Tech Talk: Nürburgring Tire Pressures What Do I Do?!?! 

Can you perform Under Pressure? - No, but I can do Bohemian Rhapsody.

Misha and Robert is killing it on YT. Very refreshing to see quality content and no selling stuff.

This was 17 minutes well spent!

I'm up early and awake for Apex university!

I can barely believe we're getting ACTUAL high-quality content here on YT. Keep'em coming, guys!

First: Like. Then: Watch 😊👍

All this tech talk makes me better at setting up my cars on Assetto Corsa haha. All jokes aside big thanks for free education Robert :)

Never really thought about the difference in pressure from being sat in the sun, nice little snippet of valuable info there for me 👌 thanks Robert

This series is so helpful. Can we get a "daily" tech talk, please? ;)

I think you said most of what is relevant to understand a great bit of how the tire pressure thing is going. What is the biggest mistake of many people is that they try to copy tire pressures from other people running their cars. Tire pressure is an individual thing related to the tire, the car, the weight, the driving style etc... The head of my breaks are influencing a lot my tire pressure on the GTR due to the heavy car which dissipates a lot of breaking head. The alignment has also a big influence on tire wear so bad wear on the outside of the tire is not only a matter of too less tire pressure but might also be caused of too less camber. To high camber can result in strong wear on the tire inside especially if running very stiff tire walls like on run flats. It is a very very complex thing to find out the right balance between all the factors. What I would be interested to hear you speak about, is tire temperature on the contact patch. As many tires need to be run in a specific temperature window for working perfectly and deploying max grip without wearing off to fast.

Yeah I learned this the hard way cooking a set of Michelin PS4s at a track day by not paying attention to the changes in temperature on the day. Rookie mistake for sure but learned from it

You said what I wanted to hear. " ns2r, front wheel drive, 2,4-2,5 bar" at front. I was always wondering about the low pressures recommended. It doesn't feel right. Bought a digital tyre pressure tool and a thing to check the temperature on the surface of the tyre. It is exactly how you say. As a result, I was right. Thanks for the video.

Hi Robert and the Apex Team, Great job on the Volgs!

Been waiting all morning for this video. Love your content and keep up the good work 👌🏻

Best guy with proper information 👍

Great talk. Learning can be fun I know now. And a second ralk about tire pressure, hell yeah

Great info ! Thanks for sharing. Round two anytime !

Keep the knowledge flowing... thanks Robert

Understand the reason for selecting GT2RS wheel for ease of instruction. However I would have selected it because it's the meanest baddest wheel around :)

Fantastic video. Thanks

I’m really enjoying all these tech videos I’m learning a ton! Also helps that you keep referencing the NS2R’s since I just got a set and I’m running them on a Mk3 Jetta Vr6 so front engine fwd.

Not going to lie, I like your videos as soon as they load and start playing; they’re just guaranteed to be solid gold.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge

Very interesting video! I love how you explain the physics behind the matter. It does that you understand the topic. I learnt a couple of things I do wrong with my tire pressure. Question: how is the graining related to the tire heat? Do I drive with too low pressure? Too hot? Too cold? Too aggressive? Just right? Cheers. Love your channel that I just discovered yesterday!

Great explanation! Love it

Great point about measuring pressure considering the Sun. We've seen 1 bar drop from the hot lap to the the pits.

Thank you for the education. You answered alot of questions I had that I never asked about.

Interesting facts which can be applied for road use to improve safety and to prolong tire life too.

Videos like this get me thinking thanks Robert

I am working on my tire pressures all the time, finally realized that i need more tire pressure on the cup2 on my MK7 TCR, simply i have more weight on the front tire in compare to the rear....but anyway...One of my most seen channels👋🏻😉 great explainations robert

Never realised there was this much to tire pressures. Looking forward for the next video! And since you call it a ''17 minute tire pressure teaser'', I think i might need to get a day off to watch the next video 🤣

Again, a nice informative video 👌 Keep it going Robert!

Great video and with pointing out all the right things. Amazing to see how much higher the pressures are on the Pista with road legal tyres compared to the 488 Challenge with Tropheo slick. We start ata 1.35-1.4 bar Cold which will easily see them up to past 2.5 bar hot. We bleed them off to operate at 1.8-1.9 bar and maybe different side to side depending on the type an direction of circuit.

