Hi all !!!

I'm looking to the expertise of this board to recommend some seriously sticky rubber that will fit my OEM 17's (7" wide, I believe)

I will be keeping my all-season rubber for daily use, but I would like something more competition-oriented for a couple of HPDE's and 2-3 autocrosses.

Any advice is welcome.

W

 

Wait, so it sounds like you are going to repeatedly switch back and forth between your all-season tires and race tires on the stock rims? That doesn't sound right. Or do you currently have all-season tires on a separate set of wheels and you will use your oem 17's with the race tires? My first inclination would be to say go with a set of wider aftermarket wheels like 17x8 so you can get 245 or even 255 tires. Makes a big difference for handling and a whole hell of a lot more good choices in tires in those sizes. But if you must use the stock wheels then there isn't a whole lot of good choices that will fit a 17x7 wheel. On tirerack I don't see any competition tires that will fit well. But there are some max summer performance tires like Michelin Pilot Sports PS2 in 235/50, Potenza SO-3 in 225/55, Potenza RE050 in 225/50, and GY Eagle F1 GS-D3 in all three of those sizes. If you really want some R compound tires Kumho and Hoosier do have 225/45 tires but your speedo would be more than 5% in error. Maybe it doesn't matter to you though since you will only be using those wheels/tires for track days.

 

whats up wayne? how you been?

I seen a post in chicagoZ someone is giving away a used set of race tires cheap! Not sure the condition but check it out I think its in the for sale forum.


See at RA your are going the 15-17th right? Just got my 2 piece stoptechs and plenum spacer

 

Look to using the 225/45-17 size. That is a popular size for R-tires ... offered by nearly all R manfactures (Khumo, Toyo, Hoosier, etc.) They'll be easily accomodated by the stocker 17 x 7 wheels. They are ~3.5% shorter than stock diameter, but that won't be of any concern since you're not running staggered (read: VDC friendly). You'll also enjoy the advantage of a slightly shorter overall drive ratio as the result.

 

dklau- I have a second set of OEM 17's (price was right!) onto which I will be installing the stickiest gumballs I can find. I am less concerned with speedo error, as they will only be used on the track.

Derek- Wasabi my friend? I am indeed gearing up for the RA weekend. It sounds like you are too!

Clint- Thanks for the recommendation; I will most likely go w/ the 225/45-17's. Do you have any brand preference for sopmeone looking to get a (short) whole season out of them?

Thanks all,

W

 

Oh okay, that makes more sense now. Then I'll leave this question up to Clint since he actually has experience running race rubber. But FWIW, from all the serious road course and autox racers I've talked to, Hoosiers are the way to go.

 

Darin,
Don't be so modest. I have seen some of your posts and they were very solid advices.


ChicagoX,
Btw … I goof on the reduction in size above. I meant to say ~5.1% shorter.

The tire of the choice for you IMHO is the Toyo RA1s in 235/45-17. The service life is particularly long (if properly taken care of) and they stick very very well. While it is not a concern at all … these will only be ~2.1% shorter than your OEM size.

Since you are also blessed with a set of real seats at the back, you can haul a full set of race wheels with tires to and from the track by stacking them 2x2 flat sides up. This is a huge advantage in keeping unnecessary tire usage to a minimum. R tires on the street is funky business anyhow!

Ideally, you will also want to have the tires properly heat-cycled before you start abusing them on the track. Proper heat cycling is important in extending the ‘stickiness’ of your rubber before they turn into drift tires. I’d also strongly encourage having your RA1s shaved down a bit. This may seem counter-intuitive, but it actually has a positive effect on increase your tire’s service life and performance. Because the treads on a stock RA1 are so tall (for streetability and wets ... remember these are street legal tires!), they allow the individual thread blocks to flex and the tire to slide more readily. The combination of the two means elevated temperature and accelerated wear.

Finally, the biggest enemy to most all R-compound tires is not having enough negative camber (more so for the fronts). These tires like to live at a minimum of -3 deg. of camber! Unless that is satisfied, you’ll likely chord the outside thread before anything else. A set of front adjustable A-arms could go a long way here.

 

just get some pilot sports use them as your summer/track wheels.

 

I believe ChicahoX's looking for R-compound tires only.

Michelin does offer the Pilot Sport Cup, that is a very decent R-compound tire too ... but also extremely expensive. It'd rate it pretty close to the Toyo RA1s in terms of performance and durability.

 

Clint,

Do you forsee any other probs, besides the aforementioned cording issue, arising from running stock camber settings?

Would purchasing pre- heat-cycled tires be OK?
How far should I shave? 5/32's, 4/32's?

Do you think I could extract 4-6 events out of a set?

Running the r-compound rubber on the street is probably not going to be an issue, as I like to travel 'prepared'.....which will mean a chase car to schlep all of the 'necessities'

Thanks in advance, folks.

W

 

Depending on how hard you run your car ... 4-6 events is not uncommon for starters on a set of properly prep'd RA1s. With respect to heat cycling ... sorry if I sounded confusing (wasn't thinking right when I typed), but the RA1 is able to work pretty decently w.o. pre-heat cycling. I was speaking in 'general term'. Heat cycling is most important for other R-tires.

Look HERE for some good info about the RA1s. In there you'll also find tips on how much to shave. Take special note of the part where they suggest flipping the tires to increase life. I do that w. my Hoosiers. The key is to not wait till the last minute ... that'll seriously degrade how your car handles as the tires' got funny slant the wrong way. Ideally, you'd do this every other race.

Lucky for you w. the supply wagon!!!

Good Luck!

 

I don't see you on the list


http://roadamerica.fbody.us/paid.html

 

Derek,

I needed to acquire my rims before I locked into the event. Rims are purchased, and I will be registering before the weekend is out.

----Man, I can't wait.....

BTW, do they allow grilling in the pits? I plan on bringing the usual set-up

 

Uh oh chicago is trucking drag tires to the NJ event to whoop up on us poor suspects that agreed to race him. Just remember for straight line stuff the fatter tire will create more friction and slow you down a tad at the track. This was noted for someone that went to 235/50/17 over the 205/55/17's that come stock. I guess anything is better than AS radials!

 

Sixfive: LOL! I might have another 'surprise' in store for you East Coast boys by then.......until then, straight-line traction isn't an issue.

BTW, oem is 215 on my crappy Bridgestone EL42's. I need something stickier/wider (tires, smarta$$) before Derek and Riffster school me at RoadAmerica