First Impressions: 225/45-17 Azenis

[scapamouche]

First the bad news: they DO rub. Just a little bit, and only in the rear. I just drove the car home from getting them installed, and the rub happens whenever the body shifts on the suspension: under acceleration, or when cornering.

As soon as I got home, I crawled around under the car, but I couldn't see where the rub was happeneing or any marks on the tires. It looks like there is enough wheel gap that what I'm hearing is NOT a fender lip rub, and as far as I can see, the rest of the suspension is clear too, except for the strut itself which I couldn't get a good look at. My suspicion is that the tire is rubbing the body of the shock. Like I said, no marks to show though...

The ride is a bit softer than the RE040s, and the car looks quite good sitting with the new rubber. I'll get some pics together and post them.

This Sunday, I'll be autoxing the car on the new tires, and I'll update my impressions then.

 

[scapamouche]

Here are some small pics of the tires on the car.

 

[DistantTea]

Throw the car around... make a good test for us!

 

[scapamouche]

Don't worry.... I'll get there....

 

[BoOsTiN]

ok first off i have no idea what this is called but....
take a look under the car. On the rear suspension there is a bar that runs front to rear. Sorry thats about as good as my description gets. On my car with stock tires, i can barely squeeze a finger between that bar and the rear tire. Since you have a wider tire my guess is its rubbing there.
Just something to look at.

 

[scapamouche]

Yeah, I took a look at the trailing arm on the rear suspension. There is a SMALL amount of clearance there. More than I was seeing between the tire and strut, though.

 

[scapamouche]

OK, time for an autox update:

Yesterday was my first event on the Falkens, and WOW! What a difference!!! But back to that later...

First the rub: There IS a small rub in the rear tires under load in RIGHT turns only. It sounds the same as I reported before, but no damage to the tire. The actual rub is on the very corner of the inner tread. The rub is NOT on the sidewall. In fact, it looks like it will be reduced or eliminated by wear. This is a good thing...

Now the performance: GREAT!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! The ONLY thing the car needed was traction. I am now competitive with the local STX scene, driving a STOCK car on Falkens against a bunch of modified WRXs. I took second yesterday to an E30 M3 in STX trim, a former CSP champion driver.... I are HAPPY!!!

Tire pressures are VERY important. My first run I used 40psi front and 36 psi rear, and the car was BADLY LOOSE! I went into the first turn, and almost lost the back end! GREAT for a front driver When I raised the pressures to 45psi front and 42psi rear, and stopped overdriving the car, I dropped 5 FULL SECONDS and jumped up to second!!! The pressures were probably a touch high in front: the rollover was not quite to the side marker in front. As usual, the rears didn't do much.

I can now say with reasonable authority that the MSP is the best handling stock car I have EVER driven!!! My best time was a 58.9 sec. FTD was in the high 54s. I will post my PAX score when it is posted.

I also got a chance to drive a '93 MR2 on Kumho Race tires. That was a blast, too!! I highly recommend trying a light weight FWD car with race rubber


There! Happy now, DistantTea?

 

[scapamouche]

One more note: The winner in STS was a P5. Beat me, ran a 58.5!!!!

And I was good for a 58.1 in the MR2. Not bad for a first time ever driving a RWD car in an autox. The owner got a 57.0 on his best run.

 

[MSP Pro]

WOOOO---HOOOOO!!!!!!!

Wonderful news! Man, I can't wait for the next autox. Maybe it'll even be dry around here!

Great drive. I KNEW I was right when I passed up the WRX! What did your friends in the Subies say? How far out in front of them were you?

And do you have the Falkens on the Racing Harts, or did you buy aftermarket wheels?

 

[scapamouche]

Stock wheels...

Here's the link to results: http://www.sfrscca.org/solo2/Results/2003/Championship/round5.html

look in STX... I PAXed 15th overall... I was about.2 faster than the quickest WRX , but about .9 SLOWER then the E30 M3 that showed up

I did a little math: my times in my friend's MR2 would have been good for 9th in PAX!! I like RWD with a small polar moment or rotation

 

[MSP Pro]

Hey Andy! You would have won if you ran street tire class! And that's before the PAX modifier, DS is only .795 and all the guys at the top of Street Tire have PAX numbers of .8 or more.

Of course, winning Street Tire by that much looks pretty lame.... Is it a novice class? Yeah, you should probably stay in STX so you can shoot at that M3 and embarrass all those WRXes! Great driving!

 

[scapamouche]

There was a ProSolo last weekend in Socal, so the REALLY fast people were off doing that instead of the local event. I'll take my time as it is, though...

Plus, I need to practice against STX people if I'm going to drive STX at Atwater in May

 

[scapamouche]

Or something... (rofl)

 

[DistantTea]

Yes I am very happy! We're getting some R compounds and we're going to terrify the D Stock crowd. Now that my break-in (well... what I'm going to say is my break-in period) is over I've really been enjoying the car on a level that my 2001 Audi S4 could never give me.

Mother nature is trying to piss on my wheaties though... 70-60 degrees all week, then for no damn reason its 40 degrees on sunday with a chance of snow... at the end of march? Nature hates me.

 

[scapamouche]

Quick thought: I would have won DS by ALMOST 4 SECONDS had I been running there this last weekend. Admittedly, the really fast DS people here in SFR were down at the Prosolo in Socal, but still! DS has an easier PAX, too!

My problem is I just can't see myself running in DS without R-compounds, and I don't have the money or time to deal with them right now... At least in STX, I can run what I brung, and be decently competitive...