undrcroft

looking to do some more SCCA rally-X, and right now i just need better tires to compete. Is a 15" wheel conversion the only option or are there any 17" rally tires out there? How much better would a set of winter tires be? Are a set of Nokian winter tires my best bet?

Stevo 8

iTrader: (1)

I have looked for some for the same reason. Pirelli made one run for the US market (10,000 tires I think) The model is XR in three compounds (3, 5 & 7).

After a lot of searching I came up blank as to who could sell me four. I bet STI drives have the same quandry. If you find some please let me know.

I am rally crossing this weekend on Perelli Snow Sport 240's ...I'll let you know how they work.

jid2

iTrader: (62)

If you are serious about rally and rally cross than you will need to do a front brake swap and buy some 15 inch wheels. 17 inch rally tires are not made, at least in any real production numbers.


Honestly rally tires are so much different than any all season or snow tire. The sidewalls on all seasons are very soft, rally tires have sidewalls so stiff they break tire mounting machines all the time.

nubby

iTrader: (6)

If you don't want to deal with a front brake swap, which you probably don't, just run winter tires. And don't even bother with Nokians, get some el-cheapo tires, they'll probably have just about as good of grip as any other winter tire.

Last season I was on Pirelli Nero M+S (super sucky for RallyX), and I still did fine, and had a lot of fun, even if I lacked any real grip.

zyounker

iTrader: (1)

hankook W400 is not a rally tire, but a full snow tire that might work nicely.. check it out.

EVOlutionary

iTrader: (38)

Actually the Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSi is pretty good for RX. I ran it at the last event and came in second only to a full rally prepped Talon running knobbies. Plus you can drive on them all winter and they last forever. I have about 20000 miles (2 winters) on mine and they still have about 60-70% tread left.

EVOlutionary

Stevo 8

iTrader: (1)

In the same vein of thought.... What is the narrowest strong rim that is available that will fit?

nubby

iTrader: (6)

I run gravel wheels and tires, and the wheels are 15x7. I don't think you'd need to go any narrower than a 7" wheel.

Do a search on http://www.discounttiredirect.com/ and when you get results for the Evo, there's a Enkei RS5 in 17x7 that appears to fit. Might want to give them a call just to make sure. I'm not sure what the surfaces are like your area runs on, but we have more problems with de-beads than any outright wheel breakage. Those ones I mentioned above are $142, so you could afford to have a spare.

I do think that going a bit narrower will help you cut through the loose stuff at the top and get better bite on the hard-pack beneath. I couldn't really quantify how much that will help your times though.

Since you have an '05 RS, you already have probably the most competitive car in RallyX, even though it's not the most popular. Throw some 17x7's and some snow tires, and go out and have a blast.

nubby

iTrader: (6)

There's a discussion on specialstage.com about RallyX driving tips, might be useful for those about to rock:

http://www.specialstage.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=18260

ikakitani

I think Rally tire won’t give your car big advantage. I have EVO8 with 17 inch Dunlop all season tire SP5000. But, the time is not so different from other car with rally tire on. 　
If you swap front brake and buy 15 inch wheel and rally tires, probably total cost will be $2000 or more.　
My recommendation is what you could be better to install aftermarket front LSD before buy rally tire. Maybe your car will get big advantage around 2 second per 1 minute.

aklucsarits

iTrader: (2)

If anyone really is running 15"ers, check out Falken's website. They are having a manufacturer direct "Rally Liquidation Sale": http://www.falkentire.com/rally_ad.htm
All 15"ers are $50 each in all sizes and compounds! 14"ers are only $40 each! That's cheaper than cheapo snow tires. (In fact , I wonder how they would do in the snow. I might pick up a set for my SE-R...)

I'm guessing that means that Falken is leaving the Rally tire market, at least in the US...

supersupra

iTrader: (8)

Hey Steve , How are you?.

You did well in Astoria.

Any luck with finding the tires?

See you around.