Fisrt AutoX
 

I getting ready for my first autoX . :wee:
Any suggestion on tires pressure and aliment? Any help will be grateful. I will be running a showroom stock, daily driver 02.5 ES.
Thanks

Hmm, I run the stock alignment but I do mess with the tire pressures a bit. I run 50psi front and rear. The front tires will not roll over at 50psi, but you will pick up a little bit of wheelspin exiting corners. But that might be due to the lack of an LSD. I find the car will rotate just a bit with trail braking or left foot braking with 50 psi in the rear tires.

BTW, I'm running the stock Dunlops on my Pro5.

Try 44 front, 50 rear then you can let a bit out as appropriate. The higher rear pressure will help get the tail around. I found you don't really need to go a lot higher than 40 up front to stop the tire from rolling over too much.

considering one drives a P5 and one an MP3, atleast you have a good starting point :p If your gonna run it in stock class for now, leave it as stock and learn from there. Don't go tweeking on stuff thinking it'll help...it won't, it'll just make the learning curve steeper. Take your time and have fun.

one thing i've noticed lately is the lack of new ppl not removing all loose items from the car before getting into the tech line.

FYI
for each event you should remove:

all loose items
all floor mats
all storage pockets contents (cupholder/sunvisor/map pockets etc.)
under seat storage
any cargo net/trunk storage items
spare tire and jack
you can go as far as removing all the glove box contents, if not, lock it.
fasten all seat belts in place
radio face plate (if removable)
fuzzy dice or other mirror hanging items :)

Good Luck!

35 PSI in the rear will so just as well as 50, and you will have more warning when it decides to come around on you. Just a little note. The high pressures are fun, but the spins can get ugly quick. The lower pressure will still break, but you will have a better feel for when it is coming and be able to do more about it.
Hope that helps

GS 12 Mazda MP3
Region 64 GS Champion 2002
Region 64 Overall Champion 2002

Thanks:) I know that I can count on this forum. Thanks again;)

I have never had a hard time to get the back to come around on me. You might want play around with the air pressure. Air temp and the road surface makes it hard to tell you what PSI you should be at. I start 40psi on a warm day 38psi for a cold one. If the car is pushing I'll add 2psi more. Need more movement from the rear add 2-3psi. I almost never have to add more to the rear. Last thing check air after your run the psi will have gone up 1 or 2 psi. :)

Our events in Ontario for the most part tend to be much slower and tighter than USA events from what I have seen. So we need all the help we can get in having the back come around. Those pressures are actually from runing my P5 last year. I probably won't go so high in my MP3 but .. time to experiment again.

All I know is .. everyone first said to run lower at the back, but after raising the back pressures it became much easier to get turned.

Thanks again, and more info is always wanted. I am planning to run total stock this year and then maybe think about moving to SCS with a small amount of upgrades. OBTW it is an auto also, and prosily be the car that my daughter get in 6 years.

does that mean she's 10 years old, or your just not willing to give it up for 6 years... :D :D

Both

I autocrossed my wife's Protege5 and found 45 front and 48 rear worked well. Although I only ran it 3 times :)

so consensus is that higher rear pressures (WRT the front pressures) works better? i have been running 37 front and 30 rear and have not had a problem with pushing except thru the slowest, tightest turns.

i'll give the higher rear pressure a shot this week. hopefully the track will be dry for once!

I don't know that you would want higher rear pressures on a track but for the Protege5 , on autocross courses higher in the rear makes it come around way better.

The MP3 needs less help in the rear with the bigger swaybar and whatnot.

Actually in my opinion if you are new to autocrossing, lower pressures in the rear helps balance out the car and when the back end kicks around it's easier to catch.

But higher pressures in the rear, makes the car unload quicker and respond faster, but you have to be quick and good at catching it right.