zrtman1

Total newbie/beginner - looking for ideas on cheaper tires to start out with. Was always told harder tires were better to learn with. Its a supercharged C5. I currently have a set of invo's (street tires)

18x9.5f 18x11r F14 with 275/35 and 295/18 invo's currently. Need more rear tire.. it does not hook up well. Ordered a pair of 19x12 for the rear due to the lack of wide street tires available for 18" wheels (so basically can run C6 Z06 tire).

Also have a set of CCW 18x10f 18x12r with r888. Do not want to run the R888 until I have a clue on what I am doing on the track...

Prefer a less expensive tire to burn off... not super sports which seem the most popular. Should I stick with invos? Tire rack has Hankook VENTUS V12 EVO2 275/35-18 and 325/30-19 for $762... 320 treadwear so they are pretty hard (but still AA/A).

I have tried to research it here, but most threads are older and tire is not available anymore (or not in any corvette sizes). Ideally I would like 295/30-18f 335/30-18r for the ccw wheels but impossible to find reasonable street tires for this with the 18" rear rim.

Sorry for lengthy post... pulling my hair out over this.

Tomswheels

I buy used Michelin Pilot Super Sports for this very purpose, they are all over EBay/CL, and cheap, and great for HPDE.

Ramo7769

Honestly, you're going to see more improvement from using a better tire than using bigger Invos by a wide margin. 285 RS3s in the rear would be just fine and a lot of grip for learning if you ask me.

I would personally just use the R888s. It's still far from Hoosier performance. Spend the extra tire money on brakes. Just my 2 cents.

zrtman1

Do you mean Cooper Zeon RS3-S? They do make that in a 325.

reefer

No, he's talking about Hankook RS-3

blkbrd69

Wear out the Invos first, then worry about it.

Square set of C5Z rear wheels is a long term standard.

ratt_finkel

I've autocrossed a S/C C6 making around 600whp on the same invo set up you mentioned. And as you have already figured out. They don't really put the power down. That being said. I felt their real weakness was in lateral grip. That being said, I felt like they behaved well above and beyond their limits. And were controllable even under extreme slip angles.

I normally like to advocate novices to learn on a fully prepped car. (conversation for another time)

However, in this circumstance. I think running your current tires is an excellent idea. My experience has been that most newbies are very scared of over steer and slip angle in the rear. When running lower grip tires like the Invo's. Slip angle events happen at much slower speeds. Which gives you a bit more confidence when you are sideways at 40mph vs 100mph.

I believe that once you master driving the car on those tires. And learning to anticipate sliding, understeer and oversteer. Those same skills will translate to stickier tires. Meaning, when you break your hoosiers loose at triple digit speeds. Your corrections and reactions will be second nature and absolutely a non-event. Versus ending up in a wall.

My 2 cents.

zrtman1

Thanks- good to hear from someone that has actually used the invo's. From the way they get bashed you would think they are the worst tire ever made...

I was just hoping to get a wider tire under the rear - the 295 is having issues with power to ground. But in reality would there be much difference in a 295 to a 325?

What pressures did you run?

AND0

For HPDE use have you considered turning down the boost some?

Less heat/overheating and less traction issues

zrtman1

I plan on short shifting it.

jesup16

Why not just run the r888's? Soft tire compounds don't age well. By the time you work up to them, they might be past their better days. So I say use 'em while you got 'em.

SunnydayDILYSI

You have a Supercharged C5, the rear tires are not going to hook up well when you put the gas to the floor on corner exit. Get used to it and learn how to feather in the throttle. Go with cheap street tires until you get that feel. NT-05s are a good low cost option for learning.