i just wanted to comment on my findings today, namely tire pressures. last week, there was a post about autoxing and we had a discussion about tire pressures. heres what i found today. i have the kumho 235/45-13s, and i ended the day with 35 front and 26 rear.

now that im getting that all sorted out. i need to get some more power. i lost today to a tricked out miata (intake, exhaust, coilovers, swaybars, clutch, flywheel, etc, etc.) i also lost to an '84 12a with exhaust and dellorto carb with stock suspension. i should and could have beaten the '84 12a, just a few little 2-second mistakes called cones, but that miata was very quick. now i need to get me some more power. i was thinking. . . header, full exhaust?, cone intake, dellorto or holley carb?
anyway, it was a blast, and i learn more about my car everyday

 

That's a huge split front to rear, I bet the car was pushing like crazy.

 

actually it wasn't, i thought it would, but the back end kicked out nicely under braking and throttle just the way i'd like. the rear sway bar helped with that too

 

Isn't it the other way around? I always thought dropping the rear pressure would induce oversteer.

 

Increasing rear pressure would induce oversteer.

 

actually both. there is a perfect pressure. anything below or above will cause loss in grip so it can be overdone either way. pressure needs to be as high as possible to keep the tread blocks rigid, but not so high as to keep the tire from keeping full tread on the ground in corners.

 

This is correct...it's counter-intuitive to what you would expect and you have to push the car to the limit to see the effect...