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Tire Pressures Front/Rear

To: mgs@Autox.Team.Net
Subject: Tire Pressures Front/Rear
From: jack@lucent.com (Jack Feldman)
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 1997 10:57:25 -0600
Lawrie wrote "You should never put more pressure in the fronts than the
rears. This makes the car oversteer". That is corredt as far as that
goes, but not the whole handling story.

I learned the principle when my wife had a Bug. I was always hastling
the service station attendants to leave the 16lbs in the front tires
alone. The uninitiated never did get it. I take my 86 Olds wagon to
Oil Express and they have the same problem with the factory recommened
36R/32F. They only know to put 32 all round! They have to be watched
to be sure (most of them cant manage to add 3,000 to the odometer reading
for the reminder sticker).

The principle is that you keep more pressure in the rear to create an
understeer situation. That gets more extreame with rear engine cars like
the VW whose rear end tends to cause the car to oversteer.

Now if you have a car that understeers you do the opposite. I am surprised 
therewasn't an immediate response from other C owners. The C wallows like a pig 
and
understeers badly in the corners. The factory recomends a higher pressure to
compensate for the understeer. (The wallowing was taken care of with harder
bushings, a beefed up torsion bar and new tube shocks in front, and a tube
conversion kit in the back. Next to adress the understeer). 

I had a similar problem when I used an old Mail Jeep for my daily driver. It
had a short wheel base and high center of gravity from the metal body. When I
drove it home it was nearly uncontrolable. The goofs had radically different
tire pressures in each tire. I overinflated the rear, and that solved the
handling problem.

Jack



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