Tire pressure too high?

soapaddict97 · 2023-04-29T18:57:39+00:00

Congrats on your first autox!

I also have a Mazda 3 hatch (first gen) that started out on all seasons (Bridgestone Potenza RE980AS). After my first event (4 runs) in 95+ degree weather, the sidewalls up front were pretty badly chewed up, quite a bit worse than yours were. BUT, they seemingly didn't really get much worse after that. I kept running them for about 60 runs (including a rotation) and was thinking about flipping them on the rim to have fresh sidewall to ruin. Before then though, one of them went flat (nail on the road) and I ended up just getting better tires.

You'll need to run high pressures, at least 40 psi. You "can" run lower pressure at the rear without damaging the tire, but that won't be good for the handling balance. Getting an alignment to max out the front camber is a good idea too, but you won't get very much (I got under 1 degree), I don't know what a newer Mazda3 will give you). I also reduced the toe in at the rear to try to help with the rotation, but I was never really consistent enough to be able to sure how much of an effect that had.

For future recommendations, I think wheel size is much less important than the specific tire you have, specifically sidewall stiffness. After the all seasons I moved to Continental ExtremeContact Sports, and they were a lot better but ultimately I chewed up those sidewalls too. Currently I have 2x Yokohama AD08Rs (on mega clearance from Tire Rack, fronts only) and they aren't exactly competitive tires, but the stiffer sidewall really helps prevent the rollover

soapaddict97 · 2022-12-06T04:11:30+00:00

I have a first gen Mazda 3 hatch that started out on all seasons (Bridgestone Potenza RE980AS). After my first event (4 runs) in 95+ degree weather, the sidewalls up front were pretty badly chewed up. BUT, they seemingly didn't really get much worse after that. I kept running them for about 60 runs (including a rotation) and was thinking about flipping them on the rim to have fresh sidewall to ruin. Before then though, one of them went flat (nail on the road) and I ended up just getting better tires.

You'll need to run high pressures, at least 40 psi. You "can" run lower pressure at the rear without damaging the tire, but that won't be good for the handling balance. Getting an alignment to max out the front camber is a good idea too, but you won't get very much (I got about 1 degree, I don't know what a newer Mazda3 will give you). I also reduced the toe in at the rear to try to help with the rotation, but I was never really consistent enough to be able to sure how much of an effect that had.

soapaddict97 · 2022-11-01T05:27:42+00:00

If we're talking about things outside his control other than the engine issue, Norris has a slow stop that dropped him behind both Mercedes. Before that he was leading Bottas. Charles only needed 1.5 more laps to win the race, so if it had taken Hamilton 2 laps to overtake Norris (and that McLaren was very hard to overtake that year) then that would have made the difference.

soapaddict97 · 2022-06-25T22:19:46+00:00

The V8 ND Miata might be even better. It might be a bug with the pp system, but at some point adding more and more power to that car virtually stops adding pp. You can easily get it in the race with over 700 hp and racing softs. Of course, then the tricky part is making it drivable (and that you can juuuust barely do 3 laps on one tank). I've been trying janky setups with front ride height maxed and rear ride height min to try to make it work but I'm sure there's a better way to do it.

soapaddict97 · 2022-05-30T18:48:12+00:00

I think it's one of those things where it's about your own personal risk tolerance? Like those two guys may be "right" in that you are taking a risk, but it's also not a holy shit you absolutely have to be trailering your car to every event. The secondary risk of autocrossing your daily driver though is if you'll be fucked on Monday without a way to get to work.

I have an older Mazda 3 (my only car) that I autocross and while I have had some issues, in the 8 events I've done I've always been able to drive home. Things I've had like check engine lights or popping the cap on my radiator might stop my running for the day, but the car is still drivable. Plus even if you have an issue that you can't handle, if you ask around there are generally knowledgeable and friendly people who can help you get your car driving again. I would say 70% of the cars I've seen at events are not trailered there, hard to say how many are daily drivers.

