Autocross: Stock tires vs. *real* street tires

[meicalnissyen]

I have now destroyed my factory 'stones' after about 4-5 solo events, 17K miles and they seemed to do fine. There are 5 MS3 that run in the Houston region with differing setups and classes. The guy I have been running with uses R comps which I will hopefully soon get into. Guys in the other classes (X, STU) are running Direzza Star Specs with good results. I am personally going to buy the Direzzas after reading the reviews and seeing the results.

Tire pressures differ on the driver and conditions. I have been running 39r/36f cold and 40r/37f when the tires heat up. Moving the temps depending on how the car reacts in certain sections of the course. More pressure in the rear will help you rotate, but you need to be aggressive enough to get the initial movement started.

I have personally had what I consider good results with limited SCCA experience. The last event I was third to two guys running slicks (on some bald ASS tires). Can't wait to try it out on some better tires (especially the R comps).

Hope that helps.

You are one of the quick learners, at my clubs novice school there are always one or two that end up beating me at the next event. not that that is hard to do, since I suck, but it does demonstrate the value of the school

Oh, and to avoid a thread jack, I just wanna say that the firehawk ovals need 38 rear and 42 front with a water spay after the second- 3rd run
I just came back from a brooksville run with a 62 second course ftd and my last two runs I could feel the greasiness of the way to hot tire

also, they are just to hard for auto x anyway

 

[joe149]

Ran that autox yesterday - car handled really well - massive understeer only when I left the traction control and stability control ON. Once off, it handled well, the OEM Bridgestones were at 41/37 (f/r). That seemed odd to me, but maybe it was just the way I was driving it.

In speaking with other autox'ers, it seems the Kumho XS is a real possibility for street and autox. Cheap too...
Joe

 

[funksilver07]

Cheap is a relative term, the Kumho XS are running about $169. for a 225/45/18. Dunlop Direzza sport Z1 star spec's are $173 in that size. I'm running the Dunlops right now with good results...

 

[Nliiitend1]

I've got a set of Kumho XS tires that are nearing the end of their usefulness for the street. They've been a great tire, and my only complaint is that they wore a little bit faster than the OEM RE050As (though not by much). They were a great value, but not so great that I won't try out something else next time. I've got my eye on the new RE-11s, but I don't know that I want to spend quite that much...I might end up with either the Star Specs (just because I've yet to try them out on anything) or the new Nitto NT-05s (just because they look pretty promising for the price they command).

 

[Mr_Boom]

I've been running in the Central and South Carolina regions this year (just bought my MS3 in January). I bought the car used with a few mods on it, and instead of going back to stock I just said screw it and went to DSP. Adding the Cobb RSB has helped out a ton, along with running BFG R1's. The stock springs are still killing me...but thats for another day.

A rear MM is something you can do and stay in DS, and I also think you may be able to upgrade the front sway bar (although I doubt this will help with the MS3 as it understeers pretty bad with the stock bar).

It's all in what you want to do. Some people want to win trophies, I just want to go as fast as I can.

 

[H3br3w_Ham3r]

I've been running in the Central and South Carolina regions this year (just bought my MS3 in January). I bought the car used with a few mods on it, and instead of going back to stock I just said screw it and went to DSP. Adding the Cobb RSB has helped out a ton, along with running BFG R1's. The stock springs are still killing me...but thats for another day.

A rear MM is something you can do and stay in DS, and I also think you may be able to upgrade the front sway bar (although I doubt this will help with the MS3 as it understeers pretty bad with the stock bar).

It's all in what you want to do. Some people want to win trophies, I just want to go as fast as I can.

What mod pushed you to DSP? My bypass valve did that for me because that can control boost. Didn't see anything like that in your sig.

 

[Mr_Boom]

Yeah I haven't updated the sig in a while. I've read the rules a couple of times, but I think that all of the following helped to push me to DSP...

- Cobb SF Intake
- Racing slicks, as it states that no racing tire may be used in stock
- Removal of the cats
- Boost controller

On top of this I also switched out the RSB for the COBB model. It's not much to put up a fight in DSP, but I've got a few more mods planned for the future.

 

[H3br3w_Ham3r]

Yeah I haven't updated the sig in a while. I've read the rules a couple of times, but I think that all of the following helped to push me to DSP...

- Cobb SF Intake
- Racing slicks, as it states that no racing tire may be used in stock
- Removal of the cats
- Boost controller

On top of this I also switched out the RSB for the COBB model. It's not much to put up a fight in DSP, but I've got a few more mods planned for the future.

Ya the MS3 does pretty well in DSP. To bad I decided to run a PAX class the last two events. Otherwise I would've won DSP both times. Oh well.... still got 2nd one time and would've had it again had I not hit a cone on my last run. Damn BMW M3 running a B stock PAX is just unfair.

 

[mr. happy]

Yeah I haven't updated the sig in a while. I've read the rules a couple of times, but I think that all of the following helped to push me to DSP...

- Cobb SF Intake
- Racing slicks, as it states that no racing tire may be used in stock
- Removal of the cats
- Boost controller

On top of this I also switched out the RSB for the COBB model. It's not much to put up a fight in DSP, but I've got a few more mods planned for the future.

You're in the right class, but the racing slicks thing is a little off. What you have are R-Compound tires, but they are still DOT certified. True racing slicks have no grooves at all and are not DOT certified. So stock cars can use any DOT certified tire no matter the treadwear. All ST classes have to use treadwear 140 or greater and DOT. SP and SM both have the same tire rules as stock. and then when you go up to Prepared and Modified thats when you get to use the "actual" race rubber.

Still, removing the cats and the boost controller would have to be removed to go to STU, and like you I'd rather just drive the car the way it is and have fun