Quote:
Originally Posted by TemeCal
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on your tire size choice. I was planning to go with 245/40-17 Star Specs or RS3, on a 17x9 wheel. After watching your video, I'm questioning whether or not I really need something that wide. It'd be nice to save a few bucks on tires every year for track purposes, plus I could go with a lighter 7.5-8" wheel.
So, what made you settle on 215/45-17? If you could purchase new tires today, would you still go with 215 or get something a little wider? Are you running the stock wheels?
Great video by the way - loved it.
|
Our original decision to go with 215/45/17 was to keep the tire size consistent with the stock Michelins. At this point, I've theorized that a larger tire may actually be TOO MUCH tire for the car. I plan on slowly increasing the front tire size until the rear is running out of grip before the fronts do, while keeping an eye on lap times, to see where the balance point is for tire size/lap times. As it is, the car cannot break the rear tires loose, even at WOT in 2nd gear, so I see no reason to increase rear grip when it's not the limiting factor.
HOWEVER, this time around at Buttonwillow, I was brushing the limiter going into Buttonhook in 3rd, 4th before Lost Hill, and 4th before Sunset. Going to a 225/45/17 may increase gearing JUST enough to stop me from needing to make additional shifts. Once we get some coilovers on the car, lengthening the gears with tires will not be enough, and we will need to make the extra shifts, but for now, it may be a band-aid fix.
We had actually taken a pair of 225/45/17 RS3 with us in case the front tires started chunking, but having -1.1 camber was enough to prevent that (although I'd still like to get more).
We're also waiting on a set of conversion spacers, so that we can share wheels with our S2ks; s2ks run REALLY high offset, so a 15mm conversion spacer with my +55 wheels will fit perfect; we also have a set of 17x9 +63, which will also fit great with the spacers.
Also, for reference, here's a lap in my personal S2k from the same weekend.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1syrlAw1ek"]S2000 CR Buttonwillow CW13 (2:03) - YouTube[/ame]