Tire help.

[converted]

Ok so i have a 12 ss and a 13 boss. I auto-x once a month. The ss i awesome in the grip department. We have some suspension mods coming later to help a little with handling. The tire question is more related to the boss tho. (Ford forums suck!!) question is if i go from a factory stagger using a tire like pirelli, to a squared set up of a tire like bfg rivals or full on race slicks. Will going just a little bit smaller hurt the tire so bad that it would not be worth it? My factory rears are a 295/??-19 and i can find stock gt wheels in 18 and 17 all day long pretty cheap but they are a little bit width restrictive. So i guess im wondering what the opinion is if i was to try say an 18x8 ish wheel with either a bfg rival or full race slick do you guys think it would stick and handle better than stock wheels with summer tires such as pirelli p-zeros?

[Dr. Evil]

Where race tires help most is on the front end. Turn in is yesterday with Hoosiers, especially if you dial in a bit of negative camber.
You should be able to find a set of 8.5 wide wheels for the rear and run a 275 out back. More tire usually helps but a properly staggered setup can work great too depending on the drivers style and abilities.

[converted]

Thanks for the reply. I agree with your assessment. However i am not so much trying to cure understeer as i am looking for a solution to no traction out back. My understeer is very manageable and will only improve with better and better tires. I just cannot get any rear grip and want to square out to like 18x10's with around a 295 all round but untill i can save enough$$ i am wondering if some cheap wheels and awesome tires even though a little narrower may still improve track capability?

[TBone]

I will first leave this here for your perusal...
http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=295369

Next I will say you at least have one advantage in the "Stang and that is a smaller diameter rim will give you more options.

I think the wider the better and am of the opinion of doing it right the first time, even though my budget does not always let me.

You have not said if these will be track only rims/tires but if they are I would get the lightest and fatest rim/tire combo I could with the stickyest tire possible.

Check the wheel/tire section as there are some folks who have other reviews up about their AutoX/Road course rim/tire combo's.

There was also recently a major magazine that just did a review on all of the latest tires but I can not remember which one( I think it was HOT ROD but not sure).
Edit: found it...http://www.hotrod.com/feature_storie...ar_tires_test/

I run Michelin Pilot Super Sports because I need to drive to the track and I really like them.

T.

[TLSTWIN]

18" is probably bthe best & most common. DO NOT go to a narrow tire you actually want to stay around a 10 or 11 inch wheel.

A smaller diameter rim helps in multiple ways. it is unsprung weight..... oh man is this a BIG deal.

[JOHNSONROD]

just put better tires on the rear for now and save up for a light square setup that you will love. focus on seat time with those better rears. i force myself to use up what i have now to justify buying newer/better. i want to upgrade my rear tires but the ones i have have like 4 more track days in them at least.
im finishing my safety gear this winter and 2014 is all about as much track time as i can get. there are scca and nasa racers that are faster than me in a slower car. this means i need seat time. im fast against average joes but in a race group im just middle of the road.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by converted

Ok so i have a 12 ss and a 13 boss. I auto-x once a month. The ss i awesome in the grip department. We have some suspension mods coming later to help a little with handling. The tire question is more related to the boss tho. (Ford forums suck!!) question is if i go from a factory stagger using a tire like pirelli, to a squared set up of a tire like bfg rivals or full on race slicks. Will going just a little bit smaller hurt the tire so bad that it would not be worth it? My factory rears are a 295/??-19 and i can find stock gt wheels in 18 and 17 all day long pretty cheap but they are a little bit width restrictive. So i guess im wondering what the opinion is if i was to try say an 18x8 ish wheel with either a bfg rival or full race slick do you guys think it would stick and handle better than stock wheels with summer tires such as pirelli p-zeros?

I didn't see this until it got moved into the forum for all the dedicated corner-carvers.

I pulled up the Tire Rack data for 2013 Boss tires and it gives 255/40-19 on 9" front wheels and 285/35-19 on 10" rear wheels as the stock sizes.

Unless you're specifically planning to run in F-Street/F-Stock, you might as well plan your wheel size & width for whatever class you might end up in, or for what you might want to run on the big tracks if that's a possibility. ESP is arguably the best place for an "unstock" Mustang, and that gives you a bit of latitude with respect to wheel sizes. Terry Fair (Vorshlag) has a 18x11 Forgestar fitment that you could legitimately run tires as small as 275/40 on . . . or 295/35-18 BFG Rivals for that matter. There are a couple of caveats - front and rear 11" wide wheels are different offset, and you'll need some minimum amount of negative camber that might be tire-specific for actual tire dimensions. He even has an 18x11/18x12 package.

I wouldn't even think of looking at anything narrower than 10" here, and probably not below 9.5" for street-only driving any more. These cars aren't all that much lighter than the 1LE or Z/28 so you shouldn't expect to be able to successfully run rims that are too much narrower without leaving too much on the table.

Michelin Pilot Super Sports
Hankook RS-3
BFG Rival

are three of the tires I'm looking at mainly for HPDE and for either 18x10.5 or 18x11 wheels, for the car in my avatar. for the upcoming season.

Terry Fair and Sam Strano (stranoparts.com) are probably the top two vendors I'd contact for wheel and tire recommendations for autocrossing, Terry being a good bit more involved with running on the big track.


Norm

[Dr. Evil]

I dont think the Boss runs in F Street but if you plan to run stock sizes a guy in our region runs a 2011 GT with the stock 18 x 8s and has a set of 275 Dirrezas shoehorned onto them for a square setup. He has a lot of success with his set up and isnt new at this. Either way with the 200 treadwear rule coming I dont think it'll matter much because either way you are going to be into tire spin with just about any setup. Obviously more tire, more contact patch and stickier helps but in stock form you have enough power to overpower the tires either way so making sure the car can put down power is key.