{"id":39689,"date":"2022-02-15T11:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T19:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/?p=39689"},"modified":"2024-03-23T08:16:12","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T15:16:12","slug":"q-how-do-i-adjust-my-tires-suspension-to-suit-tracks-with-different-grip-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/q-how-do-i-adjust-my-tires-suspension-to-suit-tracks-with-different-grip-levels\/","title":{"rendered":"Q: How do I adjust my tires & suspension to suit tracks with different grip levels?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Q<\/strong>: \u201cI have a series of questions that were triggered by the Tires for Drivers webinar you and Samir Abid did recently. First, what is the grip tendencies of tracks that are super smooth like the newly-paved Watkins Glen compared to a very rough-course surface? The slides in your webinar of the tire on stones vs the smooth surface raised my awareness. My interest is in car setup for each, and a game plan or base line to start with a set up’s.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Then:<\/em><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Tire pressures best being lower or higher on a smooth or rough surface?<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. Do tire temps (we use a probe) increase normally or decrease on each of these surfaces?\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. Which way do dampers get adjusted based on these two surfaces?<\/em><\/li>\n
  4. Is camber increased or decreased based on these surfaces?<\/em><\/li>\n
  5. Is body roll increased or decreased based on these surfaces?\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    A<\/strong>: I\u2019m far from an expert of asphalt, but one thing I know for sure is that Watkins Glen is one of, if not the grippiest tracks in North America. I do know that when the Glen was resurfaced, they choose to use a very grippy type of asphalt, so there\u2019s more to it than just how smooth it is. At the opposite end of the grip spectrum is Laguna Seca, one of the least grippy tracks in the world (they\u2019re planning to resurface\u00a0soon, so that will change). My understanding – from what I\u2019ve seen from staring at different track surfaces during track walks and comparing what I saw to\u00a0what I\u00a0felt when\u00a0driving – is that over time, edges of the aggregate in the asphalt is worn smoother. The Glen has not gotten to\u00a0that point, although it\u2019s not quite as grippy as it was when they first resurfaced it. While it looks smoother than the rough old pavement on some tracks, when you look closer you\u2019ll see the edges of the stones in the asphalt are actually less smooth – and that\u2019s where part of that grip comes from. The edges of the aggregate is sharp. So, I wouldn\u2019t necessarily relate smooth with more grip. In fact, Laguna Seca is polished smooth, and therefore has less grip. I\u00a0believe there is also a chemical component to asphalt grip, too, but that\u2019s way\u00a0beyond my understanding!<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \u201cTire pressures best being lower or higher on a smooth or rough surface?\u201d<\/em>Are you asking about more or less grippy pavement, because as I just said, what appears smooth may not be less grippy – it might be more grippy. So, I\u2019ll try to\u00a0answer this using\u00a0\u201cless grip\u201d and\u00a0\u201cmore grip.\u201d Think\u00a0about what works the tires more – usually the grippy surface. That usually\u00a0means that the tires will heat up more, and therefore you may have to start with lower cold\u00a0pressures. Typically, a tire\u2019s\u00a0optimum grip will come from a certain hot pressure, and that doesn\u2019t matter much whether it\u2019s on a more grippy or less grippy track. How you get to that ideal pressure may change,\u00a0though! For example, with the same car, we had to start our cold pressures about 1 psi higher at Laguna than we did at the Glen because it was harder to work the tires and get them up to the ideal temperature\/pressure on the less grippy surface. Now, if you\u2019re talking about a bumpy track, that\u2019s a different\u00a0situation. For example, we all know Sebring is very bumpy. The additional flexing of the tires as they pound the bumps builds temperature and pressure, so we started with slightly less pressure to get to the same ideal\u00a0hot pressure. Again, the goal is to get to the ideal hot pressure, and that doesn\u2019t\u00a0change much despite the\u00a0track surface. There can be an exception to what I just said\u2026 running a little less hot pressure is a bit like running a softer spring in your suspension (remember what Samir said\u00a0about the tire being a spring), and that can help generate more grip on a bumpy surface\u00a0because they soak up the undulations. One more thing to consider: think in terms of extremes\u2026 a less grippy track is like a wet track, and what hot pressures do you want then? Sometimes – but not all – you might want slightly less hot pressure to\u00a0\u201csoften\u201d your overall setup on a less grippy track. If all of this seems a little\u00a0confusing, that\u2019s okay – it should be, because this is not easy. There\u2019s no blanket\u00a0statement that anyone can give you for all conditions. One of the things Samir and I tried to emphasize is that you have to test, and experiment. But if you think about what the level of grip is doing to the tires, that usually gives you a direction to start in when experimenting.<\/li>\n
    2. \u201cDo tire temps (we use a probe) increase normally or decrease on each of these surfaces?\u201d<\/em>Tire temps typically go up with more grip in the track. Why? Because it\u2019s working the tire harder –\u00a0the grip allows more load to be generated. Recall the slide in Samir\u2019s presentation where he talked about the 3 ways tire generate grip and temperature. The load through braking, cornering and acceleration is going to work the tires more, building more heat.<\/li>\n
    3. \u201cWhich way do dampers get adjusted based on these two surfaces?\u201d<\/em>This is an even tougher question\u00a0because it depends on where you are now with the settings.\u00a0It\u2019s a bit\u00a0like the question,\u00a0\u201cHow long is a piece of string?\u201d \ud83d\ude42 It depends! But start by asking yourself if the track surface is working the tires more or less. That could give you a direction.\u00a0If you\u2019re on a grippy track, often you can run stiffer springs, anti-roll bars, and dampers because the track will take the extra load. Go the opposite direction, and think about a wet track – you\u2019d likely want to soften your settings, and this could be similar with a low-grip track, and your damper adjustments.<\/li>\n
    4. \u201cIs camber increased or decreased based on these surfaces?\u201d<\/em>Same thing: Is the track working the tires more or less? Typically, we\u2019d run more\u00a0camber at the Glen than at Laguna Seca. The goal is to have as\u00a0much of the tread surface in contact with the track, and if it\u2019s a high-grip track, there\u2019s going to be\u00a0more lateral load, and therefore you\u2019ll need more negative\u00a0camber to counteract it. On a low grip track, you tend to stand the wheels up more straight (less negative camber) to keep the tread surface on the track.<\/li>\n
    5. \u201cIs body roll increased or decreased based on these surfaces?\u201d<\/em>The more grip, the more lateral load.\u00a0Given the same roll stiffness in the car (same springs, anti-roll bars, dampers), there will be more roll on the high-grip track.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Keep in mind that there\u2019s almost\u00a0always an exception to everything I\u2019ve just\u00a0said! But what I\u2019ve said should work more often than it won\u2019t. The key in each of your questions is to think about what the tires are doing in relation to the grip level of the track.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Q: \u201cI have a series of questions that were triggered by the Tires for Drivers webinar you and Samir Abid did recently. First, what is the grip tendencies of tracks that are super smooth like the newly-paved Watkins Glen compared to a very rough-course surface? The slides in your webinar of the tire on stones vs the smooth surface raised my awareness. My interest is in car setup for each, and a game plan or base line to start with a set up’s. <\/p>\n

      Then:
      \n1.\tTire pressures best being lower or higher on a smooth or rough surface?
      \n2.\tDo tire temps (we use a probe) increase normally or decrease on each of these surfaces?
      \n3.\tWhich way do dampers get adjusted based on these two surfaces?
      \n4.\tIs camber increased or decreased based on these surfaces?
      \n5.\tIs body roll increased or decreased based on these surfaces?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-ross"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39689"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39692,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39689\/revisions\/39692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}