...... I have a Kumho now that has over 16,000 miles on it, running 26#. IMO opinion the Kumho almost solid flat center really sucks on wet pavement.....
That may be your valid opinion and you may not be able to do much to improve that tire's performance now it's worn as much as it is; but seriously, unless you weigh in at something over about 300#'s, 26psi is probably gonna be somewhat too high for just about
any Passenger construction tire under a Spyder, with loss of traction/hydroplaning in the wet likely to be one of the first signs of that pressure being set too high from a cold start!! :shocked:
Most Passenger construction tires (ie 'car' tires) of the sort of sizes that fit under our Spyders (regardless of the tread type, compound, or brand) will generally only need something like about 20-24psi to carry a loaded Spyder & a couple of fairly solid Ryders, altho that may well mean the tires will take about 10-20 mins or so of 'normal' riding to warm up properly before the 'spongy' feel that some complain about goes away as the tires reach their operating temps!! The softer compound/sporty type tires may need a little less time to get 'sticky' & grip the road surface well, but unless you actively work them by swerving & acell/braking like you see the racers do to keep their already artificially warmed up tires near their optimum operating temps once they hit the track, then they'll still need that sort of time to properly warm up & expand the air inside the tire so that it will properly carry the load of the Spyder & you the way it should; & about the same sort of time should also heat up the tire carcass & sidewall/tread rubber compounds to give you the optimum ride, handling, & wear characteristics you'd expect from that sort of tire. Sure, you can pump them up harder to start with & not worry about warming the tire up so much cos it'll feel 'firm & responsive' to steering from the set to; but that means you will always have tires that are running at a less than ideal temperature, which means they'll have less than ideal traction, which means they'll have a tendency to lose grip at speed on a damp road when they really shouldn't, & very likely also means you'll get less than ideal tread life even if it looks OK now.... :gaah:
If your tires are losing traction like that now while you are running them at 26psi, then you should really try dropping them a couple of pounds, & maybe even do that at least once more after that if their traction doesn't improve significantly; but don't forget that just like any other rubber compound tire, they'll still need a bit of time to warm up the compound AND the air inside them before they reach their optimum temp for 'proper' steering, traction, ride, & handling etc!! And this doesn't really matter what brand or type of tire you are running - if they aren't gripping well in the wet when their documentation & everyone else suggests that they really should, then the first thing to do is to try dropping your pressures a bit!! :thumbup:
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Currently have 17 psi in the front and 28 psi rear. I may experiment a bit with that. The soft fronts seem to absorb small bumps pretty well. Better than I have ever had before. A bit higher in the fronts might steer a little quicker.
