So we start off the week with some more rain on the drive home, the temps were a bit cooler so I expected the performance to degrade a bit but it seemed better. More on this in a bit. First, let's go back to Saturday when the temps were in the 30s. Checked the tires in the garage and they were at 34 psi, I knew the dealer let some air out when it was in the shop and I'm starting to think that might have been the cause of the sliding around and the car feeling softer. On the drive to the tire shop, the computer reading was 36, after only about a 2 mile drive. There was a guy at the tire place airing up cars and I asked him to put up to 38, my meter read 36, I said just make them 40 all the way around and he did. I checked and they read 38. Something is off. I decided to go get another gauge to check as mine might be going bad. So I drove off a little bit down the road, the readings came up, 38. Huh?
I skipped the store and instead went cruising as I could feel the car had a nicer, firm riding feel on the road and I wanted to see how it did with that pressure all around. It actually handled quite well and felt good on the roads. I wondered how it would do in the rain with the change in tire pressure. Fast forward back to Monday evening and I realized as soon as I got out of the garage at work that it was raining. Good times, I thought! Well for the first part of it, there were some slow pokes. Once I got past that I got it up to speed and hit some puddles, got some tug in the steering which I thought was unusual as that amount of water I could drive through in the Optima with the General G-MAX AS05 and the Michelins with no issue. Once I got to some empty back roads I pushed in into corners, no sliding. Got on the accelerator, no shimmy, dove into a 90 degree turn, nada. Feeling so much better. True test, from stop, 2 turn lanes into 3 to the left, positioned in the right, accelerated into it and went wide to the right as the person on the left probably couldn't make out the lines and was turning into the middle lane (my lane). I pushed the pedal some more and as it was finishing the turn I felt the stability brake the outside right wheel so I eased off and when it was straight, pressed some more. The car just went with no more side movements but I was above posted speed so I backed off and cruised to the red light.
Now the plan is to go back to my original settings of 41 rear and 38 front (nitto recommends 39 rear and 36 front) or before that do 37 front and 40 rear and see if that is better for me. These tires are still feeling good. With all the reviews on the springs, I might just get a set of the ARK GT-F installed.