When funds allow R-Speed Exhaust is going on my cooper too..... It must be the torque and understated looks we are all going for.....

 

After running two local AutoX's now. I have a question about tire pressures. I am running the stock 175 conti's and yes everyone is telling me to get lower profile wider tires and I probally will when I wear these out (which might not take too long if I keep competing with them). What would be a good tire pressure for competion?
I have been running 35# front and 32# rear. The tire are very noisy on most sections of the course and it still understeers badly in hard cornering. So any pressure suggestions?

 

With the Conti's drop them all to about 20 pounds so they wear out faster so you can buy decent tires...

Just kidding...

I'd suggest a greater pressure difference in those between your fronts and backs. Maybe 40 front and 30 rear. A bigger difference will give you more of a noticeable result. So at least with the Conti's you can begin to relate tire pressure changes to performance results.

Also, with the front tires a bit more significantly different than you listed, you should be able to get more work from the front and a little better rotation. That being said, if you want less understeer, you'll have to slow down to the capability your Conti's give you.

SlipAngleAugs

 

RK,
I ran my first autox two Saturdays ago. I have the OEM Conti's also. I ran 46psi Front and 41psi Rear. These are Cold readings.
The Front was perfect. Next time I will lower the Rear to 39psi and try that. I used chalk to mark the tires before I ran. That's how I knew how much of the tread I was using. I just got too excited doing the runs, I forgot to drop the back tire pressure even when I saw I should...lol.
MANY THANKS to the Real drivers who post here. Your insight and encouragement is fantastic for us Newbies.
Even with my 175/65-15 Conti's I stayed within 4 seconds of the Porsche's driven by experienced people. My best was 40.6, they were running 36.6's. These were preliminary runs, so no class designations. the regular Event was rained out.
:???:
I think I did well!?

 

Thanks for the feedback, but according to the spec's I seen on the tire rack. I believe 44# is supposed to the max cold pressure for the conti's. I might get brave enough to try 40 up front but that will be max.

 

yeah, 44psi is the Max, but I use the car as my daily driver with 42Front 40Rear, mainly for gas mileage and treadwear purposes.
I figure that as fast as I scrubbed rubber off the tires, I will need something new for autox waaay before a warranty issue might develop over a few extra pounds of air pressure during an event.
You will be amazed at how much better your car handles.

 

The Max pressure is for regular daily driving. It is very likely that you will get excessive tire rollover (driving on the sidewalls) if you don't run higher pressures.

 

I'm new to autocrossing and also still have the stock fifteens w/ Conti's. I'm eager to get better rubber, yet I feel that I have a lot to learn and need all the seat time I can get anyway, so why hide my inexperience with the false confidence of performance tires? In other words, I'd rather improve my skills first. All that said, just how bad are these stock tires? I think they're fun around town, but I wonder how many seconds I'm losing on a short 45 or 60 second course.

On the tire pressure issue, so far 40 front, 35 rear has worked best for me.