Check your tire pressures

[Paul Hawker]

For some reason tire change monkeys seem to air up fresh and repaired tires to 45 lbs. This makes Vipers ride hard, and very darty.

Everytime you have someone mess with your tires or change to different wheels, check the pressures yourself and adjust to the magic 29 lbs.

 

[JonB]

I have seen scores of Vipers with LOW tires......worse still than overfilled.

But Paul is 100% correct: Race cars adjust their tires as little as 1lb to creat "stagger" and assist turns toward the low side. Your Viper is a "Race Car" chassis and WILL handle adversely if you have imbalanced pressures side-to-side, or improper pressures. Buy a GOOD guage, and pay attention at every third tankful of gas.....or sooner.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

No problem. It isn't the tire changer's job to set the pressure perfect anyway, it's the driver's job. Some guy making $8/hr to mount tires, does any Viper owner not go over the work to make sure it is right? It's common sense.

 

[Yellow32]

Simple, they air it up to set the bead on the rim, if you watch them do it, it goes "pop" when it snaps into place.

Just be sure to tell them what pressure you want the tire set to after they mount and balance.

For pilot sports I find 32 pounds to be a safer rider than the "gas mileage" setting of 29. And, if it is raining, put them up to 35-36 pounds as the tire will not get a good of a chance to "heat up" and therefore the tire pressure will remain low.

-J

 

[2000_Black_RT10]

For some reason tire change monkeys seem to air up fresh and repaired tires to 45 lbs. This makes Vipers ride hard, and very darty.

Everytime you have someone mess with your tires or change to different wheels, check the pressures yourself and adjust to the magic 29 lbs.

Just babbling.. but fyi.. it's a slip angle, the contact patch can maintain adhesion if the tire can flex in relation to the wheel or spindle axis (typical tire manufacturers are 6 degrees). Think of a tire in a static position on pavement, if you were to turn your steering wheel, the tire will flex before losing grip or scrubbing on the pavement, and this happens in a dynamic situation at high speeds. Hence the dartiness, the tire having more pressure making it more rigid. Tires with stiff sidewalls (i.e. runflats) or lower profile will also be worse having less of a slip angle or flexibility, all tires are different, different handling results depending on inflation psi for a particular brand of tire and size.

Regards,
Mike

 

[gb66gth]

didn't they check the pressures in the factory when they built the car? why should I have to do it again?

 

[Achilles99]

I bought solid rubber tires. No need to air them up. I love them.

 

[pteam]

I bought solid rubber tires. No need to air them up. I love them.

I often wonder why they dont make solid rubber tires? Probably cause they'd never sell a 2nd set lol

Just think they'd be 10000x times safer

1. no flat tires (less crashes and deaths)
2. no nair in the tire crash (drive away with 100 nails in them lol)
3. never ending burnouts (until you run out of gas )

 

[eucharistos]

and no more fillings left in your head

 

[ViperGTS]

check the tire pressure at least visually every gas stop you do

plenty of time to walk around the car and check - and in case you see something "different" you can use the pressure gage ... get used to the
procedure and you will almost never have a tire problem.

 

[Achilles99]

and no more fillings left in your head

Not if you get a Tweel tire

HowStuffWorks "How the Tweel Airless Tire Works"

 

[treesnake]

What do you mean? Check the tires? Why, I have the SRT TPMS system. It tells me when my tires are low. Doesn't yours?

















I have a whole bucket of those worthless paperweights. You can't trust them.
I check the tires with a gauge, along with the oil, EVERY TIME I drive.

 

[Achilles99]

Haha. Even when they work, they seem to only do relative tire pressures for me. IE, if all go to 22psi, things are fine with the tpms. Only when one is really off does it seem to do anything lol.

 

[Socrates]

I've always been a stickler for inspecting my tires/pressures prior to every drive. Speaking of which, does anyone have any suggestions on the ideal pressures to run the Pilot Cup Sports on the street? Right now I'm following the OEM recommendation of 29 PSI front/back, but the tramlining is awful with these tires, and it makes me wonder if adjusting them a little might help with that issue.

 

[goldcup]

I check tire pressures every time I drive.
Right after I lube the windshield wiper bearings!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

I've got one tire that goes low quicker than the others. I check it and the others and fill as necessary then I'm good to go for another month or two. I don't know what is so difficult about regular vehicle maintenance, particularly with sports cars.

 

[eucharistos]

I bought solid rubber tires. No need to air them up. I love them.

just caught you bought them....

Not if you get a Tweel tire

HowStuffWorks "How the Tweel Airless Tire Works"

You must be registered for see images

what did you mount them on?

pics

 

[Achilles99]

I was just joking I run Nittos on the street and R888's on the track.

 

[Big Al]

I just had my alignment checked and this specialty shop recommended 45 psi. So I tried it and it take some of the front end hunt out of some roads. I have lowered it back down as I was afraid that hard tires might break on a bad *** hole. It did make the car handle better when driving like a senior.

 

[viperdrummer]

Not just Vipers--your family cars etc. Having done legal work for tire companies, I have found one of the most dangerous things you can do is ignor pressure.

I can't tell you how many times i have looked over at a car at a light and noticed the tires are almost flat.

What really amazes me are the clowns who run around on temproary spares for months. Sh#t for brains--they end of hurt and sue.

 

[viperbilliam]

check the tire pressure at least visually every gas stop you do

plenty of time to walk around the car and check - and in case you see something "different" you can use the pressure gage ... get used to the
procedure and you will almost never have a tire problem.

Very few stations have air these days. So I keep my own air tank in my garage. 29 psi for gas mileage? I think that's for a better ride. Higher pressures will give you better gas mileage.

 

[Golfer15]

didn't they check the pressures in the factory when they built the car? why should I have to do it again?

My sentiments exactly !