My car is prepped for STR, I'm running square 255 Hankook RS3's. For events I run them at 35 psi, but I was wondering if running them at a higher psi might help prolong their life when driving to events. The longer drives for me are 2-4 hours and I do not have a trailer at the moment. Anyone have any tips?

 

drive it there at 40. it will increase by the time you get there then just bleed them

 

If you drive long distances at 40+ psi you *could* wear out the middle third of the tread (overinflation pattern). A fellow autocrosser drove to/from events on his StarSpecs at 37 psi and he had no tread in the middle of the tire midway through the season. RS3s are different, obviously, but could be subject to the same issue. Have you checked tire temps? If >10*F or so in the middle of the tire after a long drive, you could be seeing some accelereated wear from overinflation.

A battery pump/jumpstarter doesn't take up much room and only takes 10 minutes to add 5-7 psi per tire.

My tires are different (Rivals), but I drive on them at OEM 32 psi and then either add a pound or 2, or let the pressures rise as the day warms up and during the first run

 

lucky me my drive is 10-15 miles. i put the tires at 37 psi for the drive there since early morning it is colder. then when the day starts i pump up the fronts to 41 since i have a pinched 245 on the stock front.

 

I don't have a pyrometer to check tire temps but I do carry an electric air pump at all times. I usually drive them at 37 psi cold for trips, which I'm sure pushes them to 39 or so after long stretches on the highway. This is my first season on the RS3's so I am learning as the summer goes on.

 

Depends on the tire. Generally though I think you'll get the best tire life from being at what it says on the door (which I believe is 31-33ish).

I run my tires are about 33 psi autocrossing, so I just set them to that. They're wearing pretty evenly other than the camber. Z1's and Z2's. I did the same thing with hankooks...think I ran those at 36F/34R if I remember right, I just set them to that in the morning. The shoulders wore out first (from autocrossing) so if anything I think higher pressures would help get more wear in the middle to make it more even.

 

The door pressure will be based on the stock width. With a wider tire, you will need proportionally less pressure. I roll around with about 30 psi and get even wear