Poor man's gear change 3.xx-3.55

[DarkneSS]

Catman and I both run this set up and I haven't seen anyone else run it so I figured I'd make this video. Catman ran his best times yet with this set up too. I'm sure for many of you this is information you already know but I'm also sure there are people who may not be up on this information.

Our V6 cars need all the help they can get so this should be useful for almost everyone.

[rtcat600man]

I completely agree with Darkness. We discussed this back and forth a few times on the benefit of running a different tire size which simulates a gear change.

I posted below a photo from my spread sheet of my last three trips to the track. The first two were on my current street tires. The last date is with the drag radials (smaller dia. tires) The times are the best 3 from each date averaged together. I then ran those times thru the DA calculator to get an equalizer due to the differences in weather conditions.

[OOLIE]

Yep running 27 inch diameter instead of 28.5. With my 18 lb rims makes a big difference. I don't have issues with nannie's though. I add 3mph to about 40, 4mph to about 60mph then about 5 at 80. Your right about the additional mileage but I don't worry about it the car drives grat and I love it. Also lowering spring help close the gap so the tire doesn't look smaller, but combo does make the car much lower. I am about 2.5-3 I Che's below stock. Car handles great though I just hate speed bumps and cringe a little when I see them lol

[DarkneSS]

Originally Posted by OOLIE

Yep running 27 inch diameter instead of 28.5. With my 18 lb rims makes a big difference. I don't have issues with nannie's though. I add 3mph to about 40, 4mph to about 60mph then about 5 at 80. Your right about the additional mileage but I don't worry about it the car drives grat and I love it. Also lowering spring help close the gap so the tire doesn't look smaller, but combo does make the car much lower. I am about 2.5-3 I Che's below stock. Car handles great though I just hate speed bumps and cringe a little when I see them lol

Wait what? What rim and exact tire size are you running?

[KMPrenger]

Originally Posted by DarkneSS

Wait what? What rim and exact tire size are you running?

OOLIE is running them on all four corners. If you run a bigger diameter up front than the rear, thats what sets off all the craziness you are getting.

But even so, it is a great option for a temporary drag setup.

[OOLIE]

Actually I have them staggered somewhat. I did 225/50 on front and 255/45 on back. The key is keeping overall diameter close. Fronts are 26.9 inches and backs are 27.1. No problems at all. I am also on 18 inch rims.

[DarkneSS]

Originally Posted by KMPrenger

OOLIE is running them on all four corners. If you run a bigger diameter up front than the rear, thats what sets off all the craziness you are getting.

But even so, it is a great option for a temporary drag setup.

Ahhh don't ask me why I forgot that. As part of an earlier test I bought cheap 245/45/18s in the bronx for $200 total mounted and balanced and ran my car with those, mainly to make sure I'd still be in third with 40 DRs. Fresh off an hour highway drive I went right into the staging lanes and right into a run and trapped 101.5. 60' was terrible but I knew it would be.

For some reason I remember my computers being off when I ran 45s on all corners but I think Im obviously mistaken.

Originally Posted by OOLIE

Actually I have them staggered somewhat. I did 225/50 on front and 255/45 on back. The key is keeping overall diameter close. Fronts are 26.9 inches and backs are 27.1. No problems at all. I am also on 18 inch rims.

Yeah looks like keeping the sidewall within +-5 is the key. I still wouldn't want my speedo off permanently =o But its only 5 extra miles for every hour of highway driving so % wise its really not too bad. If you do a lot of highway it could become a problem.

['11CamaroLS]

now i believe i asked vince before, but i think he can alter the speedomoter to read correct. so wouldnt that get rid of the error in mileage? theres an SS vert on here that went with 18's and smaller diamater tires and lowered to not have a huge wheel gap. i think his idea was for losing weight. which is another bonus to this mod if you run daily, its always a good idea for us to lose some weight. thats the biggest reason i stuck to 18's.

[DarkneSS]

Originally Posted by '11CamaroLS

now i believe i asked vince before, but i think he can alter the speedomoter to read correct. so wouldnt that get rid of the error in mileage? theres an SS vert on here that went with 18's and smaller diamater tires and lowered to not have a huge wheel gap. i think his idea was for losing weight. which is another bonus to this mod if you run daily, its always a good idea for us to lose some weight. thats the biggest reason i stuck to 18's.

Yeah it is possible to recalibrate the car. That will adjust the speed and mileage. Only draw back is that your RPMs will be higher through all gears, BUT that is exactly what happens if you add gears anyway. And for the 1,000th time you can always just go back to the stock tune.

Can someone ask Vince about this? I'd literally just get a tune for this so I can drive around with radials for more than just the track.

And yes! Rotational mass is very important. They say every pound on your wheel/rim/tire set up is roughly multiplied times 8. So an extra 100 pounds on your rim set up is equivalent to adding like 800 pounds to your car.

The MTs I use are only 25 bs and 1LT rims are 23 lbs. So 48lbs total is nice savings compared to like about 60 for a stock 20 + Pirelli tire.

[OOLIE]

Originally Posted by '11CamaroLS

now i believe i asked vince before, but i think he can alter the speedomoter to read correct. so wouldnt that get rid of the error in mileage? theres an SS vert on here that went with 18's and smaller diamater tires and lowered to not have a huge wheel gap. i think his idea was for losing weight. which is another bonus to this mod if you run daily, its always a good idea for us to lose some weight. thats the biggest reason i stuck to 18's.

Do you still have ls rims if so they are very heavy and work against you if you were to do this. It will still help but the heritage rims are like 33 lbs vs rs are like 22 or 23lbs. Just another aspect to consider. I dropped my rim weight to 18lbs per rim, my tire weight by 3lb a tire, and shrunk the overall diameter and all three work very well together.

Yeah I would be interested if Vince calibrate speedo as well

['11CamaroLS]

no i dont use my heritage steelies, i switched to Motegi Racing wheels. 18in by 8 in and only like 22 lbs. so i dropped like 44 lbs. i was considering getting SS 20's but that would add more weight to my car then i was at with the steelies

[DarkneSS]

Originally Posted by OOLIE

Do you still have ls rims if so they are very heavy and work against you if you were to do this. It will still help but the heritage rims are like 33 lbs vs rs are like 22 or 23lbs. Just another aspect to consider. I dropped my rim weight to 18lbs per rim, my tire weight by 3lb a tire, and shrunk the overall diameter and all three work very well together.

Yeah I would be interested if Vince calibrate speedo as well

Yeah dude! Someone's gotta look into this!

Originally Posted by '11CamaroLS

no i dont use my heritage steelies, i switched to Motegi Racing wheels. 18in by 8 in and only like 22 lbs. so i dropped like 44 lbs. i was considering getting SS 20's but that would add more weight to my car then i was at with the steelies

Yeah the only good thing about the 20s is that you can run a much wider tire. Our cars can fit 315s without any modification. However a 245-275 is PLENTY for us.

There are cars running high 11s with sub 2.0 60' running 245-265 tires. anything above a 275 is overkill on our cars IMO.

[OOLIE]

Sent an email to Vince. I guess wait and see

[OOLIE]

Got an email from Vince and he is going to send me a tune to calibrate.