PowerLabs Wheels/Tires are in... Pictures and Video!
03-31-2009, 11:21 PM
#1
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
Member Since: Oct 2007
Location: Greater Detroit Metro MI, when I'm not travelling.
Posts: 6,149
Likes: 0
Received 10 Likes
on
10 Posts
PowerLabs Wheels/Tires are in... Pictures and Video!
EDIT: This thread is a continuation of my previous thread where I was getting the wheels widened
All credit for this fantastic mod goes to Spinmonster, who paved the way by figuring out you could fit fronts on the back, and knowing where to get them widened. Another one of his many outstanding contributions to this forum! If you haven't seen Spinmonster's original thread, here it is:
TRACTIONMONSTER part of the solution
Allright, here they are at last, and because it took so damn long, I am going to put the pictures up front first, then do the write up on what it took to get them in place. Then I'll post my first impressions and results...
Here is the car after a quick wash:
FRONT:
REAR:
All credit for this fantastic mod goes to Spinmonster, who paved the way by figuring out you could fit fronts on the back, and knowing where to get them widened. Another one of his many outstanding contributions to this forum! If you haven't seen Spinmonster's original thread, here it is:
TRACTIONMONSTER part of the solution
Allright, here they are at last, and because it took so damn long, I am going to put the pictures up front first, then do the write up on what it took to get them in place. Then I'll post my first impressions and results...
Here is the car after a quick wash:
FRONT:
REAR:
Last edited by PowerLabs; 04-01-2009 at 08:17 PM.
03-31-2009, 11:22 PM
#2
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
Member Since: Oct 2007
Location: Greater Detroit Metro MI, when I'm not travelling.
Posts: 6,149
Likes: 0
Received 10 Likes
on
10 Posts
Install
The widened wheels, now 18 x 11 inches, rubbed in two spots:
The control arm:
The brake Duct:
Moving the Duct out of the way was easy... I'll drill a proper bolt there next time I'm working on the car, but this was surprizingly sturdy for now:
The control arm required some filing. I used a metal file, first the coarse end, then the fine end. I finished the filing with some sandpaper; it is important to not leave any notches as those are stress concentrations:
The idea of filing something as critical as a control arm doesn't sit well with many people, but the amount remove IS minimal:
The fronts, of course, are a direct bolt on... There is still some space before the tire runs any risk of rubbing the fender well, so even though I am OK with the filing, I believe a small spacer would be a better call as it would eliminate the rubbing AND allow the tire to fill in the fender well a little better.
I also believe this alignment (factory Z-51 camber at -1.something degrees) would allow a wider tire given a non lowered car such as mine...
The control arm:
The brake Duct:
Moving the Duct out of the way was easy... I'll drill a proper bolt there next time I'm working on the car, but this was surprizingly sturdy for now:
The control arm required some filing. I used a metal file, first the coarse end, then the fine end. I finished the filing with some sandpaper; it is important to not leave any notches as those are stress concentrations:
The idea of filing something as critical as a control arm doesn't sit well with many people, but the amount remove IS minimal:
The fronts, of course, are a direct bolt on... There is still some space before the tire runs any risk of rubbing the fender well, so even though I am OK with the filing, I believe a small spacer would be a better call as it would eliminate the rubbing AND allow the tire to fill in the fender well a little better.
I also believe this alignment (factory Z-51 camber at -1.something degrees) would allow a wider tire given a non lowered car such as mine...
Last edited by PowerLabs; 03-31-2009 at 11:27 PM.
03-31-2009, 11:28 PM
#3
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
Member Since: Oct 2007
Location: Greater Detroit Metro MI, when I'm not travelling.
Posts: 6,149
Likes: 0
Received 10 Likes
on
10 Posts
And now the results!
I'm going to post my initial impressions here, and I'll try to be as objective as I can. But first I want you to watch this video so you know where I am coming from.
I drove home from work, stuck a camera on my dash, and filmed. This is the car with a full gas tank, stuff in the trunk, normal air pressure, etc etc... This is how I drive it EVERY DAY. The tires have not been warmed up in any way and ambient temps were 55F. I am not power shifting or abusing the drivetrain in any way. Traction Control was left on purposely because if the tires spun in 2nd gear it would have intervened:
So... 0 to 60 miles an hour in 3.1 seconds flat!
I think the word "Unbelievable" gets thrown around a lot, but when you can get a 600 rear wheel horsepower car in full street trim to hook up a kick to the gas pedal in 2nd gear, or hit 60 miles an hour from a standing start in just over 3 seconds, on an unprepared, cold road surface, it is tough to believe... I used to think my car was fast because it could rip through 3rd gear in a few seconds, but let me tell you, that is NOTHING compared to how it pulls in 2nd gear, and I was able to actually hit ONE FULL "G" of acceleration in 1st! 2nd is good for about 0.88"Gs" at around 45MPH (peak torque). It still won't completely hook 1st, but as you can see from the video, wheelspin is minimal and the car accelerates hard right through the gear. 2nd gear hooks up EVERY TIME.
