What is the tire pressure set at for you guys if you're running on street tires? Do lowering the front and raising the rear really make a difference? I'm running on the stock 15" SE wheels on my '96 combined with 215/60/15 Bridgestone RE950 tires. So far I haven't mess with the tire pressure. Next time I head to the track again, I think I'm going to lower the front to 25psi and raise the rear to 40psi to see if it really make any difference. Not sure if that would help me if any to get high 13s. Btw, by the time I get to the track, the tires are pretty much heated up already, it's about an 1 1/2 hour drive to the track. So if I want to run 25/F and 40/R, what's the hot tire pressure of that is?

 

From my own personal experience, I've found lowering the tire pressure in the front makes a big difference as far as initial traction goes. I've never raised the pressure in my rear tires before, but that's mainly cause I usually run all my tires at maximum pressure(40-44psi). Some people have said that lowering the front tire pressure reduces you 1/4 ET mph, but I haven't found that to be true in m experience.

 

I only lower my front tire pressure if I get alot of wheelhop. If I can make runs without getting severe hop I leave it as it is... 32psi or whatever. I usually don't even check it unless I hop really bad. I've noticed no difference in times between stock and lowered tire pressure. I've also never messed with my rear tire pressure. People make alot of noise about this but it's worthless. Sure you can put an extra 10psi in the rear tire, but people seem to forget that the rear springs squat ALOT more than a tire ever will. A tire might squat 1/4 inch... the springs will squat 1-3 inches depending on what you are running. Rear tire pressure variations might make a .0000000000000000000001 difference in your ET. Its useless but people do it because they think it will help. Work on your technique, not your tire pressures. If you really want to eliminate rear squat get some spring spacers that don't allow the springs to compress.

 

I would agree with the springs spacers 100%. Get those to eliminate the squat and reduce weight transfer. As far as tire pressure for the rear tires, I think the reason for it is being misunderstood. The reason for increasing the pressure in the rear tires is to reduce friction/contact with the road. With a higher tire pressure, the tire is "stiffer" and will have less contact with the road. I'm not saying that it'll get you lower times, but if you do a lot of "little" things, all of these "little" things will add up. And like the movie says "It doesn't matter if you win by and inch or a mile... winning is winning".