kermooni

After 12 days of HPDE with Vette, Porche, and BMW club (Since summer of '06), I am ready for track wheels and tires. My C6 has Kooks headers, Corsa Sports, and LPE air intake - add a tune and I got 380+ HP and TQ.

I have four more weekend events coming up this year. I would like to have track tires and wheels and need your input. I know BBS and OZ are excellent choices, but outside of my budget. Should I run slicks this year or wait until next?

Thanks.

gkmccready

CCW http://www.ccwheel.com/

I have the C140s 18x11 front and rear. If I had to do it again I'd probably stick to 18x10 fronts if you don't plan to run AT LEAST -2deg camber up front. (Otherwise they stick out badly.)

Actually, if I had to do it again, I'd probably get C10s, but they weren't ready when I wanted my wheels.

As for whether to run sticky rubber... are you turning consistently good lap times on the street rubber? If you're not consistent on street rubber, you're just going to give yourself bad/worse habits on race rubber.

I like my Toyo R888s for driving to/from events on them... sticky, but not so sticky you can't drive them on the road.

kermooni

Thanks .... But the R888 are designed for -2.5 to -5.0 Camber !!!!

C6400hp

They work great with about -1.3 front and -1.0 rear camber. I get a little outside shoulder wear on the front and need to flip them halfway through their life and on the rear they wear perfectly even.
CCW C10-C14 are the way to go 18X10 and 18X11 with 275/35 front and 305/35 rear toyo RA1 or R888. Totally changes the capabilities of the car.

gkmccready

Exactly. *Any* sticky tire is going to want a lot of negative camber. You're certainly not going to run a Kumho V710 or Hoosier A6/R6 without a bunch of it. :-)

kermooni

Thanks for the advice ... it does not seem like I want to run slicks. Any non-camber requiring set ups? I am unsure how to set camber and am really not sure I want to - quite yet.

C6400hp

Your car has negative camber from the factory! If you are not willing to get a performance alignment by a qualified alignment shop then you probably should stick to street tires. However, if you are willing to get a mild performance alignment like -1 to -1.3 front camber and -.8 to -1.0 rear camber a little toe in on the back like .10* in total, you will benefit greatly from some RA1/R888. They don't **have to** have -2.5 to
-5 they just work a bit better on track if they do. They will work great and much, much better than street tires with the mild alignment setting I've suggested above.
Either way, have fun and be safe out there.

And actually, Kumho V710 only suggest -.5 to -1.5 camber but i would not want to run them on the street much if at all and the RA1 / R888 are a much better compromise for a street driven/HPDE car.

bowmanized

EvilBoffin

Here's an example pic of my '08 Z51 Coupe with CCW C10's in 18x10F/18x11R, and Toyo RA-1's in 275/305 sizes. It's the setup that the other posters are describing. The CCW's are certainly not cheap (about $650 each), but are priced quite competitively with any quality (forged) wheels that will fit our cars.

PLUS - and most importantly - they are designed SPECIFICALLY to FIT our C6's, by a manufacturer that knows Corvettes better then any other car. So, these are NOT just C5 offsets like so many others, which are really not right for a C6. You will also be dealing directly with CCW when you put together your custom order.

I bought this car to use ALL over the place - street, auto-x and HPDE. It was aligned & corner-weighted by the Honorable Mr. David Farmer, and has -1.9 camber front, -1.1 rear. Even with this much camber, I feel no tramlining or nervousness on the street.

The RA-1's are SURPRISINGLY civil on the street - heck, they ride much better then the stock Goodyear F1 Supercar runflats. You can certainly drive to/from events on them without concern. No, they won't turn the lap times of a Hoosier or a slick, but they're CERTAINLY faster then normal street tires. Like the others said, I consider them to be a great compromise 'Tweener' tire - right there in the middle between max performance street tire and all-out race tire.

kermooni

Thanks everyone for the advice and education. I neglected to mention that I just (two weeks ago) put on brand new Mich PS2 tires I love them ... great wet and dry traction, quiet as a mouse, smooth as silk, and did well in my HPDE last weekend. I just am not comfortable beating up $1,800 woth of tire and alignment. The BIR track is famous for wearing your front left tire to threads in no time.

I wanted a set of wheels and tires I could replace in the field, run the track, and switch back B4 driving home. So setting and resetting camber would be a pain - I am a bad Mechanic

Any ideas? For example Kumho ecsta on OEM rims - inexpensive consumables

gkmccready

If you've got something to haul tires you're already hauling a jack. If you call Gary@Hardbar about camber plates and a stud kit switching camber isn't rocket science. Pull four nuts on each side on the upper A-Arms and change the number of washers behind the dog-bones. Reset the toe. Done. You've already got the car up on the jack, anyway. One 17mm socket, two wrenches. Somebody could even set the spacers (washers) and tie-rods up colour-coded for you. :-)