Wow!!
I finished my first autocross last weekend....and all I can say is WOW! I had a blast!!

I've owned an S for over 4 years (ap1 and ap2 replacement) and have never tracked it.
After all of this time, its almost like I understand the true purpose of the car. Honda made it to be something much more than a cool-looking machine to get me to work.

Anyway....after my epiphany....it occurred to me. What are the best tire pressures for an ap2 with the REO50's? I did a search and couldn't find anything definite on ap2's. I'd just like a suggestion from some of you more experienced members as to what tire pressures front and back with which to start.

I've been so afraid of the snap oversteer thing ( my ap1 bit me pretty good a few times) that I went into the autocross with front tire pressures at 30 and the rear at 34. Needless to say...the car understeered quite a bit

I know that each car will require varying tire pressures, depending on temp, track surface, porkiness of the driver, etc. It would just be great to have a rule of thumb number of which to start.

Thanks for any suggestions

Steve

 

Glad you had fun.


A 30F/34R is MORE likely to have oversteer than a 34F/30R. Tons of understeer means you were probably overcooking your corner entry speeds. Try 34F/32R and use your brakes a little harder and see how it feels.

 

Agree with Tubedriver about the pressures and overcooking corner entry. Smooth driver input and nice hand/foot coordination (which are usually missing from the newbies) can reduce an incredible amount of understeer.

 

Hey now....I have great hand/foot coordination. My feet never take me past a cold beer that my hand can grab

Seriously, thanks for the advice. I have much to learn about autocross and driving the car at its handling limit, I've been driving it for 4 years on a straight 2 lane highway.

I actually didn't make it in time for the practice session the day before, so I ended up with 6 timed (practice) runs the next day. All in all my times were reasonable, but certainly not respectable. At least I beat the '70 Vette with the shot springs and primer coat paint job

What kind of tire pressures do guys run for street? 32/32?

I can't wait for the next meet. Hopefully I can catch one of those autocross instructor courses in the next few months. It doesn't look our local SCCA chapter is gonna offer one soon, so I may just go out of town for that.

Any other advice between now and my next meet?

 

I have the same question about autocross and tire pressure. I went to a driving school and without knowing what kind of car I had, they suggested ~40psi. They suggested more so that way I don't roll on the tire and scratch the rim.

That seemed excessive to me. On the other hand, I want to make sure I don't scratch up my rims with hard driving.

Just to make sure, the recommendation is roughly 32-34 psi in general (and that should not damage rims)? Just heard horror stories about damaged rims.

Thank you for your time and sharing your experience!

 

[QUOTE=bri822,Apr 6 2006, 10:55 PM] I have the same question about autocross and tire pressure.

 

I run Victoracers on the street so I use 30R and 32F cold.

You can use what feels right but with oem tires I usually ran 32R and 34F cold.

 

For street tire, upgrade to Azenis RT 615...so much better then the stockies.

I'm running 225/45/17 and 255/40/17 with F at 30 psi and 33 rear cold.

First time out with slightly diff psi, dang, it was tail happy. Did an alignment and running full tank, made a big improvement, now for that sway bar, damn backorder.

 

Hmmm.....what surface are you running on?

I race on asphalt and when I was auto-xing on RE050's I always ran 36F/28R. It worked very well for me. I ran the fronts higher for sharper turn-in, and the rears lower for more back end grip. Don't worry about scratching your rims. The RE050's have very stiff sidewalls. Even running at 28 the rears would never have any scuff marks along the sidewalls.

I agree with Tube above...if you were getting understeer, you're going into a corner too fast, regardless of tire pressure.

You really don't need to worry about snap oversteer with the AP2....it's very predictable from my experience.