Start every pressure decision from the door-jamb placard for your car, then adjust for how you drive. The placard is the baseline; the numbers below are common working settings.
| Generation | Baseline | Common street cold | Track |
|---|---|---|---|
| NA / NB | Door placard | ~30-32 psi all around | Set by hot target (below) |
| NC | Door placard | ~30-32 psi | Set by hot target |
| ND | Door placard | ~30-32 psi | Set by hot target |
Street: run the placard or a psi or two above for sharper turn-in. Check cold, before driving.
Track: you set pressure by the hot target, not a cold number. Set them cold, run a session, then measure hot in the paddock. For 200-treadwear street tires a common hot target is roughly 36-40 psi; for R-compounds, follow the tire maker's recommendation. Bleed down if they climb past target, add if they fall short.
Reading the tire's date: the last four digits of the DOT code are week and year - "2419" means the 24th week of 2019. Replace tires at about 6 years regardless of tread; rubber ages out.
Reading wear:
- Tread-wear bars flush with the tread mean the tire is done (2/32").
- Even wear across the tread is correct; wear on both edges means chronic under-inflation, wear in the center means over-inflation.
- Uneven inside/outside wear points at alignment, not pressure.