That has been my train of thought as well. Wider is almost always better. I have some thinking to do and there is a set of 17x9.5 Weds in stock right now...

I really would like to do some true - A/B testing. Not only with me behind the wheel, but other very competent NRSCCA National champ/Podium drivers behind the wheel to see if the results end up the same between driver to driver. Same day - not a massive course that one could replicate runs over and over - etc.

However on the other hand, this last year has been testing after testing for me. Literally. 4 different alignments. Driving on 4 different 200tw tire setups this year hasn't helped me gain confidence in my car. There's definitely something to be said about that. I really feel like I just need to leave things alone and simply DRIVE it. The urge to tinker and try new things is VERY hard to say no to.

 

My thinking here is if you can bring enough heat quickly enough for the given tire width, it is not too wide. Also, if your tires get to be way too hot after half the run (about 30 sec, typically) and become greasy and loose traction, you need more tire. Smile

Do you think you would be able to go faster with tweaking the car setup a bit more or that nut behind the wheel? Smile

 

I would think there would be some tweaks left as there are still some higher hanging fruit to grab:

1. I don't have all bushings replaced - just the more important ones.
2. Could probably drop a little weight off the front with some titanium/aluminum piping/strut bar/etc. $$$$$
3. Search for more power / more aggressive tune. I'm running a very conservative tune.
4. I may send off the coilovers to get looked over and re-valved. I FEEL like I could use more low speed compression as it very much feels softer up front than my JRZ's did.
5. I've not even put a pyrometer on the tires this year. Probably should do that to make sure my alignment settings are as close to optimal as possible.

Other than that - not much left I could do to this car. I feel like I left a good amount of time out there on day 2 - which was nothing related to the car so much, as it was the driver.

 

For me the lowest hanging fruit is almost certainly springs rates (and shock revalve). I'm at around 550lbs (10k) front and 600lbs (11k) rear which I think is almost half the spring rate some of you run.

Beyond that I could also do all the bushings and switch out things like my heavy ETS Widemouth Intercooler for the much lighter Blitz.

Other than that I'm really happy with the tune/power and the balance of the car. For me it's 90% driver mod left to do where my time will be found.

 

First off, great driving!

Is this the former Luster/Hale car that they have? I should have bought that when it was for sale so I could push it into a lake

I've been running square 265-18s this year and debating whether I want to get everything sorted out to run 285s. It's a really interesting datapoint that the winning car was on 255-17s.

Are you comparing the 295-255-18 setup you run to 255-17s? Or 285-18, or 265-18?

The way I've been justifying the 265-18 setup so far:
* Pro: they can be rotated for better tire life
* Pro: better gearing for national style courses. With the boost, etc allowances we are not as down on torque to the STis as we would have been previously so having the taller tire helps and shouldn't give much up in the acceleration department.
* so far, even on 90 degree days I've been able to get the tires cool enough with some thorough (turn the steering wheel, coat the tire, turn it again, coat the rest) spraying.
* not sure if pro or not, but possibly easier to build a setup around square tires than staggered? I dunno, the Civics, etc don't seem to have a problem with it.

 

Thank you, sir!

Yes, this is the old Hale car (wasn't really around/paying attention to who else owned it).

My setup I used at nationals was the following:
18x11 - 295 A052
18x10 - 285 RE71RS

 

Had 2 local autocrosses this weekend to take out my frustration/aggression this past weekend.

Last run of the day - one of the front A052's just disinigrated. I'm really wondering if this was a fatal flaw of the tire itself or if it was due to me simply locking up (albeit VERY briefly). These tires were almost brand spanking new - with less than 15 runs on them:

Pictures:






Video:

 

wtf

 

Wow that's insane. Just looking at the tire I'd think you locked up on the grippiest surface imaginable for a LONG time. The area surrounding the gash is pretty worn down too. Crazy

 

OK - my memory sucks. ON my first run out - I had a nasty slide at the finish. We deal with a lot of loose gravel on this lot. I laid on the brakes too hard and this is probably what either did it or began the early stages of it. I DIDN'T check the front tires until I removed them for the day.

I do remember that turning left to right - there was a weird dead spot - which was probably the cording/missing rubber....

Video of 1st run:

 

This by far, is the most abrasive surface I compete on. It's hard to even desribe how much wear the tires have after 12 runs this weekend. I probably would only get like 4X runs out of set of tires out here. There's a reasoning why I prefer going to Lincoln instead!

 

I did local-level AutoX events in my Evo with both 255 + 17s and 265 + 18s. This was several years ago and the tires had different wear levels, so I still don't have an accurate comparison.

However, I do remember that car felt slower to accelerate in a straight line on the 18s / 265s. Enough that I noticed it immediately on my 1st run out. The 265 combo heavier, but it's also a slightly taller tire. A 285/30R18 setup would be the shortest effective gearing of all of the options, but also the heaviest.

Lateral grip was marginally better on the 265s, as to be expected. I noticed this most on courses with long sweepers, which is a necessary feature in some of our local locations. The 265s also had incrementally better heat management, which also isn't surprising.

Unfortunately I can't tell you one way or another, other than to say that I eventually decided I preferred the 265s for my local courses on mostly a gut feeling. Our local lots and course designers are fairly good at making sure pure power cars don't have a huge advantage, so the benefit of better sweeper performance outweighed any straight line acceleration benefits for me.

The car does feel slightly more responsive on the 17s and glued to the ground on the 17s when comparing back to back, but maybe some of that can be tuned out with suspension changes.

Now what we really need is for someone to make a great 275/35R17 for us.

 

Appreciate the insight!

Yeah - even going from the 265/10" setup to this 295/285 combo - there's most definitely a reduction in straightline speed. If I wasn't allowed to know what wheel/tire setup was on my car prior to taking a run, I can guarantee I'd be able to tell right from the first pull onwards - it was that much of a difference.

I REALLY want to try the 17x10" / 255 combo. At the same time I know at some point I gotta just leave my wheel/tire setup be and simply drive it. I made way too many tire changes throughout this year, but I definitely believe it was worth trying all of the big 200TW tires.

 

I think I will stick with 285s mainly because those are the shortest of all the other viable options that are out there. Effect of extra rotational weight will be slightly decreased with shorter diameter. At least in theory!

 

I dont know much about STi's but I see their gears are shorter. I used to watch Hale shift 2-3-2-3 AWD drifting that thing.
i'm also sticking with 285s because I'm clearly faster on them. I'm on E85 tho