Help? I'm looking for a set of competition tires when I track my 355. I have not been able to find a brand that has the 225/40 R-18 front and 265/40 R-18 rears. Does anyone know a brand that has the sizes or what tire size options run well? I will be getting new rims so I could upgrade to 19" if that is a help. There was not a combination through tire Rack that had similar diamiters to the original tires. Thanks for the help.
You do not need to stick to that tire size. I have run as big as 245 645 18 front and 305 660 18 rear. I could do 315 as well. If you do occasional track use the rubber will be spent by age before you wear it out. So you may as well buy them as you need them and burn them out in a couple of track days and run DOT race tires like a yoko advan, kumho, v710, toyo RA-1 which happens to work very well at full tread depth for the time when you sign up and it rains.
Are you looking for track only tires and switching wheels for street driving? The BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KD's come in the proper sizes. Very good street tire, and popular for track use. Nothing will match a full race tire though. I wouldn't recommend going to larger diameter wheels for track use. Handling will suffer, and tire options are terrible.
Thanks for the input. My thought was to get a seperate set of tires and rims for track days. I have Michelin Pilots for the street right now but have previously liked the grip track tires gave me when I ran Corvettes and Camaros. The competitions stuck like glue. Does a BF Goodrich come close to a track tire or is it similar to a Michelin Pilot, any idea? Tire Rack rated the grip as similar in thier reviews I thought.
355PZ, I have never driven on the new BFG KDW's (which I presume is what you meant), so I have no experience to speak of there. However, I have run Michelin Pilots, from the old MXX3's to the current gen Pilot Sports. IMHO, these are very sticky street tires. Once on the track, however, they cannot be "abused" like R-compound rubber, lest you like their "slickness". Turn-in gets to be somewhat vague once the tires are hot, and while I can live with that in a pinch, I prefer to run the R-compounds (Hoosiers, Pilot Sport Cups, or Kumhos if you're on a budget) because they stay consistent longer at track pace.
i just checked today at my local town fair tire- toyo ra1 - 305/35-18 same OD as stock. close to 500 a tire. front a bit cheaper. treadwear 100 a a a bit better than typical dot copm rubber. i just tried yoke a048 on my amg for a track day there were great. but they dont have 265/40 or 285/35, 295/35 size.
