racing rims and wheel

[Sleeper_08]

Not a bad tire...but they are older tech and according to Nitto IIRC they are being phased out as the Nt01 is gonna be taking their place.

Thanks. That probably explains why there are lot more sizes available in the NT01s.

 

[SD07GT]

Not a bad tire...but they are older tech and according to Nitto IIRC they are being phased out as the Nt01 is gonna be taking their place.

Is there that much of a difference between a 35 to a 40 series ? I was going to put on some 275-40-18 but I see Nitto has 35 series now in the NT01 @ NT05 ?

 

[SoundGuyDave]

The only reason that I would run the 35 profile on the street would be to avoid having to swap tunes around over and over again to keep the speedo correct. Mine's not a DD by any means, but I do drive to and from the track, and no, I would NOT run R-comps on the street... One other thing to think about: What happens at the track if it rains, and all you have are R-comps? With street rubber, you can still be out there.

The Hoosiers that I'm now running for track rubber are 275/35-18, so ideally, I would like to see some street rubber in the same size, preferably with a high wet-weather performance! In the dry, the Hoosiers will smoke anything made for the street, so...

 

[marksti]

What happens at the track if it rains, and all you have are R-comps? With street rubber, you can still be out there.

The Hoosiers that I'm now running for track rubber are 275/35-18, so ideally, I would like to see some street rubber in the same size, preferably with a high wet-weather performance! In the dry, the Hoosiers will smoke anything made for the street, so...

Coming from a guy that does track days on 300+ threadwear tires

I know you can run r comps on the street..you do have to be hardcore tho.

R6s are great...but lookin at the cost for a second set of wheels/tires and the hassle of luggin them around in the car/swappin them it doesn't make alot of sense for many lower level/hpde drivers vrs r compounds.

No question slicks are faster...but they aren't for everyone IMHO.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

You will see gains from running r6s vrs r compounds sure...BUT for the cost/extra time spent and the level of driving..slicks aren't the answer for alot of HPDE cars IMHO.

I assume we are talkin hpde type stuff??

Now its another matter if you trailer the car to the track...or drive it in a comp group it maybe another story.

Where we live in Cali it one of the perks being able to run r compounds on the street BTW

I agree 100% with you on the R6 not being "necessary" for HPDE type activities, it's way over the top and drives the cost-per-mile up considerably. But.. I'm running Time Trials (TTB), and between the competition all being on Hoosiers, and Hoosier themselves with the contingency sponsorship... Well... It's kind of a "cost of admission" item.

I hear you about the California weather, and I'm envious... I ran five track events this year that had rain as a component, and it does separate the boys from the men. At Road America, we also had fog going into turn one so thick that you needed to spot the corner worker's station 800' from corner entry to predict where the distance markers would start.... Talk about a blind entry, at 125MPH (down from 148)! Never mind the standing water in The Kink. That day, I failed to put on my "big girl panties" and kind of sat out the last few sessions. I will admit, I'm awful in the wet, but that was still beyond pucker-inducing. Part of it was the fact that my street rubber was completely worn out, but in the end, I still suck in the wet.

I do drive to/from the track, and my plan for next year is to get some good wet-weather street tires (any suggestions???), and tow the Hoosiers on a little tire trailer behind the Mustang. The trailer is being delivered today, and I was working on the hitch install last night. Typically, issues arose! The hitch interferes BADLY with both the GT/CS fascia (I knew that would happen, and I'll have to trim the fascia to fit), but it also will NOT clear the Flowmaster mufflers, either. I'm throwing the stockers on for this weekend, but it looks like I'll have to go from a chamber-style muffler to a cannister-type for the October meets. I'm just really afraid of what it will sound like with long-tubes and no cats. The Flowmasters are loud enough (great tone, though!), I just don't want it any louder...

 

[Random Asshole]

It will sound awesome with a pypes mid muffler system. Hell I got mine off right now to allow me to run my 18s for the rest of the year, you can borrow it if you want as a gesture to thank you for the shock I borrowed.. Just set aside plenty of time to get it to fit correctly, lol. Seriously though.

I was thinking about one of those transverse mounted stage thingies for next year. You know those "tiny trailers with no wheels." They look just big enough to fit some tires. That is if I can remove/install the hitch quickly enough.