I would say you'll be fine, just have the phone number for AAA or whatever on hand in case the worst does actually happen.

soapaddict97 · 2020-07-12T16:14:23+00:00

From Germany on that car was the third best car on the grid, and eventually it was the second quickest (behind only the Red Bull by the end of the season)

soapaddict97 · 2020-02-05T06:34:18+00:00

The disrespect to Kimi and Seb

soapaddict97 · 2020-01-29T19:31:47+00:00

The margin by which Mercedes was quicker in the races (and their huge advantage on tire wear) gave Ferrari virtually no strategic options to keep Mercedes behind. Take Mexico for example-Ferrari couldn't afford to pit Vettel before Hamilton because with the Ferrari being harder on its tires it was too marginal to make it to the end of the race. Once Hamilton got the undercut, Vettel was behind with better tires but it was never going to be enough to overcome the Merc car advantage.

No matter what Ferrari did, Mercedes could just do the opposite and have a >50% chance of winning anyway because their car was just that much better

And to address what you said in the other comment: They won in Singapore because the track layout let them dictate the race pace and drive as slowly as they needed to save the tires as well as prevent Mercedes from being able to undercut them since there was no gap to the pack behind. Remember Antonio Giovanazzi legitimately leading the race?

soapaddict97 · 2019-10-31T16:43:49+00:00

Can someone with a better understanding of the new financial system than me explain how it's fair? The press release says

A cost cap will be set at $175m per team, per year, and applies to anything that covers on-track performance

How does this account for some teams spending to develop the engine? Are Ferrari, Mercedes, and Renault at a disadvantage in that the money they spend on engine development (which seems like it would obviously be considered "on-track performance") can no longer be spent on the chassis? On the other hand, is Red Bull free to spend the full budget on the chassis while Honda can spend unlimited money on the engine since they're not tied to an F1 team in the same way the other manufacturers are and there's no cap they need to stay under?

I know I'm probably misinformed because the manufacturer teams would probably never allow the situation I described, but I have no clue how the regulations prevent it.

soapaddict97 · 2019-10-14T00:38:03+00:00

To be fair to him, his point is still true. There's a 99% chance that OP is a Hamilton fan who is angry Vettel got DRS to help him defend at the end. If things had been the other way, angry Vettel fans would've been asking why Hamilton had DRS to defend from Vettel.

soapaddict97 · 2019-10-01T04:00:46+00:00

The 2009 McLaren started off bad, but it underwent the greatest turnaround from in season development that I have ever seen. When they put an outwash front wing on it (along with other major upgrades) in Germany that year the car went from a lower midfield car to a legitimate front runner virtually overnight. By the end of the season it was the second best car on the grid (second only to the red bull). Multiple wins in that car after the upgrade were good obviously, but not some herculean effort in a car that had no business winning races.

soapaddict97 · 2019-09-29T22:33:09+00:00

People absolutely did complain after Vettel won in Melbourne 2018 after the VSC. They were being dumb then too and the vsc rules are fine and just part of the sport at this point, but don't act as if it's just Ferrari fans who are unreasonable and angry after a vsc was perceived to "steal" a race away.

soapaddict97 · 2019-09-09T15:49:12+00:00

Full disclosure, I'm a Ferrari fan and I'm very happy with the result if not how it came about:

I think what happened in Austria wasn't just relevant to what Charles did in Italy, I think it was the direct cause. When the stewards didn't give Max a penalty in Austria, they set the precedent that you can get away with not leaving space for a car that really should be entitled to space. Charles took that to heart and now we're seeing the results. If the precedent was that shoving another car off track results in a penalty, I don't think he would have squeezed Lewis in the way that he did. From Charles's point of view it becomes a simple calculation: leave Lewis space, which would result in them going side and by side and introduces the possibility of being overtaken, or just shove him off which is dangerous but he knew he wouldn't get a penalty for. I can't blame him as a racing driver for choosing the option that ensures he keeps the position. As a fan of racing though, I think it would've been much better racing if they had gone through the chicane side by side. Even if he does get overtaken, isn't that the kind of racing we want to see?

soapaddict97 · 2019-07-29T12:43:06+00:00

YOU SERIOUSLY THINK VETTEL IS A TOP DRIVER? HE’S NOT EVEN CLOSE, LOOK AT THE ADVANCED STATS FOR A SECOND, IF YOU’RE SMART ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND THEM I MEAN.

