AutoCross Tires

[ralli_art_2010]

Anyone got sugestions on good tires and wheels for autocrossing? Just started AutoX and loving it. Just want to get a bit more grip.

[MasterBlaster]

A lot depends on what you want to do class wise.

Unfortunately we're stuck with some skinny stockers. I've heard of people squeezing a 235 on the stock wheels but it's not easy, so 225 is probably the widest without mounting drama. In a stock class you can run slicks but If you're just starting out, jumping to slicks is probably not the best move. They're not cheap either.

You can buy wider wheels to use if you want, and go wider with tires. The wider wheels bump you into STU (for street tires) and Street Prepared if you want to run slicks. I think the widest allowed for AWD in STU is a 245.

For a street tire I love the Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec's. I ran them on my old car and they were just awesome. I let people fun run in my car and they were amazed at the grip for street tires. There are always other "hot" street tires, more often than not it's one of the Bridgestone's. For slicks it comes down to how much you want to spend and, in the case of our stock wheels, limited options. Last time I looked there weren't a lot of 225/**/18 slicks to be had. Personally I'm just gonna run street tires this season on the stockers. I may jump to STU next year, just so I can play with suspension stuff, but I'm not sure. Having had a BSP classed STi, I honestly don't think the RA can be up to that level without a retarded amount of money dumped in, which I'm not going to do.

[MTZL]

Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec's

http://car.blogs.com/racing_tire_guide/images/2008/04/13/dunlop_direzza_sport_z1_views.jpg

OR

BF Goodrich KDW

http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires/bfg/bfg_gforce_ta_kdw2_ci1_l.jpg

Both great tires but expensive.

[GAbOS]

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=Ecsta+XS

Kumho Ecsta XS


As with the Star Spec above, both of these tires will keep you just above the tire marker in Solo. It's a toss up between the two really as far as overall performance. The Kumho's are cheaper and the choice I will be going with this season.

225/40/18 (I'm running DST) for around $148 a pop.

[Jackal]

I am sticking with my Cooper Zeon tires, cheaper and stickier.

[ralli_art_2010]

Thanks for the feed back.. also looking for extra wheels to put the tires on so i can keep my stock for daily driving... any suggestions on that?

[GAbOS]

Depends on what class you plan on running.

If you have any power mods on the car, you are already out of Stock and in Street Prepared.

Stock, I would use the OEM wheels since you are limited to OEM size only and get new rims for daily driving.

Street prepared allows anything you can fit safely under your car. :) The lighter, the better.

[MasterBlaster]

If you have any power mods on the car, you are already out of Stock and in Street Prepared.

I wouldn't go so far to say any power mods. You can do a few things and still stay in STU, tire width limit is 245. You can have a STU tune done as long as you don't up the boost. Intake is ok and as long as you have a cat (it can be hi-flow) and 02 sensors you can do just about anything else to the exhaust. Of course both of those options would need a tune, but again, you can have a tuner set it so you're still STU legal. Plus you can still play with all the suspension bits in ST classes.

I would also say for stock class finding another set of wheels to daily drive, or another set of OEM wheels for the autox tires, would be the easiest. I searched around for a lighter option in stock size but nobody seems to put out anything with the right offset to stay in DS. Custom made obviously, but that's way too much money to dump in a set of 18x7's IMO.

[GAbOS]

Well, being that STU inst a Stock class, sure. :)

I'm finding the Ralliart to be a true competitor in Stock. Using PAX I was only about a second off STI's maxed out under the stock rule sheet and I was bone stock, only messing with tire pressures. They tires alone will gain you about a second. That being said, I plan on tires and a custom alignment this season. That with the new axle back and drop in Cosworth to aid in spool, I plan on really being a surprise this year. I still haven't decided if I will go with the front anti-roll bar yet with as pushy as the car is as is, but if I can get my hands on a second set of OEM Shocks/Struts I will definitely be sending them to someone to get re-valved.

Lets see if we cant keep a running book on Solo this year. Setup tips and tricks from everyone would be killer. I've been doing a lot of talking with other AWD runners trying to figure out what toe to go with front and rear and keep it a daily driver. I've got an event in about a month and will let you know what I go with and how that turns out.

[GAbOS]

Was just looking over STU rules. Interesting stuffs.

They allow for ECU tunes, Springs (no coil over replacements), full exhaust (header back, must retain Cat and O2 Sensor), and intake changes up to MAF.

Camber kits are allowed as well as fender rolling as long as the fenders are not stretched.

Strut bars, ARB's front and back, and bushings are open.

Sounds like a neat middle ground to SPrep. I'll keep an eye out on the STU times this season to see how reasonable it would be to move to it and still be competitive.

http://www.scca.com/documents/2011%20Tech/2011%20SCCA%20Solo%20Rules.pdf

[MasterBlaster]

Yeah ST classes are good stuff if you want to mod more and stick with street tires. Kinda a trade off, modding ability and wider tires vs. 99.9% sock with slicks. I really think with slicks the RA can do very well in DS, at least in PAX. In STU I think with the allowed mods, legal tune and the right setup, it has potential. Still rough to go up against well setup STU STis/Evos though.

If you go for alignment be sure to post up what's possible. From what I gather camber in the rear is pretty much not adjustable with the stock hardware. I've seen some say up front you can get decent negative camber and some say you can't at all. In my STi I had zero toe all around, -2 camber up front and -1.5 rear. Helped quite a bit. I know that kind of camber up front isn't possible with the stock bolts on most any car, but hopefully we can get at least -1 up front.

Another region an hour away has found a lot to use, so it looks like I'll be able to get 2 events in a month now. Unless their lot isn't worth the trip, I'll see Sunday. Last month was the first event for my region this season, and the first in my RA. Still managed 11th in Pax out of 38, 17th in RAW times. We always have at least 3 F125 Karts too, kinda makes a lot of the older car drivers mad when the kart times are thrown in with ours lol.

[GAbOS]

I'm hearing a little neg toe in the rear will help a lot with rotation in stock form since I'm pushing pretty bad. I'll let you know what I end up with and how it reflects in my PAX times compared to last years.

[vplukas101]

i have BF Goodrich KDW and i love every turn i take