Oh and as far as good wet weather tires, Dunlop star specs wouldn't be a bad suggestion. They beat the ecsta xs's for best overall tire simply because of the difference of wet weather grip. But the ecstas had the fasted dry times.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

I may just take you up on the Pypes.... Are you running cats?

The hitch is pretty much a "bolt it on and LEAVE IT kind of deal... The receiver, though, comes off with a clip and a pin, so that would be easy enough to pull at the track. Having that much weight cantilevered behind the car (set of four tires and rims would be about what? 160lbs or so?) may pose issues given the load on the rear suspension, particularly if you've got a full trunk (tools, spare brake parts, fuel jugs, fluids, partridge, pear tree, kitchen sink, etc.).

Also, thanks much for the tip on the *specs! I'll take a hard look at those!

 

[Random Asshole]

I run high flow cats, but it was still only like 2 or three notches away from your car. Maybe we could "engineer" a way to get your resinators in line with the pypes canisters. We might be able to cut up your stock exhaust. To be perfectly honest, after all the BS I was dealing with this pypes exhaust to get it to fit correctly, I was thinking about getting something like straight pipes for the axle back section and just putting the pypes canisters in the stock exhaust. The only issue that could come up is is clearance with the driveshaft and rear end.

 

[DusterRT]

I run high flow cats, but it was still only like 2 or three notches away from your car. Maybe we could "engineer" a way to get your resinators in line with the pypes canisters. We might be able to cut up your stock exhaust. To be perfectly honest, after all the BS I was dealing with this pypes exhaust to get it to fit correctly, I was thinking about getting something like straight pipes for the axle back section and just putting the pypes canisters in the stock exhaust. The only issue that could come up is is clearance with the driveshaft and rear end.

I vote splice in the M-80 mufflers on the stock tails and get some sort of muffler delete setup. I positively love the sound of my mid-mufflers and get complements on the sound constantly, but it was a bitch to fit; after 4 hours of rolling around on the ground I gave up and took it to a shop; and after that I've been back twice trying to get the over-axle pipes to stop making contact with the axle. I'm very, very close to ripping it all out and trying out some KR mufflers or something..only thing stopping me is how much I like the sound, and the fact that I threw out my stock over-axle pipes..

 

[SoundGuyDave]

Man, that sounds like an awful lot of work for a temp fix... Much appreciated, but I think I'll start working with something like the FR500 muffs, and see what that gets me. Running without cats, I get a LOT more noise heading downstream, and my resonators are welded in, so...

 

[DusterRT]

Are the FR and KR mufflers the same? I thought I read that somewhere but I don't think it was confirmed..

 

[SoundGuyDave]

M-5230-S is for the FR500S, AND for the GT500KR. Jury is still out about net noise level, though...

 

[Kaldar142]

whats wrong dave? dont like it loud?

 

[SoundGuyDave]

Welllll....... not exactly. I'm an audio engineer, and make my living with my ears, so I need to keep hearing conservation at the forefront (yeah, yeah, "if it's too loud..." I know). That said, I'm also over 40, and have no patience for stupid-loud exhaust for no reason at all. We all know that deleting the cats and going to high-flow muffs will gain you MAYBE 5 HP on the dyno, so there is no correlation between exhaust noise and power gain. That said, I DO like a nice sounding exhaust, and I was very pleased with what I had before: Offroad H pipe, SPL resonators just after the midpipe joint, and the Flowmasters. I got my stock mufflers on today, and it sounds like my car's had a "lopitoffome," in that it sounds like it has no balls at all. I'm just afraid of dumping $500-800 on a set of cannister-type mufflers, only to find that they sound like a cherry bomb on a Civic... Much to my chagrin, I have not heard an FR500S in the flesh, but would love some impressions on just idle and low-load volume from the exhaust from someone who has, since those mufflers are high on my list of possibilities.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

Okay, I finally got back from Putnam Park, and what a weekend it was! Started off on a crappy note, since my trailer came with an improperly filled out "Certificate of Origin," so I couldn't get plates for it... Then the tire dealer called, and said that they couldn't get my Hoosiers, so sorry, have a nice day... I wound up having a buddy volunteer to go to the original tire dealer to grab my rims, then haul them to Tire Rack, which is WAYYYY out of the way to the track. Now I have to wire his race car, from scratch, top to bottom. Oh, well, no big deal! Went to Tire Rack, and rain clouds were rolling in, so I wound up getting new street tires while I was waiting for my buddy to come by with the rims. Picked up a set of Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs (275/35-18) and mounted them on the street wheels. My buddy came with the 5zigens, and those had Hoosier rubber wrapped around them. Expensive day.

