[grinsaplenty]

Hello fellow ES owners. I have a question. In a week and a half or so I am (at 50 years old), going to Autocross for the first time. I am stoked. My question is, does anyone have any advice on what tire pressures I should be running for the event? Front and rear? I am using the car with stock tires.

 

[R1600Turbo]

I don't have much advice other than if it were me, I would run slightly higher pressures in the back to help the car rotate.

 

[1FastSportDriver]

Hello fellow ES owners. I have a question. In a week and a half or so I am (at 50 years old), going to Autocross for the first time. I am stoked. My question is, does anyone have any advice on what tire pressures I should be running for the event? Front and rear? I am using the car with stock tires.

I have already test-driven my Sport with the tires & wheels on an autocross course.

The best tire pressures I found were 34-lbs. (cold) 38-lbs. hot (front) and 32-lbs. (cold) 34-lbs. warm (rear) - you won't get the rear tires hot.

The OEM tires, just aren't very responsive to quick steering inputs and definitely are not very grippy....

I purchased another set of rims specifically for autocross use. TSW wheels 17" x 7.5" wrapped with Hankook RS4's in a P255/40ZR-17 size. Optimum tire pressures for the RS4's were 32-lbs. front (hot) and 30-lbs. rear (warm).

All tire pressures were set, using a laser tire pyrometer gun to get all the readings.

Please let me know if you experience a "severely-delayed" throttle response to the engine or just absolutely "no engine power" coming out of a sweeper or corner when you apply the gas pedal on the autocross course.

I shutoff the "traction & stability" control settings on it before going out on the autocross course and experienced both of the symptoms as described above.

Thanks.

 

[1FastSportDriver]

I have already test-driven my Sport with the tires & wheels on an autocross course.

The best tire pressures I found were 34-lbs. (cold) 38-lbs. hot (front) and 32-lbs. (cold) 34-lbs. warm (rear) - you won't get the rear tires hot.

The OEM tires, just aren't very responsive to quick steering inputs and definitely are not very grippy....

I purchased another set of rims specifically for autocross use. TSW wheels 17" x 7.5" wrapped with Hankook RS4's in a P255/40ZR-17 size. Optimum tire pressures for the RS4's were 32-lbs. front (hot) and 30-lbs. rear (warm).

You will find that the tire temps on outside shoulders on the front tires will be especially high due to the built-in, "positive" camber settings from the factory.

I did not have to set the tire pressures higher on the rear tires to get it to rotate, because the Sport will already oversteer quite easily at the back on the autocross course.

All tire pressures were set, using a laser tire pyrometer gun to get all the readings.

Please let me know if you experience a "severely-delayed" throttle response to the engine or just absolutely "no engine power" coming out of a sweeper or corner when you apply the gas pedal on the autocross course.

I shutoff the "traction & stability" control settings on it before going out on the autocross course and experienced both of the symptoms as described above.

Thanks.

 

[grinsaplenty]

Thanks 1FastSportDriver

I will let you know my findings as requested. This is my first time doing this so hope my observations about the car are accurate and not errors that I am making. I am doing the Autocross July 12. Your advice gives me a starting point.

 

[echobravo]

Luis, was your loss of power symptom an intermittent thing, or did it happen on each run?

 

[Poolnoodle]

I have already test-driven my Sport with the tires & wheels on an autocross course.

The best tire pressures I found were 34-lbs. (cold) 38-lbs. hot (front) and 32-lbs. (cold) 34-lbs. warm (rear) - you won't get the rear tires hot.

The OEM tires, just aren't very responsive to quick steering inputs and definitely are not very grippy....

I purchased another set of rims specifically for autocross use. TSW wheels 17" x 7.5" wrapped with Hankook RS4's in a P255/40ZR-17 size. Optimum tire pressures for the RS4's were 32-lbs. front (hot) and 30-lbs. rear (warm).

All tire pressures were set, using a laser tire pyrometer gun to get all the readings.

Please let me know if you experience a "severely-delayed" throttle response to the engine or just absolutely "no engine power" coming out of a sweeper or corner when you apply the gas pedal on the autocross course.