Great great content !!! Love to learn from people that actually have their “hands dirty” ... that are on the real world dealing with real situations... 👏👏👏

Loves these tech talks learning so much

I love the intelligent and factual no nonsense approach with no gimmicks or bs. Keep it coming! 👍

Another great informative video!! Thanks Robert! Very useful information 👍 will be back soon!

Great video. I can blame my poor lap times on insufficient tyre pressure knowledge rather than ability. When I was at the ring a few years ago in my E90 M3 and it was 37c my tyres greased up by wipperman. I could only do 2 hot(ish) laps due to tyres going off so quickly with 2 bar.

It's amazing how much there is to learn about tires and their pressures. From what i've been seeing lately, investing in a pyrometer is probably one of the best things one can do to help with figuring out pressure and camber/toe settings. After going from a soft sidewall street tire to a more aggressive semi slick with stiffer sidewalls, it took me 3 sessions to get the pressures dialed in somewhat close, primarily due to inexperience. The change in tires also was extreme enough to warrant changes to the alignment and even spring rates/damping, but that's way beyong my capabilities. The Pyrometer should more easily show you shortcomings in both alignment and general pressure settings, it's definitely the next tool i'll purchase.

As usual Robert, an excellent discussion teaching me things I never knew.... I've never heard anyone explain this...thanx so much!!!! This explains why my '18 NSX requires 38 psi cold. I thought that was quite high, but it's a heavy car at 3800 lbs....now I get it. 😁

Thank you Robert for the great content! And recently I am trying to figure out the best setting for toyo r888r on my A45. Tried 2.4 bar last time, but it seems to be too high. Maybe I’ll try 2.0, 2.1 bar next time. Please share some more tips on how to tell whether the tire has the right pressure next time.

If you have the time and if there is enough interest, can you make a series called “Apex University.” These tech talks are so in-depth and easy to understand, while making it enjoyable. Keep up the great work, cheers!

Ready for part two! :)

Brilliant video.

Top technical content as always. Ive been having issues with high tyre pressures as well without being on the track. The cold pressures and in the city were both perfect, but as soon i go to the highway the pressure built by the heat get high enough to increase body roll. So clearly the tyres were running on the center belt. After allowing the pressures to get down a bit, on lower speed agressive driving, i noticed a bit more lateral flex until the temp gets optimal, after reaching optimal temp the behaviour got better but now on higher speeds the car stays planted. Was nice to see you talking about uneven pressures when the car is on the sun. Also noticed it. The more log i do, the better the perception is about the tyre dynamics.

Very interesting and informative. Thank you, Professor Mitchell. ;)

Excellent conversation Robert - thank you. With reference to your mentioning about the effect of the sun on the tires on one side of the car, I find this happening quite a bit on mine. You have a unique vantage point, being steward of a number of cars that you track regularly. Do you find that the handling of some of your cars is more sensitive to tire pressure differentials than others? (In my 964 differences in tire pressure, esp. the fronts are clearly noticeable.) Do you check your pressures before & after every lap? Do the tires on the heavier cars change pressure more significantly than the lighter ones.

Thanks again for another profound and entertaining video! Great to see your enthusiasm for car tech and the support for less experienced drivers. It would be great if you could show an example with a car from your rental fleet. Pressures at start (i.e. recommended by manufactuer), after warmup lap, and how you would adjust the pressures for the next laps. It's clear that this is also depending on the driver and the speed, but this can give an idea of how it works.

Robert, could you do a technical video on coilovers lifespan, maintenance periods, defects and miscellaneous? Preferred coilovers and why

Thanks so much, learning lots, thank you!

Great info!

I’m happy I found your channel. Very informative. Could you comment on adjustable coilovers. Specifically, Porsche 997C4S, modified track car. The art of best settings for this car, different track conditions. In general, conventional wisdom seems to suggest compression softer and rebound stiffer in front and the reverse, compression stiffer and rebound softer in the rear. Do you agree or do you have a different perspective. Thanks.

When you talk about the sunshine affecting pressures,this is why lots of quick drag cars hang cover flaps over the rear slicks while they are waiting in the fire up lanes.

Great stuff, Robert. Once the tires cool down and I need to prepare for drive back home, where can I get air, besides the ED gas station?

