STX setup sharing thread (2021)

[bslate3]

I called and asked a Tire Rack rep. He didn’t see the 245 & 255 sizes as being available and didn’t have a production date from Yokohama either. But at the same time a friend of mine said she got a shipping date for 255 Yokos in the beginning of June. Maybe tire rack is just as good at predicting the weather too lol

[ka-t_240]

Anyone running this exhuast? Is it loud/sound issues?

HKS hipower v2 3 inch

[Brock H.]

Originally Posted by ka-t_240

Anyone running this exhuast? Is it loud/sound issues?

HKS hipower v2 3 inch

HKS website and seller's descriptions state less than 90db, but assume that is with the stock headers and front pipe. Wording is, "Close Sound Level Stock: 86, Close Sound Level HKS: 90, Idling Sound Level Stock: -, Idling Sound Level HKS: 77 . Closed noise was measured by the us method."

Other sources state no drone at highway speeds. Looks to be a relatively quite single exit exhaust compared to others.

[Westen86]

Originally Posted by ka-t_240

Anyone running this exhuast? Is it loud/sound issues?

HKS hipower v2 3 inch

I am! I have a GruppeS UEL header and op, stock fp. It does not drone. Its a little loud, mostly when youre on it. Im going to guess with the header its in the high 80s mid 90s db range. Tolerable on the freeway.
I had it on with a stock header and it was kinda perfect. Deeper tone, very little rasp, barely heard it idle.
I love it. I would buy another if this one rots out because of salt.

Im not video friendly, so i dont have any footage or sound. Youre looking for "with Silencer" if you go to HKSUSA.com

[Kelse92]

Originally Posted by bslate3

I called and asked a Tire Rack rep. He didn’t see the 245 & 255 sizes as being available and didn’t have a production date from Yokohama either. But at the same time a friend of mine said she got a shipping date for 255 Yokos in the beginning of June. Maybe tire rack is just as good at predicting the weather too lol

Guess I'll jump in here haha
Still surprised my tires showed up. Wasn't expecting that at all, they had stock of 255's somewhere lol. At least it looks like early June stock is showing on the website again now. I ordered Nankangs too as a backup and have more than enough tires on hand for now lol

Since I'm new here...
I sold my STU M3 a little sooner than I would have liked (can't complain I got a great price for it but gonna really miss it) so I decided to jump in on a 2014 FRS for an STX/TT5 build. It will be a miracle if I get time to set it up completely and get any kind of meaningful seat time before September but we'll see...
Thankfully the car I just bought had some STX-ish stuff on it already:
Tomei header/overpipe
JDL catted front pipe
Invidia cat back
OFT
17x9 RPF1's
Endless coilovers with unknown spring rates (these are changing soon but what I want is on a 5-wk order timeline)
Just installed some Verus stx rlca's
Had to undo previous owner's SPC control arms and toe links.
Stock everything else.

Current needs for the car are a new battery (the original one is leaking)
And otherwise I'm just going to drive it for a bit and determine sway bars and if I want to setup around a diff or not. Seems to be two camps on this so I'm going to drive the car and see how I feel about it. A diff was the one big thing I felt the M3 still needed before I sold it so I'm leaning towards getting one for this car. Anybody have any advice one way or the other?

[strat61caster]

Cars without diffs and with good drivers can certainly put themselves into trophy contention at nats, but I've heard that setting up the car with the diff makes it a lot more confidence inspiring, mostly seems to be a matter of how much cash you want to spend these days.

If you don't want to spend big bucks on a battery I'm real happy with my Odyssey PC680, coming up on four years and it's been solid even in a pandemic when I only drive it 2-3x per week, still like 10-15# lighter then stock. Bought the Japanese battery tie down hardware and an aluminum spacer for like $40.

[e1_griego]

Great battle in STX (and even better in SSC) at Spring Nats. Wish I was there

[Kelse92]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

Cars without diffs and with good drivers can certainly put themselves into trophy contention at nats, but I've heard that setting up the car with the diff makes it a lot more confidence inspiring, mostly seems to be a matter of how much cash you want to spend these days.

If you don't want to spend big bucks on a battery I'm real happy with my Odyssey PC680, coming up on four years and it's been solid even in a pandemic when I only drive it 2-3x per week, still like 10-15# lighter then stock. Bought the Japanese battery tie down hardware and an aluminum spacer for like $40.

I'm trying to be smart where I spend but everything on this car costs half of what it would have on my M3 so the diff is pretty tempting...
And thanks for the info on the battery, I had an antigravity on my old car but the 30 which I think I would want here is out of stock and ouch I forgot how much the price on them hurts lol. This car of mine is going to mostly sit and not get driven so need it to last for 1-2wks without needing a trickle. How has the Odyssey worked for you with that?

[strat61caster]

Been a few years since it's sat that long so idk. It did survive a Christmas vacation of 7-9 days no driving when it was less then two years old. And it's probably one of the cheapest batteries you can get, OEM style was like $180 last I checked at an auto parts store.

[smg1138]

I've got my first event on RT660's tomorrow. What are you guys liking for pressures on these? On the 71R's I generally ran 30F/28R on asphalt. Since these also have stiff sidewalls, I'm thinking somewhere around the same?

[RT-BRZ]

Originally Posted by smg1138

I've got my first event on RT660's tomorrow. What are you guys liking for pressures on these? On the 71R's I generally ran 30F/28R on asphalt. Since these also have stiff sidewalls, I'm thinking somewhere around the same?

I ran very close to these pressures on my RT660's today. As the day went on I even went 29 front/27 rear with good results.

[bslate3]

Every tire has a sweet spot that the pressures work best. And the 660’s I think are a little picky and really depends on your suspension and alignment. If you have enough camber you can run the pressures pretty low. The 660’s are a super stiff tire. I was running 26psi square hot pressures today at Spring Nats and didn’t have any rollover.

I have talked to some of the SSC guys and they run in the 30-32psi range. But they also have less camber and softer suspension. And maybe that’s what works well on the 660’s.

[smg1138]

Ended up running 30F/28R and it worked well. Just missed 1st place by a couple of tenths. Might try going even lower next time out. I was really pleasantly surprised by the overall performance of the RT660's. Think I might like them even more than the 71R's.

[renfield90]

Originally Posted by Kelse92

And otherwise I'm just going to drive it for a bit and determine sway bars and if I want to setup around a diff or not. Seems to be two camps on this so I'm going to drive the car and see how I feel about it. A diff was the one big thing I felt the M3 still needed before I sold it so I'm leaning towards getting one for this car. Anybody have any advice one way or the other?

We tried testing back to back, Kate's car (Lugod setup with a diff) vs mine (my own setup with OEM Torsen). Results were inconclusive, in part because even 6-8 runs in we were still optimizing the course (faster each run even when switching cars).

I have higher rates (450/550) than Kate (300/500). I like the feel of mine but I suspect her car is a touch faster. My car is probably a bit of a compromise setup built to work around the parts I already had from CS.

My opinion is you can win a jacket without a diff, but a diff is a very helpful tool if you know how to use it.