[chucky12012]

Originally Posted by sludge1300

Morning folks. Been lurking here for a year and just now finally posting. Anyway, I'm kicking off my second full season in a CS BRZ. I'm still not the fastest driver, def not the slowest though, and having tons of fun.

I just picked up a set of 215-45-17 RE71R's. Private seller and way too good of a deal to justify spending extra money to get the 225 or 235, so it is what it is. I've done one event on them and they feel like glue compared to my Rivals last season.

Aside from crash bolts, my car is stock. I'm wondering if you guys want to speculate a bit as to how much of a handicap I've really got. Last event I was running between 2-3 seconds behind the national-level guys, so I'm way slow, but in order to gauge my progress it'd be cool to have an idea of what my car is really capable of. My random guess is that between the lack of shocks, TRD crap, more weight, and skinnier tires, that might amount to a second?

Other question. Is anyone in a BRZ really seeing a performance benefit to a front sway bar? My car seems pretty close to neutral without one. I can't decide if a bar will just make it push like no tomorrow, or if the reduced roll will turn into a benefit. Maybe combining that with adjustable shocks would help balance it out?

Anyway, thanks and I hope everyone enjoys their 2016 season.

The best way to find out honestly is to talk to one of the local national level guys in CS and have them take your car out for a run or two. One second is probably a reasonable guess. I don't know that 215 tires are killing you though, might not be that bad. You should run pressures on the lower end of the spectrum with that size I would guess and that helps a bit.