Since day 1 of our trackdays we have been keeping record of tyre pressures and temperatures and I am sure we have been working economical with our sets and have influenced times, safety and confidence hugely. Regarding N2 in tyres, don’t forget that every gas expands the same for a given temperature increase. The temp increase caused by compressing is different for every gas, On a smooth track, main temperature rises are caused by the heat getting in the rubber and wheels, not by the small compressions the gas is experiencing. Did you also mention about tyre temperature and so pressure for clockwise and anti-clockwise tracks. It could well be that isn’t really an issie on that huge Nordschleiffe, but it is on smaller tracks. Going clockwise with a front driven, front engined car will give you lower temp increase and pressure increase on the righthand side tyre. That wheel is ‘less’ used, ‘less abused’ and On’t get that same amount of heat.

Robert is best under pressure.

Excellent!! Thank you

Great content Robert! Thank you for doing it despite being so busy. I have a question for you. How do you handle tire pressure on your taxis? I suppose not every day is a 50+ rounds day so the tires get cold between the laps.

Hi Robert, great content as always. Could you please tell me what hot tire pressures would you run on the Nurbugring on a C63 with PSS/P4S 245 40 18 fronts and 265 40 18 rears? Have been getting conflicting answers so hope you clear it up for me, thanks a lot!

all this info applies to us autocrosser's too. would enjoy another video. I was running the PS4S for two years, which was a great tire for the pacific NW, but you are correct - that tire does need extra pressure to keep happy. I have recently bought the A052's and figure I can run a bit lower pressures because of it being a more performance tire with stiffer sidewalls.

Very informative video!

Super interesting and helpful! How about a video on tech essentials for a day at the Nordschleife? What to check before you drive, what tools might be helpful to have at hand, things to have an eye on during the day, etc? I think that would be helpful for a lot of people, especially when they bring their road cars to drive.

Robert, thank you for your videos. What are/will run on a Jaguar Project 8 with Cup2 & R? What's the best tire will be for the project 8 as well? Thank you for sharing your experiences. Max

Who is good with math has an advantage! And that you feel the difference in tire pressure also helps.

Thats some next lvl tirepreshure thinking with the sun on the right and shade on the left side :O

Thanks for explaining i always thought that i need to run more tire pressure on the rear in a FF car because the rear isnt doing that much and therefore isnt getting up to temperature that good

It all gets further complified with staggered tire sizing (not that rare even for stock OE sizing these days), if one looks just on pressures vs weight/load distribution. From tire pressure related stuff, it's wonderful/easy to use "tool" for small onsite/at track grip bias adjustments, that's easy to revert at that (of course worth making persistent with adjustable roll bars or alignment changes later on). As for even contact patch, maximizing grip, better tire wear/life, predictable handling, imho as much or even more important then pressures is alignment of car that is optimized for use and often undeservedly left out/ignored, but that's probably worth separate video about.

Very useful. So i can also take from that a car with uneven tyre wear doesnt necessarily have to have suspension or alignment problems. Thanks Robert👍

Excellent video. Do we maintain the difference in pressure between the front and rear tires recommended by the manufacturer for street use on the track when tires are hot

Great video! Do you do any type of temperature monitoring i.e. with pyrometers or sensors? This is really the only true way to dial in the pressures and alignment for a specific car and tire compound.

Cool video 👍🏻

Thank you for this! Never thought about the sun shining on the tires would have such a drastic effect! Would love a part 2 and maybe you could talk a little more about warming up the tires, getting temps under control on a long Nordschleife lap when you feel them going off and how many heatcycles track tires can typically handle. Thank you! Great content as always.

Hi can you please advise what would be the starting pressure for a cayman GT4 on cup 2 tires for a track day? And what is the pressure that I should have before hitting back the road home? Thx for this amazing video, very informative.

Hi Rober nice your videos and nice explaining 👍 with the new M3 with PS 4S what do you recommend me.

Please give us more content like this

Hi Robert, great informative vids .I dont track but like fast road use, I live in the Isle of Man which has some fantastic unrestricted no speed limit roads to play on.I have a .2 GT3 with Cup2, in the summer i drop them to 2bar f and 2.1 bar r cold, after around 15 mins they can go up to 2.3 and. 2.4 bar.This seams to suit 100-140 mph on straight ish roads for a half hours play and the wear across the fronts and rears are the same.Do you think i need to increase the cold pressure for every day normal driving when not going fast.Cheers.