At the track, all I can say is HOLY SHIT!!!! TWICE!!!! After the worn-out 300 treadwear Nittos, the Dunlops stuck like crazy, and they handled the rain beautifully. For the recommendation, all I can say is "Thanks, ASSHOLE!!!" I owe you some beer! I ran the R6 rubber for one session on Friday, to scrub them in and get the initial heat cycle on them, the put the Dunlops back on for the rest of the day. Saturday and Sunday, I ran only the Hoosiers, and it's night and day compared to ANY street tire! Very sticky, very predictable, a lot more forgiving than I thought they would be, but I was running under a provisional TT license, which meant NO incidents of any sort: no spins, no offs, no complaints from other drivers. That meant that I was NOT about to explore the limits of the R6s at all. I started 9 seconds off the pace on Saturday, but on Sunday was motoring well enough to take second place, about 3 seconds off, and still in complete control at all times. I'm now done with the provisional, so I have a full license, so next year, look the hell out!!!

The handling of the car has changed completely with the new tires, so I will have to start tuning from scratch. With the worn-out Nittos, I got the car set up (bars, pressures, dampers) to where it was very neutral, with a touch of push on entry, but with the Dunlops, it transitioned to fairly loose in, very poised at center, and a touch loose out. I think a stiffer front bar is called for now, and I'll have to play with pressures to set up for the wet. The car was incredibly easy to rotate with throttle and trail-braking, and it took me most of friday just to get used to that and start being able to drive the damn thing again! The Hoosiers will present a completely new learning curve, so next year I'll be VERY busy working on the dry setup, to maximize what I can get out of them. At first glance, they reacted much like the Dunlops, but there were some subtle differences, and I think I'll be able to get them there with pressures only once I get the chassis setup done for the Dunlops.

It felt fantastic to have real rubber under me at last, and 2010 is going to be a BLAST!!!!

 

[SoundGuyDave]

Oh, I forgot: rim clearances! The 5zigen FN01R-C wheels in +35mm offset easily clear the rear fender, and have NO problems up front at all, and although I haven't fitted them yet, it certainly looks like the Brembo calipers will fit under them in front with no problem.

 

[marksti]

Soundguy...TTA?

 

[Gray Ghost GT]

I remember when I first made the transition from street tires to Hoosier R6 slicks back in 2007 at Watkins Glen, NY. The Hoosiers won't squeel nearly as much as street tires, giving you much less warning when you're at the edge of the tires traction limits. They sure stick and come up to temperature a lot faster, which will require some time (weekend or two) for you to get use to the improved performance these tires provide. Enjoy!

 

[SoundGuyDave]

Marksti: TTB, with a little wiggle room. My Steeda fascia costs me SIX points, even though it's really only cosmetic, so if I go back to stock there, I could do either cams or heads. Carrying a race weight of over 3600lbs means that I have room to grow into the 10.25:1 power-to-weight limit. PM me if you want the whole points list...

Ghost: Thanks for the info! Sounds about right, but I can tell you it'll be a loooonnnngggg winter. Any advice on end-of-season maintenance for the Hoosiers? Take a hacksaw to get the marbles off? They'll be stored in my (finished) basement, so I'm thinking about running the pressures down to around 20psi for storage. Thoughts?

 

[Gray Ghost GT]

Good idea to let the pressure down to 20 psi for winter storage - that's fine.

I recommend purchasing a set of the "Tire Totes" from the Tire Rack - these are very helpful when the tires are placed in a garage where they could be exposed to sunlight, but also look nice if you're going to place them in your finished basement. I usually wipe the tires down at the end of the last session before placing them on the trailer. Don't worry about making them perfectly clean because they will clean up during the first two laps at your next event.

Recommend running 30 psi front and rear initially so you can collect baseline inside and outside temperatures with a Pyrometer, which will give you good information regarding the amount of camber you're using. Hoosier R6s like a lot of negative camber. I run -2.7 degrees on the front of my C5 which gives me even wear and temperatures. I actually run 28 psi with my Hoosiers. You probably already have a good tire pressure gauge - they're priceless at the track.