I have a stock 9. Keeping it stock too for now.

For my first HPDE with a instructor, how should I set the car up? I am in need of new tires on all 4. What's a good street/performance tire for double duty use? Should I put new brake pads on? Tire pressures? Remove weight? .5 qt more oil?

Any advice is great!

Disclaimer - I've never road raced and only autox 2x prior to the evo. Excuse the newb when it comes to this aspect of motorsports. Got to start somewhere, and a instructor with you sounds like the best place

Thanks in advance.

 

I guarantee you will get tons of useless advice for a first time HPDE driver in reply to this thread. I say bring a helmet, listen to your instructor, and have fun. That's it. If you decide you want to get serious about this after your first track day, you can worry about tires, brake pads, and all other manner of modifications, fluid changes, yada yada yada.

 

change your oil, maybe flush your brake fluid with Motul RBF600 (not too necessary for first HPDE).

I'm sure you'll have to have your car inspected before you participate in the HPDE, and they'll ascertain that you have enough brake pad left. 50% or more an youre good.

stock tires are good, or Falken rt615's are good too, and cheaper.

Dont do anything else. The car is fast enough (too fast, really) for a new HPDE'er.

 

^agreed. Unless your break pads are down to the backing plates, you should be fine.

If you're really bored and want to do something, It wouldn't be a bad idea to at least flush/bleed your brakes with new fluid. If you're even more bored, get ATE Superblue and flush the entire system with this fluid.

Their are a lot of good tires out there. If you truly are in need of tires, Good double duty street/track tires can range from
BFGoodrich G-force sports (cheap)
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2s (expensive)
Yohohama Advan Neova AD07
Bridgestone Potenza RE050A
Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3

But I agree, grab a helmet, and open mind, and go have fun!

 

thanks for the input guys. Much appreciated.

 

Stock tires will be fine but get some good high performance pads at least for the front + new fluid. I've found the advans like to be at 42 front and 44 rear hot. A good alignment would be to your advantage also.

 

I would now recommend the new Dunlop Direzza Z1 if you need new street/track tires. Good price, good grip, and tolerates heat better than other street tires. Which means it maintains grip longer before it falls off due to tire heat.

 

I agree that if your stock tires have good rubber left on them go with them. I don't know if folks understand just how good the tires are that come on our cars.

I also agree that you should jsut make sure your car is as solid overall as possible. Fresh fluids are a good idea as well.

As for brakes, I did my first track days with my RS as 100% stock and regretted it. I boiled the fluid and got a he!! of a scare. I strongly encourage you to do a full bleed of your fluid with Motul 600 at the very least. Its cheap and easy and worth the peace of mind. I would also get better pads but this is open to debate and stock pads should give you a good idea of what you want to do in the future.

I however want to drive in, swap out pads and put on sticky rubber on wide rims and have a blast.

Get a good nights sleep before hand and enjoy. The first few sessions will be a blur and you will have a lot to think about but things will slow down as you go and fun will ensue.

 

I'm agreeing with this. I ran the stock Advans (2 sets) for my first 6-8 track days and they were great. They're cheap too, as there's always someone on the forums looking to get rid of them!
Remove everything loose, flush the brakes and bring a helmet and open mind! Try to be a sponge and realize there will be a lot of good advice to soak up!

The last thing you want to do it starting upgrading your car before you know how to drive it. I'm glad nobody recommended upgrades here.

 

for sure.

It's weird how once you get alittle older, hit some car goals, and all of a sudden you want to spend money on something that does not increase hp.

These track days are the ultimate goal for the AE86 that's under construction, but taking a modded car out there just seems like a bad idea.


So to do....

new tires on all 4's
new brake fluid
check pads to make sure they are atleast 50%

Bring helmet, get sleep, bring tire gauge.... That's about it???

 

If your tires are spent and you must change the rubber you have LOTS of options.

Please note first off that on the track, tires are consumable. Just something else that you are going to use up like fuel and brake pads. As such most folks, myself included like to look at the most bang for the buck rubber you can grab.

As you live in MO, you may see snow and low temps at times. As such you may want to go with all season rubber. I am not a fan of all season rubber on tracks but there are some good tires out there, just not ones I would get real excited about. Maybe other folks can chime in on that. If you are going to run summer rubber you have LOTS of options.

Kumho makes the MX and has a new replacement of the MX coming soon. This is a low dollar performer that will do well on the street and be acceptable in track for low dollars. Falken also does a nice tire that is a bit more money and gives a bit more performance.

What I did (and I'm not sure it was sane) was to pick up a set of Toyo RA1s in 255/40 and mounted them on stock rims. I ran them much of last summer and had a BLAST on the track with them. If I had it to do over again I may try the 235/45s as I think the tire was a bit wide for the stock rim. The grip, the performance in wet, good wear and overall performance make me want to keep buying this tire but they will be going on a 9.5" dedicated track rim.

Just my 2 cents.

 

Fresh motor oil, fresh brake fluid, and depending on how many miles you have on the drivetrain fluids, change all those out too.

Some basic checks: all fluids (taken care of if you change them all), brake pad and rotor life remaining, tire remaining, no loose objects anywhere in the car, all lugnuts are tight

 

definitely street tires in the beginning.

R-compounds will likely not even be allowed for beginners, and are counter productive: you don't learn as easily with R compounds.

 

Since going to second HPDE as long as all of your stock parts are in working order, tires have enough tread, pads enough life, other various parts. Stock is the best thing for a newbie on the track work on being smooth, learning the line, and listening to the instructor they can teach you more than any expensive mod can do for you.

Have fun!

 

and watch your mirrors every now and then!!!