wheels/tires for SVT road course driving?

[esereno]

I tried the stock Contis, at 36/33. The fronts were howling and I had
a good bit of understeer. Maybe I could play with the pressures.
Are the stock tires good or is there room for improvement?

I'm mostly going to keep the car stock, but if wheels and/or tires
would help, what would be better?

thanks for any suggestions.

[Sponsor]

[htrfocus]

Finding the right tire pressure, involves a little more than whether their howling or not.... Any street tire will howl when pushed too hard. The idea with pressures is to add air until you feel the tire break away very quickly. The point between quick break away, and progressive break away is maximum traction. Once you've established this point, then you can fool with pressures front to rear to increase / decrease understeer, oversteer etc. I have been running my Avons at 40-42 up front, and 34-36 out back when I'm out AutoX'ing.

As for how good the conti's are, they're not bad as a performance tire, but you will never be as competetive as another car running R-compounds. As for which ones, here are my top 3 pics:

Kumho Victroracers - true R-compound, performs well in cooler temperatures, not a good idea as a street tire. Pretty affordable.

Hoosiers - again, true R-comound, a little stickier than the Kumhos, but not too good until they warm up, on a warm day.... more expensive than the Kumhos

Falken Azenis - they're almost a true track tire, pretty sticky, they respond well to warming them up as an R-compound does (a street tire will not grip any better when heated), but still has something resembling tread, making it acceptable as a street tire. They're dirt cheap around here too.

I've heard bad reviews about the Yokohamas... Other than that, there's tons of high performance street tires, way to many to review (for me anyway!)

As for the wheels, I couldn't say for sure, but from what I've observed, just pick up a light set of 15's, they'll be lighter than 17's, and the tires will be WAY cheaper.... I guess in your case you'll need 16's.... Once you're up to 16" there's probably not a lot of diff. in price... Oh well, pick something innexpensive and light (and forged)! heh heh You're not at the track for a fashion show!

Hope this helps..

[garyk]

find some kuhmo victoracers. they are not as aggressive as the v700's i run on the race car, but are much longer lived. the conti's suck for track work. also toyo and hancook make some excellent tires depending on the size you are running. a good starting pressure for street tires in temperate weather is 40 to 42 front and a pound or two more in the rear.

[garyk]

if you end up going with an r compound tire, pressures are completly different. we start with 23 font and 26 back at most tracks. after warming them up they end up at 32 all around. again weather affects this. on very cold days, we start with less so they will heat up faster.

[Geezer]

Another popular tire for those who like to drive to the track and not haul a load of tires with them is the Toyo Proxes RA1. They are a compromise tire but carry a DOT approval. They'll be stickier than the azenis but not as sticky as dedicated race tires like the hoosiers or Kumhos mentioned above. The only downside to azenis are that they can get really greasey as track surface temperatures get high.

[liquid01]

There is also another trick of the track...You take a piece of chalk and mark four to five lines around the tire edge to the tp of the side wall....Inflate to 42 pds(this is were I used to keep my falkens)at the front and around 36-38 in the rear..If the chaulk is rubbed off there is to much play in the tire+need more pressure..If the line stays untouched then there is to much air..Also there is a roll point indicator on all tires some are triangles and some are arrows etc...use this as another point of roll over for best tire ttraction.

[garyk]

the ra1's are excellent tires but a bit pricey. also limited in size selection. at one time the tire of choice for spec miatas. if you are near a track where scca runs nationals, you can get great deals on slightly used tires after a national. theres a guy in the midwest who sells once used hoosiers for as little as $5 with a record of their heat cycles.

[esereno]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

I've looked around a little and without deals of some kind I'm looking
at $700+. That'll double my "budget" for the year. Not only that,
it removes a great excuse! 8)

But seriously, I can definitely use the pressure advice, and I'll keep
looking around on the tire front. At least now I have an idea of what
to look for.

[garyk]

keep your eyes open we run 205/40/17 v700s on squirt the race car. earlier this year my contact at tire rack let me know about a "special". $55 apiece. bought all they had at that price,13 in all. usually they are 130 each.