I had my jcw for about 6 months now and havent really checked my tire pressure until today. Mine is the stock 205/45 r 17 RSC. the manual says the tire pressure should be 38~41, all my tires were at 30. Whats the best tire pressure for riding? I drive... like a person who drives a jcw.

 

I set mine to 38

 

I know what they recommend and in my opinion that is way to hard. The car will ride like a rock and the tires will be greasy when you heat them up. I see guys at the track trying to run those pressures and it doesn't work. Last session saw the same thing. I aired them down for the guy and he said it was like driving a different car. I check my temps after every session at the track. You will be very surprised what a 1/2 lb of air will do. I thought it was all BS until I started paying attention. Goal it to get and even temperature across the tire. To much air and center runs hot and you do not have enough tire working the road surface and the tires will feel greasy or very loose. Not enough pressure and your outside temps get high and the car will develop a bad push and will not want to turn in correctly hence the push. At 38 PSI you tires will last longer and you will get better mileage but you will give a lot of handling and performance as a trade off. Also depends on what kind of tire you are running also. I use stickies at the track and Conti's on the street and wet track days. Summer only tires. All Season's suck at everything in my opinion. If you need winter tires buy dedicated snow tires for the season. A guy in another forum from Alabama just put all season Conti's on his Maserati. Really. I was a bit harsh. It is like sending Michael Jordon out to play in snow boots. He can play but you are not going to see his best game by any means.

I ditched my RF and run the Conti's. I am 28 to 30 lbs depending on the season. My track tires Nitto's I hit the track in the 24 to 25lb range depending on how hot the day is and adjust from there. They jump up to 32lbs in about two laps. Also why you never push the car hard until lap 3 and the tires have heat in them. Not as critical on the street but I think you get my point.

I hear guys at the track who read stuff on the net. "Pump the rears up to 40 so the rear end rotates". It will rotate you right off the track, lol. Play with the pressure yourself and see what you like best. It is all a trade off between performance and longer tire life. I side with the use the tire as intended and they can be replaced when they wear out. Getting and extra 5k out of bald tires make do sense for me or for my family members.

 

Daily street driving I run them at 38. I don't track the car; no worries.