Thread: Tire Air Pressure

Tweet

There's a trick that I teach to the newbie drag racers who are running street tires. I instruct them to use white shoe polish to paint a line across the tread of each rear tire, maybe two inches wide. I tell them to drive around the water box because all it will do is to waste rubber. Street tires will not get sticky.

Anyway, I'm getting off course. Paint the stripe across both rear treads, let it dry, make a pass and stop at the big end, off the track of course, then inspect the stripe. If it's worn off at the edges, the tire needs more pressure. If it's worn off in the middle, the tire needs less pressure.

The same thing might work for determining optimum pressure on the street. Paint a tread stripe on all four and take a tour, going around corners, etc. This won't necessarily lead you to the optimum ride quality, but it should lead you to the best handling and tire wear characteristics.