Tyre pressure tech talk 2...👌🙏

Great info! I knew some of this but learned a huge amount. How do *you* balance between your tire (tyre) wall stiffness/tire pressure and your suspension ride. Meaning, to keep the car comfortable but quick.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on street tire pressures. Not like for driving in town or highway (where I suppose I should have the pressures recommended by the manufacturer), but for mountain roads and "sporty" driving, with "sporty" road tires like the PS4. P.s.: I find this tech talks pretty addictive

Great video. What temperature is optimal on track for Michelin 4S? I had 78'C on both front tires in my S63 AMG. Pressure reached 3.2 bar after ~10 laps.

Hi Robert, ty for the content! how about running with runflats at the track, do you see any diference to regular (not performance) tyres?

Never knew there was Soo much into tires.. I mean it's important bc that's what makes contact with the road. I'm beginning to understand why so many ppl with new supercars total them.. they just step on it and go not caring if the tires are warm or the right type

In my notes I have that tyre pressure changes approximately a minimum of 1 psi per 5°C depending on moisture content obviously.

Hey man, loving the videos. Could you drive a Kia picanto on the ring. From other reviews I had seen it’s better to drive than the UP and I wanna see what you think.

Also your tire width and rim width play a role. A tire will have a rim with range for example 7-8 inches, but optimally designed for 7.5 inches. If you run the same tire on a 7 inch rim the side wall will balloon and become soft. If you run the same tire on an 8 rim the side wall becomes stiff giving you a totally different ride. There are so many factors in tires you need to consider.

Hi, Robert Which brand of tires, COP 2 R or EAGLE F1 SUPERSPORT RS, will give the fastest time on a dry track. As the tires are mounted on GT2RS MR, PISTA. Thanks!

Damn, you sure you've never worked as a tyre engineer in a race team?! Are the OEM tyre pressure sensors in some cars accurate enough to use or would you still have to physically measure each tyre before/after going on the track? Keep the videos coming... loving the in depth details of what goes on behind the scenes..

Good video

Hi Robert. what about doing some tests with dry air ? the water can be easily removed with membrain compresed air dryers, mounted on your compressor.

Excellent - well explained! Anyone knows where to go to re-adjust tire pressure after TF? ARAL Adenau or somewhere else?

the intelligent man's youtuber :-)

I have one question, i've got a quite heavy car, and just for road use the manufacturer not only lists different pressures for "empty, and loaded" but for below 250 km/h and above (up to 300). So with a lightly loaded car the front would be 2,3bar the back 2,1 but for speeds above 250, up to 300 it lists around 3 bar front and 2,9 in the back. While i had known most of what you explained, i still can't figure out a reason for that difference. 👍 for the great video! I had people think i am joking when trying to explain the pressure difference due to summer sun exposure. (not for racetrack use, but people who checked their tire pressure after the car sitting half of the day in the sun so only one side got full sun)

Thanks for another great video! What pressures would you generally run your GT86's with the NS2Rs? I've got them on my 86 and had a feeling I was a bit over pressured on track at around 2.2 bar hot temperature as it started to marble after several hot laps around our local high speed track.

Have you ever considered running tyre pressure monitors on the Taxis? I think it would be interesting to see how much the pressure changes during a lap.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge Robert! How do you know so much about cars .. do you have an engineering background?

14:37 I'm checking my supra's tires pressure right away! I've had this problem for some time but never thought of this. Thanks! Sub right away

Did you try pumping up rear pressures for Seat to get rid from some understeer without compromising safety too much? Not setting them to 4 bar like people sometimes do in racing, which is almost dangerous, but trying circa 2.5-3.0 hot?

After playing with pyrometer and pressure gauge, i can tell you I hate doing it. Its all a bunch of calculated estimation and as the day goes on you are going to make pressure changes. But as long as I have figured out a range in which the tire pressure should be, I just bleed my tires down to that pressure after getting off the track Hot.

dont know if youre going for strictly educational content, but i would like to hear your "must drive" cars and why. ex: e30 m3, lotus exige, etc

What about alignment? Stock or Custom? I believe this would be another good question.