josh7owens

Hey guys,

My names Josh, I've been racing a S2000/S2000 CR in STR for the last 5 years locally and have done 10 or less national events. I'm looking to prep my new to me C5z for A-Street.

Heres where we are so far:

-Danny Popp is getting the car to do the alignment and corner balance
-Just installed Koni 3013 that came from Strano
-Just installed Stranos 1-5/16 bar on the soft setting

What we still need to figure out?

- Tires? Anything new coming out this year? I don't like the feel of how vague rivals are at the limit, plus I fear they are alittle off pace on concrete in relation to the RS3v2. So as of now I'm thinking 285-18F/305-19R
-Wheels? Maybe Cray Brickyard 18F/19R? I hate to spend $1500 on wheels that probably weight more than the stock ones but with limited tire size options I think this will be the cheapest route.
- exhaust? I have a friend with a corsa extreme and it doesn't seem to crazy loud considering its only the cat-back but I'm not 100% sure it will pass sound nationally? any input?

Shock setting recommendations?

ltborg

Search for my B-Street build thread, that has my Koni shock settings. It was about 3/4 stiff front and 2/3 stiff rear.

I only ever hit low 80 dB at National events with straight pipes from the cats so get whatever cat-back works best for you.

Pretty much everyone is coming out with a new street tire this year, including some that previously didn't have them or were way off pace. That's going to make tires for this year a difficult decision. I'd just chose the ones you like best based on what you have driven and what other uses you'll have for the car and go from there.

My TSW's are 21.6 lbs each which is just a little higher than they quote on their site. I think if you are going up to a 19, you're going to have to deal with a heavier wheel no matter how nice a set you buy.

dhowdy

Were you still running 17/18? Do you think the extra weight (and shorter sidewall) is worth being able to get the RS3v2 in 305 instead of 275 (which is an issue for the wider wheeled z06, not necessarily your car)? I ask because I'm setting my car up very similarly so I'm here for answers as well.

Regarding the shocks, I have my rears a bit softer, which I believe is where Sam told me to start with them. I haven't messed with them, so I can't say which is better, but the car feels very solid to me. I had 8 clicks of adjustability and went with 2.5 rear/6 front.

strano@stranoparts.com

I think 19's in the rear is crazy. They are taller, cost more, and hurt your gearing which is one thing the C5Z has going for it.

You still need to get the rod-end lowers for durability, and a set of adjustable front endlinks (and that needs to happen before you corner the car if you want that right).

Moving to 18" fronts makes more sense as it opens up some more options. And Hankooks dont' like to be squeezed, they work better on wider rims. A 305 on a C6Z is riding on 12's, not 10.5's.

josh7owens

Lane, do you have any pictures of your straight pipe exhaust?

Sam- I'm calling you Friday to pick up the front lower shock mounts and adjustabe endlinks. Gotta get paid first. Lol

One of the locals went 19" in the rear on his C5z and will be running nationals. I guess I'll stick with the 18"/18" setup to start since its a lot cheaper. What tire size combo for RS3s do you recommend?

Danny isn't getting the car till March so we have plenty of time to get everything in order before hand.

troyguitar

What's wrong with the stock exhaust? It's light and cheap.

I have 18/19 brickyards on my car, they weigh 22 and 25 lbs roughly and in my opinion are not worth the added expense and weight. I haven't actually tested it both ways though, so that's just my guess. If I were buying tires now to run AS I'd just run stock 17/18 wheels with 255/285 RS3's. (I was beaten handily by that setup in the one event I made it to last year in my car - but it's not really fair the other guy was also a lot better driver)

talon95

Yea I ran the 255/285 RS3 setup last year and was only .3sec off the lead on Day 1 at Nats. Driver fail and rain knocked me down a bit the 2nd day though (5th overall).

I was looking at the Forgestars for different diameters on my C6Z (18x12 for the rear), but I don't think they make a 18x10.5 from what I can tell. And from what I could gather from other threads, they're maybe only slightly heavier than the OEM rims.

But yea I wouldn't count on a bunch of new sizes becoming available. Could happen, but I doubt it. Bridgestone never has made any. A BFG rep told me last year that the wide 19" sizes are Michelin's play area and so there wouldn't be any wide 19" Rivals (since Michelin owns BFG). Kumho might make something in the V720. They did in the XS's at least.

ltborg

I ran 18/18, but have 1" narrower wheels than you. I really don't know if it would be worth it. I had better luck with the 285 on the rear than the 275, but that's a small difference compared to a 305 vs 285.

I've run the 285's on 10.5" wheels on my STU setup and they seemed pretty happy.

ltborg

Not mine, but this is what it is (minus the resonators on the left).

froggy47

Note to self, ok to lay out exhaust on living room carpet, per ltborg.

dhowdy

Would you run 285 or 275 on 18x9.5 fronts given stock was 265 and RS3's may not like too much pinch? I already have a set of base wheels to make that set up work, but not sure which tires to order.

legomaster141

I've been reading a lot about tires for autox recently. I just got myself a C5z that I plan to autox, and the first thing I'm doing is getting a set of autox wheels and tires. I was originally looking at NT05's because they don't bust the budget and actually come in stock sizes, but they come with mixed reviews.

Hankook RS3's also seem to be the tire of choice for the stock rims, but they only come in 255 17 (front) and 285 18 (rear), and I'm just worried about them not fitting properly and then wearing incorrectly or too quickly. What're your opinions?

troyguitar

No problem, they fit almost perfectly on stock c5z wheels. Tread widths are like 9.6" and 10.5"

dhowdy

They wear well and fit well. That's what I've been running and have had good results. I think for the moment it's the best tire option. We're just discussing running non-stock wheel sizes now, which opens up different tire size options as well.

strano@stranoparts.com

Do the Hankooks. Setup the car, and drive it. Keep it simple, and don't saddle yourself to crappy tires or crappy setup unless you like to torture yourself.

dhowdy

Sam, any comment on 275 vs 285 RS3 on 18x9.5 fronts for a C5Z? Probably going to order some before the SoCal national events in March.

ltborg

I'm a fan of square setups so if you are running the 285's in the back too, I'd just run them all around. Then you can rotate them for wear too, might be a pain, but you can do it.

strano@stranoparts.com

I could comment but it'd be mostly an educated guess....

Personally I'd stick with 275's. It's lighter, it's shorter (meaning the car is lower).

What I found messing with Hankooks on other cars is they like to be stretched more than squeezed because they are not a stiff construction tire. And honestly I deal with softer, less crisp things better than most, but that's just too much. MHO, without testing,.... who really knows?

ltborg

This

theseal

damn cool having you two on the vette boards sam and Mr. Borg!