| Author |
Message |
Mark Eberhardt (Me_k)
Member
Username: Me_k
Post Number: 446
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, March 29, 2003 - 4:02 pm: | |
Mike,
I haven�t played the change tires size, wheel offset, and skid pad game with the 308, but I did do it with a porsche and a small formula car and I was just never able to measure a difference, once air pressure and alignment were optimized. A wider tire doesn�t put any more rubber on the ground, the only way to do that is to lower the air pressure. Wider tires do change the shape of the contact patch and increase the surface area of the tire which can both help to control heat on the track. On the street, heat is just not a problem on a sports car. A narrower tire with a contact patch that is longer front to back does a much better job dealing with water on the road and allows you to stop in the rain, which is nice and a big part of way most cars come tires that are not too wide. Personally, I don�t drive in the rain, the roof leaks, I have very wide tires (225 F, 285 R) because they look good.
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Mike Charness (Mcharness)
Member
Username: Mcharness
Post Number: 386
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, March 29, 2003 - 9:32 am: | |
Mark, you don't think having more rubber on the ground "works better" and improves handling? Look at how professional race cars have changed over the years, including Formula 1. "Wider is better" and if you read any material about race driving, heel-and-toe, weight distribution, etc, it's all about keeping good tire patch in contact with the pavement. Adding an extra 3/4" of rubber width by upsizing your tires on stock rims can only help that. I can vouch for it from personal experience of tracking my car for several years on stock sized Z tires and then moving to upsized tires of the same type (Yokohamas)... it DOES make a handling difference.
Tommy: I use 225/50's on the front (yes, the stock rear size) and I use 245/45's on the rear. Keeps the stock wheel height and stock rims but puts some extra rubber on the ground. Of course, I've also now put HR wheels spacers at my rear wheels... again, "wider is better". Of course, that can be taken to an extreme where you start unduly straining your suspension components, but these improvements I've done don't take it that far.
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Dr Tommy Cosgrove (Vwalfa4re)
Member
Username: Vwalfa4re
Post Number: 959
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, March 29, 2003 - 9:23 am: | |
Mike - what size do you recommend? |
Mark Eberhardt (Me_k)
Member
Username: Me_k
Post Number: 445
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, March 29, 2003 - 8:00 am: | |
Wider tires look better IMO, but as far as working better? Well no, not really. The only reason, aside form looks, would be when the type of tire you want is not available in the stock size. |
Mike Charness (Mcharness)
Member
Username: Mcharness
Post Number: 383
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, March 29, 2003 - 6:43 am: | |
Definitely (!) a handling difference by 1-upping your tire size on stock 16" rims. I did the rears first and noticed a good difference at the track. When I did the fronts later the difference was even more noticeable than when I had done the rears, especially when pushing the card hard through corners.
I have driven Tommy's car on the same racetrack, and I can certainly say that those DOT-track tires are astounding.
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Dr Tommy Cosgrove (Vwalfa4re)
Member
Username: Vwalfa4re
Post Number: 957
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 28, 2003 - 9:48 pm: | |
I have always stuck with the factory recommendations with one exception: I bought competition tires for the track that were a bit wider but only because they did not have my factory size in the tire I wanted. |
Dave Shears (Daveshears)
Junior Member
Username: Daveshears
Post Number: 51
Registered: 3-2001
| | Posted on Friday, March 28, 2003 - 6:49 pm: | |
I have read all the threads about tires and tire sizes. It seems that some people stay with oem sizes and others go wider in both the front and rear. Without really taking a vote -what are most of you doing for tire size when you replace them. Do you really think there is a big difference in going to the wider sizes. Thanks in advance. |
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