Originally Posted by Lucky07
I was discussing tire pressure with a racer recently & he claimed that high-end tires are supposedly designed to grip at higher psi's. So he could run his tires at 140psi, while a cheaper tire would have to run at 120 or less.
I don't use 70 dollar tires, so I can't confirm or deny this. Just another variable to consider.
Not an engineer but that makes Zero sense to me. The available grip is a function of the coefficient of friction of the material on the road surface, and the size of the contact patch. More pressure = smaller contact patch = less grip.
At best, you might be able to argue that high end tires such as the Michelin Pro Grip for example (compared to Pro Race) have a higher coefficient of friction because of softer tread compound, and therefore you can still have good grip at a higher pressure.
The reason people lower pressure racing in the rain is to increase the contact patch size and increase the grip.