Originally Posted by
workerONE
As Dan99 said 38 front and 32 rear is recommended. I've been playing around with pressures and am currently trying 37 front, 32 rear
The manual for my car (2019 RS5 SB) with 20" wheels and a partial load, says 38/32. The pressures for your specific model and tire size, as stated in your manual, are a good place to start. However, manufacturers typically recommend pressures on the soft side to maximize ride comfort, so keep this in mind if you want to maximize performance.
Personally, I like to drive in corners, take road trips to the mountains, and attend HPDEs each year (which include track time and autocross). Audis are not as track-focused as some other cars, so it takes attention to detail to have them behave as well as possible. Tires are the place to start. They are the only contact your car has with the road and the only way to get maximum traction is to have them inflated correctly. By that, I mean the air pressure in each tire must be such that it applies equal pressure across the entire tread surface. Too much air and the center of the tread will bulge slightly causing a loss of traction at the outer edges of the tires, and the center of the tread will wear prematurely. Too little air and the center of the tread surface will collapse somewhat, causing a loss of traction at the center of the tread, and the outer edges of the tire will wear prematurely. The right amount of air will push the entire tread surface evenly against the road, providing maximum traction and even tire wear. As a result, correct pressure will give you more traction during acceleration, in turns, and when braking.
If you care about this level of performance, you have a couple ways to help you find the correct tire pressures for your specific car and how you drive. Start with the pressures in the manual, locate the performance marker on the tire sidewalls, mark the sidewalls with chalk near the marker, then drive aggressively through turns. If you scrape to the marker, your pressures are correct; if you scrape beyond the marker (onto the sidewall), your tires are under inflated; if you don't scrape to the marker, your tires are over inflated. Add or remove 1 or 2 psi until the sidewall involvement is where you want it when you drive aggressively, then allow the tires to cool and check the pressures when cold to find the amount of pressure you should try to maintain for maximum handling.
This technique applies to daily driving and more aggressive settings, like a track. A road course puts extra stress on tires and they heat up, so you will probably have to let out some air (compared to daily driving) to maintain the correct amount of sidewall involvement during a track session. But, the principles are the same. You want the tread of the tire to lie as flat as possible against the road surface to maximize traction, and you add or remove air to accomplish that. Sidewall scraping is an easy way to monitor the results.
If you are really into it and want to go to the next level, you can get a pyrometer and check tire temperatures across the tread surface. You check the temperatures at the inside, middle and outside of the tread surface. If the center of the tread is hotter, the tire is over inflated; if the outside edges are hotter, the tire is under inflated. The more even the temperatures across the entire surface, the more traction you will have. And, while high temperatures on both inside & outside edges can indicate under-inflation, high temperatures on only one edge (inside or outside) can indicate potential alignment considerations . But, we are pretty far into the weeds at this point.
So, a lot of this depends on how you use your car, but the principles remain the same. The correct air pressure gives you the most traction in any situation. Spend a little time to find the pressures that work for your specific car and how you drive, then try to maintain those pressures as ambient air temperatures change.
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