Tire pressure for ice racing ?

[LL - NY]

I daresay, the same thing applies to pavement tires in racing, but the range
of variation seems smaller, though not insignificant.

On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 11:39 AM, Greg Smith <lifeisabirdie at yahoo.com>wrote:

> I don't think that you can give a blanket statement as to a certain
> pressure for front or rears with plain snows.  In my 31 years of ice trials
> and ice racing; I have found that even within a specific tire brand when you
> have a certain model of tire vs another, they will perform differently with
> different pressures.  As an example the Nokian Hak NR09 used to work much
> better with a lower pressure than the Nokian Hak 2 or Hak Q.  On the same
> car there was a variation of over 9psi where I would get optimal times. I
> used to just go out to a lake and set up a basic course and start doing
> hundreds of laps and adjusting pressures.  I would bring out different tread
> patterns from Nokian and have at it for hours at a time.Just my .02 that
> thee is no magic PSi setting for all brands and models of snow tires.  I
> don't think that anyone has addressed that.
> Greg Galinsky
>
> --- On Fri, 2/12/10, Louis-Alain Richard <laraa at sympatico.ca> wrote:
>
> From: Louis-Alain Richard <laraa at sympatico.ca>
> Subject: RE: Tire pressure for ice racing ?
> To: vittorio at mybares.com
> Cc: urq at audifans.com, quattro at audifans.com
> Date: Friday, February 12, 2010, 8:35 AM
>
> Thanks Vittorio,
>
>
>
> So lower pressures are better on ice ? Interesting, since higher pressures
> are the way to go on tarmac… I’ll try that next week for sure.
>
>
>
> Would you try to cure the inherent understeer by dropping the fronts more
> than the rears ?
>
> Or would you unlock the rear diff ?
>
>
>
> About the different tires, the real snow tires are the Pirelli (very open
> tread) and since they are not ice tires, they propose to stud them. Nice,
> the only drawbacks are bad dry-cold tarmac traction, and noise.
>
> But the question is : can a studless expensive tire like the Michelin be
> any good on ice ? Or at least, as good as the Pirelli ? I’m sure this
> Michelin won’t be any good in deep snow, the tread is not enough aggressive,
> but on ice, with its multiple sipes and its very soft rubber, I guess it
> could work. What do you think ?
>
>
>
> Louis-Alain
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> De : vittorio at mybares.com [mailto:vittorio at mybares.com]
> Envoyé : 12 février 2010 01:02
> À : Louis-Alain Richard
> Cc : urq at audifans.com; quattro at audifans.com
> Objet : RE: Tire pressure for ice racing ?
>
>
>
> On lake ice, I'll start at 26psi, and will typically endup in the low
> 20's...depends on conditions.
>
>
>
> But, yeah, regardless if you're on studs or super snow, drop the pressure
> and you'll get better traction - but there's lots of variables:
>
> -- how deep is the snow
>
> -- how wide are the tires
>
> -- what type of tread block are you running
>
> -- temperature
>
> -- etc...
>
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Tire pressure for ice racing ?
> From: "Louis-Alain Richard" <laraa at sympatico.ca>
> Date: Thu, February 11, 2010 6:25 pm
> To: <urq at audifans.com>, <quattro at audifans.com>
>
> Since I have at least 2 other outings this winter for some hot (cold ?)
> laps
> on an ice track, I was wondering if I can improve traction by playing with
> tire pressure and tire type.
>
>
>
> From factory, my urQuattro mandates 26 psi all around on 205/60VR15 tires.
>
>
>
> But I'm running 185/65SR15 studded Pirelli Carving, still looking new but 5
> years old. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Pirelli
> <http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Pirelli <
> http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Pirelli&tireModel=Winter+C>
> &tireModel=Winter+C
> arving> &tireModel=Winter+Carving
>
>
>
> I have also a set of Michelin Pilot Alpin PA2 non-studded, 205/60HR15, also
> not worn at all, but 4 years old.
> http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin
> <http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin <
> http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Pilot%252>
> &tireModel=Pilot%2
> 0Alpin%20PA2> &tireModel=Pilot%20Alpin%20PA2
>
>
>
>
>
> What would it be the best setup (pressure and tire type) for :
>
>
>
> 1 - Deep snow over packed ice, just below freezing point temps ?
>
>
>
> 2- Bare ice, no snow after the very first laps, and -20 Celsius (-4 F) ?
>
>
>
> I have absolutely no clue if I must raise pressure or keep it low, and if a
> rough but studded tire like the Carving is better on ice than a
> sophisticated unstudded tire like the Michelin.
>
>
>
> Louis-Alain
>
> In Montreal, where there was no real snowfall since end of December. Hey
> Washington and New York, I want my snow back !
>
>
>
>
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