Tire Pressure Suggestions?

[JA]

I'd appreciate hearing any input on suggested tire pressure for my stock RS6 tires. I have been running them at 35psi since I purchased the car in December. (I did not get winter tires.) Anyway, with the weather warming up now, I thought I would bump up the pressure for a drive this weekend to perhaps 37-38psi.

Any thoughts as to different pressure for the front versus rear tires>

Thanks in advance.

[Klint]

Your best bet is checking out the tyre pressure plate in one of the door sills, I'm not sure if the RS6 has this or not, but most cars do.

Use that as a starting point to decide what is better suited for the environment you'll be driving in.

[Benman]

This is going to be way off from the rest, but i run mine @ 44psi! The tires show a max psi of 51 and i run mine on a regular basis @ 6-7 back of that. I've had no issuses, GREAT wear (I drive very hard on back roads and have had the car on track, have over 12,000 miles with LOTS of tread left!) and still get decent handling (though not as good as @ 35psi.). I know no one else will tell you the same but just thought I'd put in my 2 cents.
Ben

[Aronis]

This is a great question.

I usually keep the tire pressure just below the max level!

I noticed significant differences in my M3 when the tire pressure was down, and never had any wear issues with max pressure...

I have kept my snow tires at 50 psi (max 51) all winter and this optimized handling for the snows.

I have yet to drive the car without snows, eyeing the warm weather this weekend, perhaps will be changing the now....

Clearly we need some expert input on this from our racing friends....

Mike

[JAXRS6]

Benman, I presume you overinflate because you get good results for tire wear; true? If not, why overinflate? From what I've read that should result in premature wear in the center of your tires, with plenty of tread left on outer edges, so -- have you looked at the center tread to be sure? Also wondering what tires you have -- Dunlop, Pirelli, or something else?

FYI recommended pressure for my beast is 36 psi all around, as shown on label attached inside the right rear passenger door. Mine came with Pirellis, which proabably will need replacement around 20-22K mi; I'm at 17,300 now.

Also FYI -- before I stopped drag racing due to warranty concerns I hadn't known about previously, guys at the track suggested I overinflate to mid-40s. I did but it made no difference in my times. Then someone else suggested I underinflate, to mid-20s; still no difference.

[avdh]

It seems, from experience that different makes of tyres react differently to various tyre pressures, and thus the recommended tyre pressure from Audi is, in my opinoin, just a reference point.

With 19" wheels and the Dunlop SP9000RS, I used to run them 2.7 Bar (39 psi) all around, as per the stickers on the back of the fuel flap.

I did experiments with 2.8 bar (40.6 psi) front and 2.7 bar rear, but I wasn't totally happy.

The best so far, is 3.0 bar (43.5 psi) front and 2.8 bar (40.6 psi) rear.
With this set up I get more feedback from the chassis and the steering and it seems to be perfect for the road.
But on the track, the RS6 understeers like mad. Next time I'll try pumping up the rear to 3.5 bar (51 psi) and see how that reduces (or not) the understeer.

[Benman]

Originally posted by JAXRS6
Benman, I presume you overinflate because you get good results for tire wear; true? If not, why overinflate? From what I've read that should result in premature wear in the center of your tires, with plenty of tread left on outer edges, so -- have you looked at the center tread to be sure? Also wondering what tires you have -- Dunlop, Pirelli, or something else?

No excess wear in the middle. Consistent throughout. And i have the Pirellis. The performance loss is IMHO minimal.

Ben