hi, my new tires are like 2months old now.(michellin exalto 215/45/17..itz first time i checked the PSI and 3 of them were at 30 and one with 27...Im not really sure so i wanted to ask you guys for the feedback...Shouldn't I put in 35 psi for each tire like the runflats? or is it less psi for regular 215 tires> thanks al lot

 

has Goodyear Eagle F1's and normally run 40psi on street conditions.

 

Your tire pressures are always the same no matter which tires you have.

For MINIs 2002-2006 use front and rear 34 psi for two people and 36 to 37 psi for four people.

While 40 psi can be used it's a bit rough riding and might tend to wear out the center treads prematurely depending on your load.

30 psi is way too low. Check pressures more often about every 2 or 3 weeks. Always check in the early morning or night when the sun is minimal or down and it's cool, otherwise the tires will be hotter from sunlight or from use.

Also check the accuracy of your tire pressure gauge against a known good gauge.

 

I have found 39psi works very well.

 

I have the same tires in the same size. I've been pleased running
them at 35 psi.

 

I'm running 38 in my brand new Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Specs and couldn't be happier.

 

I am still running the stock 205/45 runflats with ~12K on them and have just lowered pressure to 34 in the front and 32 in the rear, and they have been rotated only once. This seemed like the logical thing to do since they were wearing a bit more in the centers.
Also, I have occasion to park in a dusty parking garage. So you can see exaclty what part of the tread is actually making contact. So at 36 in the front and 34 in the back..... for the front, it was the entire tread width, but still wearing more in the center, so I went down to 34; and for the rear, it was only making contact in the center with an inch of no contact on the inside and outside of each back tire, so I went down to 32. The contact for the back tires is much better, but still not quite full, I might even go down to 31 for the back tires.
I must admit that I am a little concerned about the handling, I am hoping it will not become sloppy with this relatively low pressure. And yes, I run a very light load.

 

I have a fairly light Mini and run 37 ft and 35 rear when cold . the slight differance in pressure seems to balance the car better for my style of driving.

 

See
http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story....v&story=ctTire

It's not really safe to drive with tire pressures very low. Probably the limit is about 30% too low. Using 30 psi is workable if you are very careful but if you loose even a little more air for any reason you'd be in jeopardy.

Lets say you use 37 psi and pick up a slow leak from a nail, you'd probably be fine and make it home safely and discover the problem.

Using 30 psi and getting even a little leak might leave you stranded if using non runflats. You'd also be wearing the outer tread edges if you're not careful.

 

i have the same tires, and am running the same pressure happily. unfortunately, i figured this out after running 36 at autocross, and took a good deal of the tire edges off. oh well, a noob mistake. now a little center wear/bias wouldn't be a bad thing for me.

 

-great looking tire.
-what were you running before?
-have any compare/contrast thoughts on performance yet?
This will probably be my next tire.

 

i'll give u my 2 cents. i have them in 215/45-17. obviously better grip and smoother ride vs oem all season runflats (205/45-17). noise is similar. wet grip is good, but not as good as the bridgestone pole positions. i rode some of the edges off mine autocrossing at 36 lb.s front and 34 rear. when they broke contact it always felt controlled, and was very easy to correct. as you noted, they look good and are about and inch wider than my oem's. can't comment about longevity yet....but if i don't get some track wheels/tires soon, it doesnt look good. i plan on getting coilovers with camber plates which should definitely help.

 

I've run the stock Pirelli Euphorias 205-25-17 past the wear bars down to cords showing through the tread. I ran 38psi in front and 35 in back for nearly all the tire life, and rotated them between front and back twice. They wore more in the center than on the edges, probably 1/16 to 1/8 inch more. I checked the pressure with two gages of different types, and they agreed. So, based on my experience, I'd say 38 is too high for even wear. And this seems consistent with Minihune's comments above in this thread. I can't comment on performance vs. pressure.

 

How is it that you guys were rubbing edges off at 36 and 38 psi at auto-x?

I have Eagle F1 Gs-D3's and at first I followed a recommendation to increase psi by 5 pounds for my first auto-x class. So, when I first started I had 33 at all 4 corners and then I bumped them up to 38.

Both my instructor and I felt it was too slippery, so we took them back down to 33 at all fours. It did help a little, and I didn't notice any significant edge wear. Is that because my front camber is -2.25 degrees and rear camber is 1.25?

Also, my coilovers were on medium on the fronts and I need to make them much stiffer for future auto-x. How would that affect the tire wear/inflation requirements?

 

FWIW

Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec 195/55-15

Street: 36f 40r

AutoX: 40f 48r

I have noted significant pressure increase under competition conditions, and learned to bleed the front tires carefully to avoid surprises.

I was accustomed to 2-3 lbs increase based on prior tires, and these jumped almost 7 lbs between 60 deg and 100 deg of tread temp.

Sorry for the off topic...

 

In my SCCA class, today, I decided not to increase pressure at all, but made many more runs, 20-25 runs total. I also increased my front coilovers to about 3 clicks off max stiff. By the end of the day my tires felt greasy and floppy. I think a few extra pounds would have been better for me today maybe around 36lbs in the front.

Looking at the sidewall, the edges got to, but didnt exceed the arrow indicators. I was suprised because I thought the tires were too soft and were rolling over. He also took a reading with a pyrometer and there was a 10 degree difference between the outside and the inside.

Can anyone tell me what this means? LOL.

 

Negative camber is good, and is working!!

Alex