M3the01

Appreciate the advice... Had tire warmers on the list but this prioritizes them. For adjusting pressures though, what's the best advice without warmers? Like I said, I usually wait wait till things cool down a bit and if previously I went out at 30 psi and came in at 38 psi, while aiming for 34psi, I drop 4 psi from the measured value when I'm actually doing the adjustment. This process has given me consistent tire pressures and I really like the feel of the car when running 32f and 32-34r, it has good, consistent feel and tons of grip.

Any brand of warmers u like?

RobertR1

If you’re at thunderhill, as someone mentioned above, do your warmup lap and your first two hot laps should should be full on all the way to T14. Make sure it’s safe and then come into the pit row quickly. Ideally, make a friend who will temp probe and pressure check you closer to pit entry. Temps drop quickly so the earlier you can measure the more accurate your adjustment will be. Do the rears first as they are bigger and will dissipate heat faster and also more inclined to overheat than the fronts.

If you do the above right at the beginning of the day, you can pretty much just drive after that each successive session.

Note that I used to typically skip the first session anyway so you might want to do it twice as temp delta generally rises the most at thill during the first and second sessions.

Dougr743

180 to 195 is the best performing range on a cip 2, over 200 and you start to bake the tire. so pressure is a factor of heat. if you come in at 180 temp with 39 psi and bleed it to 35psi and come back in at 185 degrees, you are good, its when you keep bleeding and heat continues to rise. Temp is key in traction, shedding, and long tire life. pressure cannot be the deciding factor, temp has to be.

ringzero

Curious if anyone is using an IR gun to check tire temps?

my experience with Cup2s matches a previous post, ie you can screw with pressure all you want you’re only gonna get 3 or 4 laps pushing hard and you’ll have to slow/cool down. Keep running at pace and they overheat and turn to grease, add/remove pressure ain’t gonna turn a street tire into a race slick. i tried, the tire laughed. so i KISS and aim for 30/32 hot during first session and rarely screw with it after that. Instead I mix in a cool down lap or two every 3 or 4 quick laps and I can stay out for a 30min session.

It sucks that the tire only has a couple quick laps in it, yes, but it’s astounding how much grip there is for those hot laps __from a street tire__.

Dougr743

if you use a pyrometer, 3 spots on surface, you can gauge how to lower or raise pressure and get temp. so outside, middle, inside. ex 90* 100* 90* you have too much pressure, center is higher than outside, every 5 degrees is aprox 1 psi. so you would lower the pressure by 2 psi. or reverse, but do not go below recomended minimal psi. so cup2 is 29psi hot. More cold pressure builds heat slower, less, builds faster, rising rate is faster with less cold pressure, the tire will like less pressure until it overheats. So slow down or bake street tires. even race tires bake, but you scrap them every race, or should. Race tires wick heat much faster than DOT tires or street tires, so they can run longer with less air pressure, street tires are designed for continual pressure, or optimal pressure, with minimal change.

if you are over 200+ you will see issues regardless of what you try to do, as DOT tires, street tires, are not made to handle higher heats. This all changes for outside temp, track temp, track surface, layout of track, braking, points, track design etc etc. its the hardest thing to judge, and guessing is just guessing. Then you have people changing caster, camber, ride height, wheel sizes, sway bar setting. So giving someone advice is difficult on all the different era's of cars, driving style, tire life, etc Its almost impossible to tell anyone where to start, you need to figure it out on your own, take good notes.