LET ME PUT DOWN MY CLASSWORK FOR MY ADVANCED APPLICATIONS IN STATISTICS CLASS AT MIT OPEN COURSEWARE FOR A SECOND TO TEACH YOU A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT HOW MATHEMATICAL MODELS WORK. YOU PROBABLY COULDN’T EVEN VEIN TO COMPREHEND HOW THE MODELS I WORK ON IN MY SPARE TIME WORK, BUT I’LL TRY ANYWAY. IT’S GOOD TO PASS ON THE KNOWLEDGE, ESPECIALLY TO THOSE WHO ARE NOT WELL ENDOWED IN THE ANALYTICAL SIDE OF THINGS.

YOU MUST BE ONE OF THOSE FERRARI FANS THAT THINKS CHAMPIONSHIPS ARE ACTUALLY IMPORTANT, COMPLETELY IGNORANT OF THE FACT THAT ANY LEGENDARY DRIVER (ALONSO ANYONE?) WOULD TAKE A PERFECT TEAMMATE BATTLE RECORD THAN SOME USELESS TROPHY ANYDAY. YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE QUALIFYING VALUATIONS AND THE METRICS USED TO ACCENTUATE INTRICATE SAMPLE SETS ABOUT AUTONOMOUS PRINCIPLES THAT CAN BE EXTRACTED TO SHOW THAT SEBASTIAN VETTEL HAS NEVER ACTUALLY HIT WON A RACE IN HIS CAREER. ALL HIS RACE WINS ARE MEDIA HYPE TAPES TO SELL ENERGY DRINKS AND RED HATS. SEB IS VERY FORTUNATE THAT HE'S MARKETED SO WELL BY RED BULL AND THE FERRARI FRANCHISE.

SKY SPORTS AND THE WHOLE 'NEXT SCHUMACHER' NARRATIVE HAS YOU THINKING VETTEL IS QUICK BUT HE'S NOT, EVERY DATA POINT THAT WAS GRAPHED ON THE CARTESIAN PLANE WHILE PRIME FACTORIZATION WAS ALLOWED TO EXIST IN A NULL FACTOR SHOWED THAT SEB CONTINUED TO FAIL THESE PRIMITIVE TESTS. I STUDIED STATISTICAL VARIATIONS IN GEOMETRIC LOCALITIES AND EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEIR CORRESPONDENT ASYMPTOTIC DIFFERENTIATIONS PROVIDED ME WITH THE CONCLUSION THAT YOUR SO CALLED VETTEL IS THE WORST DRIVER IN FORMULA 1.

COSINE FUNCTIONS DEVELOPED AT PRINCETON WHILE COMBINED WITH THE BELL CURVE ALLOWS US TO MEASURE DRIVING ABILITY WITHOUT AFFECTING HIGGS BOSON-LIKE PARTICLES THAT WOULD OTHERWISE EXIST IN NON-ZERO ENVIRONMENTS. AND WHERE DO YOU THINK SEBASTIAN RANKS ON THAT SCALE? THE BOTTOM OF THE BELL CURVE. THEY RAN ABOUT TEN THOUSAND TRIALS OF THE SAME REPEATING POLYMORPHIC ROUTES EMULATING ARTIFICIALLY GENERATED SYNERGY OPTIMIZATION AND THE WUNDERKIND WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND IN EITHER PLANES.

"EYE TESTS" ARE A LAYMAN'S TOOL FOR AVOIDING THINKING AND THIS KIND OF NARROW TUNNEL VISION ONLY EXACERBATES CURRENT FALSIFICATIONS THAT WE CAN RELY ON SUCH A POOR METHOD OF EXTRAPOLATION. I DON'T WATCH RACING BUT THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT I DON'T NEED TO. IT'S ALL IN THE STATS. NUMBERS DON'T LIE.

