great idea as well as fairly easy and inexpensive to do. I haven't went that far but have taken to cinching the stock belt by twisting the end near the buckle. Pull the belt just short of where you would normally latch it and then twist the lap and shoulder harness around each other twice. Works really well. I actually have a bit of bruise and belt rash on my tummy from the tight belts!