Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Autocross and Open Track Quick question about tire pressure?

This question pertains to my 05' Crossfire and its Michelin "Sport" tires. I'm not doing an SCCA event per say, but I'm going to the Dragon where theres lots of tight, technical turns. The OEM settings are 33 in the front and 35 in the rear. Do I need to inflate them a bit higher or is the stock settings ok BTW, for those who don't know about the Dragon, its 318 turns in 11 miles and IIRC the highest mph sign for the turns is about 15-20 mph. On the way to the Dragon I'll be on the Cherahola Skyway where the turns are a bit bigger sweepers, not as tight, but some are. Thanks for the input from those who really know

On the Dragon, I prefer a very neutral setup. If you lose it on an autox course, your usually fine. Lose it on the dragon, well you might get lucky like me, but you might not and hurt your car. You definitely want to run more than stock. How much and what pressure difference front/rear, I don't know.
You'll probably end up wanting to change the pressure from whatever you initially start with after you see how's it working out for you.

I'm thinking 37/40, anyone wanna chime in

Seeing noone has chimed in yet, who know, maybe they're out at the track, so I aired up the front to 38 and the rears are now 40 psi. I checked them this morning and its very true what they say about your tires losing air when it gets cold out. My tires where all between 31.5-32.5, so they needed to be aired up anyways

Roger, I'd run *slightly* more pressure than normal, maybe 2-3psi, this will help on the Dragon but not at the sacrifice of the Skyway. I added ~6 psi and it was gangster on the Dragon but downright scary on the Skyway. YMMV, of course. Y'all have fun!

Thanks BIGMoney, we'll miss yah out there this year, try and make it when we come down next fall

I would just put them at the recommended pressures before the run.
Remember, the reason your tire pressures dropped at night is because the air compressed in the tires, you still have the same amount of air in there. So if you air them up again and then subsequently heat up the tires you could have a lot more than the manufacturer's recommended amount (not that that's entirely bad but you could start to lose grip if you go too much).
I would just make sure the car is warm and check the pressures right before you go. If the car feels real loose then try adjusting them. It's not like you're going to be heating your tires up like on the track, it's just a Sunday stroll. (Say's the one who blew out a tire stem last year. )

I've got them at 38/40 right now and I will check them when I actually head out there, thanks alot

The car was unbelievable on the Dragon Run this past weekend. I even had a guy in an S2000 ask me if the car was stock because of how it was going around the turns I ended up gaining psi and had 42/45, so I aired them back down to 39/42 and it was fine. The tires must heat up very fast because of all the tight corners out there and the way I attacked them probably aided in the increase of psi. Just a side note, to those who call this car a "hairdressers ride", well I invite you to come on down to the Dragon next fall for a hair cut You will be owned

There was a convertible crossfire at the motorcycle resort sunday.

BTW, wish we had met up with you. I would have like to have seen how those things handle. Let me know if you'd want to make an early summer trip or something. I'm thinking bout going again then and of course next october.

And talking about air pressures. I ran 42/42. It kept the front just from rolling over and made it almost neutral with just a slight hint of oversteer. My tires are 205 wide fuzions and I was able to keep pace fairly well with gmk who was running on 225 wide escta v700s. He'd of course pull on me in acceleration and he could absolutely fly through the hair pins.

I look forward to next time. If I'm still playing with the escort, I'll probably have camber kits and better tires. Maybe a turbo, though that would mess me up in autox.