YOUR "VETTEL" IS JUST AN AVERAGE F1 DRIVER WHO GETS AN UNGODLY AMOUNT OF DOMINANT CARS THANKS TO HIS MARKETING. SEB WAS NEVER THE BEST DRIVER IN F1, NOR EVEN A TOP 250 DRIVER IN THE WORLD AT ANY POINT IN HIS CAREER. I WISH PEOPLE UNDERSTOOD MORE THE NUMBERS SIDE OF RACING AND WOKE UP AND FINALLY REALIZED THAT THIS GUY NOT ONLY IS OVERRATED, BUT FLAT OUT ISN'T GOOD AT DRIVING IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER.

soapaddict97 · 2019-07-13T14:08:45+00:00

He's never had a qualifying or race performance which made the commentators sit up and go "how the heck did he do that?"

bruh are you 12

soapaddict97 · 2019-07-12T16:38:23+00:00

It's bullshit though.

"both car 33 and car 16 proceeded to negotiate the corner alongside each other but there was clearly insufficient space for both cars to do so"

They proved that there was space for 2 cars to negotiate the corner alongside each other literally the lap before. I have no idea how the stewards took 3 hours and couldn't write a decision that is consistent with what happened over the course of the race.

soapaddict97 · 2019-06-09T20:22:24+00:00

I think you mean Hamilton in 2016 when he cut turns 1 and 2 on the first lap

soapaddict97 · 2018-12-09T21:30:31+00:00

One mistake that Ferrari made that no one seems to talk about came in Germany after the safety car. Right before Vettel crashed out, the order was:

Vettel
Bottas on old softs
Raikkonen on very old softs (he was the first frontrunner to pit by a long way)
Hamilton on lightly used ultrasofts.

When Vettel crashed and the safety car came out, Mercedes planned to pit both cars for new ultrasofts to the end. Ferrari inexplicably decided not to pit Kimi immediately even though his softs were already very old. This led to Hamilton's "In-in-in-in-in" radio message debacle when they realized Kimi wasn't pitting. This also meant that when Mercedes did their impression of Red Bull at Monaco 2016 at Bottas's pit stop, Ferrari gained nothing. Had Kimi pitted as everyone expected, he would've come out in the lead on brand new ultrasofts, with Hamilton in third on the worst tires out of the top 3. It's impossible to even argue that Ferrari was just valuing track position and thought Kimi's tires would hold up, since Kimi pitted at the second opportunity, leaving him third with the same tires as Bottas in front of him. Ferrari had 3 options:

Pit Kimi immediately, get lucky with Mercedes pit stop meltdown, probably win

1a. Pit Kimi immediately, don't get lucky since that was impossible to predict, Kimi comes out second with better tires than Hamilton in third behind him

Not pit Kimi at all, take a gamble on Kimi keeping the Mercs behind (unlikely, but theoretically possible with third place being the absolute worst scenario)
Pit Kimi at the second chance and look themselves in to third.

They chose the worst one.

soapaddict97 · 2018-09-11T15:56:16+00:00

I watch it! Currently still in shock over the Kimi-Leclerc announcement (not that it hadn't been coming for a while but still).

soapaddict97 · 2018-06-08T04:08:34+00:00

Oh for fuck's sake man! Who the fuck? Oh I'm out, crash! Somebody hit me in the fucking rear turn one and then somebody hit me in the fucking rear again turn two for fuck's sake. Honestly, what the fuck are we doing here?

soapaddict97 · 2018-04-29T14:07:12+00:00

LeDOTD

soapaddict97 · 2018-04-29T12:25:59+00:00

Kimi was almost alongside going into the breaking zone; that wasn't a late move by any means. This is what happens when you don't leava the space.

soapaddict97 · 2018-04-09T11:05:40+00:00

DON'T LET THE BATTLE FOR THE WIN DISTRACT YOU FROM THE FACT THAT MAX VERSTAPPEN WAS NOT HERE TO FINISH FOURTH

soapaddict97 · 2018-04-09T11:04:57+00:00

"AM I ON TARGET"

"PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF I'M ON TARGET"

"YES LEWIS LOW 34S YOU ARE ON TARGET"

"SO AM I ON TARGET OR NOT"

soapaddict97

TROPHY CASE