Quote:

Just curious what others running big Goodyear or other brands of slicks are running for tire pressures. I run a 2078 Goodyear and have been at 8.5-8.75lbs. The Hemi worked well at that pressure but it was also making about 200 less HP than the current engine.

The reason I ask is I was, still am talking to a very good Top Sportsman crewchief after this passed weekends wheelstand escapade and through the course of the conversation he asked me what my tire pressure was. He told me I need to go lower by quite a bit actually. He said when the track was tight, as it was Saturday that they lower their air pressure by as much as 1/2 lb. The reasoning was to help build wheelspeed. He went on to explain that what takes place is the lower pressure causes the center of the tire to cup reducing the contact patch, thus giving the needed wheelspeed instead of dead hooking the car. I went back home Saturday night and watched some video we have of faster cars from behind and I can see what he is referring to, most all of them have the tires slightly cupped. He explained when tracks are not as tight, or do not have a ton of bite that they will up the pressure allowing the tire to have a bigger contact patch.

It made sense to me just curious what others take on this is. Any thoughts, ideas?

Oh yeah I have had my fill, of this as well.





Al,

You may get several different opinions on what the added or subtracted tire pressure actually does. When we run our car your outlined way is exactly how we pursue it. If you get up too high in pressure, though, the tire will quit working. On our deal we use more pressure than you do and I know that several of the competitors in our class do too. Believe me when I say that we are usually looking for more bite. We also find that dead hooking yields the best ET's. You may have to do some chassis work and possibly move some weight around to keep from wheel standing. Also, lower your traction bars to keep the car from getting a lot of rearward momentum.