I shutoff the "traction & stability" control settings on it before going out on the autocross course and experienced both of the symptoms as described above.

Thanks.

Were you applying brake and gas at the same time? This ecu has a safe feature on that which is really stupid because We can't brake boost because of it. Otherwise you should have been able to spin tires out of any corner no problem, diesel style.

 

[echobravo]

Were you applying brake and gas at the same time? This ecu has a safe feature on that which is really stupid because We can't brake boost because of it. Otherwise you should have been able to spin tires out of any corner no problem, diesel style.

Huh. Well, if you left-foot-brake, that would likely cause the symptoms noted by Luis.

 

[1FastSportDriver]

Huh. Well, if you left-foot-brake, that would likely cause the symptoms noted by Luis.

I was left-foot braking on the first two runs and did not left-foot brake on the last two... I experienced the exact same symptoms with & without LFB.

It was a total bummer to say the least!

 

[kdetlor]

Were you applying brake and gas at the same time? This ecu has a safe feature on that which is really stupid because We can't brake boost because of it. Otherwise you should have been able to spin tires out of any corner no problem, diesel style.

I have experienced this. It is NOT fun. The car will almost stall if you have brakes and gas on at the same time. Very....'killjoy' feature.
This needs to be fixed in the tune. !

 

[SXTH-Element]

I was left-foot braking on the first two runs and did not left-foot brake on the last two... I experienced the exact same symptoms with & without LFB.

It was a total bummer to say the least!

Yuo need to pick up an OBD2 reader and keep an eye on temperatures.

The ECU will dial back power when coolant and intake temps reach a certain degrees. Heck, even Exhaust gas temps will do it too.
If you've been hot lapping it for a while, all of that stuff is going to heat up and the ECU will dial back the power to keep anything bad from happening.

 

[1FastSportDriver]

Yuo need to pick up an OBD2 reader and keep an eye on temperatures.

The ECU will dial back power when coolant and intake temps reach a certain degrees. Heck, even Exhaust gas temps will do it too.
If you've been hot lapping it for a while, all of that stuff is going to heat up and the ECU will dial back the power to keep anything bad from happening.

I was cooling down the radiator, intake manifold, and the turbo intercooler with "ice-cold water" using a garden sprayer by spraying everything down between my autocross runs. There was approximately twenty minutes between each competitor's runs before having to go back out on the course.

 

[grinsaplenty]

I was cooling down the radiator, intake manifold, and the turbo intercooler with "ice-cold water" using a garden sprayer by spraying everything down between my autocross runs. There was approximately twenty minutes between each competitor's runs before having to go back out on the course.

What was the outside temps? How long was each run? The one that I am participating in should be for me about 70 seconds. Most were doing it between 58 and 64. If they use a similarly sized course. I think I am being optimistic with 70. First time and all. Allowing the car to idle for awhile with the hood up aid in the cooling? I live in the maritime provinces in Canada. The hottest it should be outside is 26 degrees C, (78.8 F) The event is held in the evening and that should be the hottest it gets. Probably a little cooler than that. Any trips on protecting my car while still enjoying using it beyond pedestrian use would be much appreciated, from any who have done Auto Cross.

 

[1FastSportDriver]

What was the outside temps? How long was each run? The one that I am participating in should be for me about 70 seconds. Most were doing it between 58 and 64. If they use a similarly sized course. I think I am being optimistic with 70. First time and all. Allowing the car to idle for awhile with the hood up aid in the cooling? I live in the maritime provinces in Canada. The hottest it should be outside is 26 degrees C, (78.8 F) The event is held in the evening and that should be the hottest it gets. Probably a little cooler than that. Any trips on protecting my car while still enjoying using it beyond pedestrian use would be much appreciated, from any who have done Auto Cross.

The average run was in the low 50-seconds and the ambient temps were in the high eighties.

My ES was idling with the hood up between runs with me spraying the intercooler and radiator (while idling) and then finally shutting it off after minutes of idling and then spraying down the intake manifold, radiator and intercooler further.

There were some Focus and Fiesta ST's at this event (taking the exact same "cooling" precautions in the grid) and they stated that they were not experiencing the same issues that I was encountering.