The wheelhop I was having before is also completely gone
Of course, I didn't do this just so I could go fast in a straight line... So the next obvious question is... How does it handle?
The bar, my friends, has been raised... I took some of my favorite sharp corners today and I have to say that the car holds the road to such a high limit, that I was actually scared to try and find out where it would let go. I found myself taking a corner 10miles an hour faster than the car could ever possibly have held on the Michelins, and at that point I couldn't bring myself to push it any harder.
On slower corners, I found that it will pull a bit over 1G of lateral acceleration that then gives way to mild understeer (no throttle input). Yes, it understeers just like the stock C6 tires do, and like it did with the Michelins (not as bad though). Applying the throttle brings the back end out, of course, but the second it re-hooks, it is VIOLENT. The back end snaps back so fast it almost felt like I had hit something the first couple of times...
There is so much grip everything about the car feels un-natural.
Here is some preliminary data from the accelerometers on my GPS. How does 1.2Gs in Braking sounds? (left hand gauge: Acceleration (right)/Braking (left). Right hand gauge: Side Acceleration (left/right))
Other notes:
The tires are much quieter than I expected. They are no louder than the factory run flats, but a bit louder than the PS2s.
The fronts baloon out a fair amount... I would not run 275s on stock wheels after seeing how these look, but at the same time I would not run anything smaller, given that the rears have so much traction it would be a recipe for a car that wants to understeer all the time
I got a set of 4 Toyo Proxes R888 from johnbtires AT gmail.com for $460 shipped. If you are looking at trying out R-Comps, this is the best deal there is!
More to come... For now my closing thought is that I wish these tires weren't so good. You see, performance sells if GM could slap on a set of R-Compounds on every factory car and post the outrageous performance numbers they are good for, you can rest assured that they would... These tires will come with some compromises; the noise and ride comfort are perfectly fine for me, but wet road traction and longevity may be an issue, and one I may force myself to deal with just because of how disappointing street tires will feel after this... We will see
UPDATE: Just drove this in the rain: on a wet road *with no standing water* they still provide more traction than the PS2s.
I drove home from work, stuck a camera on my dash, and filmed. This is the car with a full gas tank, stuff in the trunk, normal air pressure, etc etc... This is how I drive it EVERY DAY. The tires have not been warmed up in any way and ambient temps were 55F. I am not power shifting or abusing the drivetrain in any way. Traction Control was left on purposely because if the tires spun in 2nd gear it would have intervened:
So... 0 to 60 miles an hour in 3.1 seconds flat!
I think the word "Unbelievable" gets thrown around a lot, but when you can get a 600 rear wheel horsepower car in full street trim to hook up a kick to the gas pedal in 2nd gear, or hit 60 miles an hour from a standing start in just over 3 seconds, on an unprepared, cold road surface, it is tough to believe... I used to think my car was fast because it could rip through 3rd gear in a few seconds, but let me tell you, that is NOTHING compared to how it pulls in 2nd gear, and I was able to actually hit ONE FULL "G" of acceleration in 1st! 2nd is good for about 0.88"Gs" at around 45MPH (peak torque). It still won't completely hook 1st, but as you can see from the video, wheelspin is minimal and the car accelerates hard right through the gear. 2nd gear hooks up EVERY TIME.
The wheelhop I was having before is also completely gone
Of course, I didn't do this just so I could go fast in a straight line... So the next obvious question is... How does it handle?
The bar, my friends, has been raised... I took some of my favorite sharp corners today and I have to say that the car holds the road to such a high limit, that I was actually scared to try and find out where it would let go. I found myself taking a corner 10miles an hour faster than the car could ever possibly have held on the Michelins, and at that point I couldn't bring myself to push it any harder.
On slower corners, I found that it will pull a bit over 1G of lateral acceleration that then gives way to mild understeer (no throttle input). Yes, it understeers just like the stock C6 tires do, and like it did with the Michelins (not as bad though). Applying the throttle brings the back end out, of course, but the second it re-hooks, it is VIOLENT. The back end snaps back so fast it almost felt like I had hit something the first couple of times...
There is so much grip everything about the car feels un-natural.
Here is some preliminary data from the accelerometers on my GPS. How does 1.2Gs in Braking sounds? (left hand gauge: Acceleration (right)/Braking (left). Right hand gauge: Side Acceleration (left/right))
Other notes:
The tires are much quieter than I expected. They are no louder than the factory run flats, but a bit louder than the PS2s.
The fronts baloon out a fair amount... I would not run 275s on stock wheels after seeing how these look, but at the same time I would not run anything smaller, given that the rears have so much traction it would be a recipe for a car that wants to understeer all the time
I got a set of 4 Toyo Proxes R888 from johnbtires AT gmail.com for $460 shipped. If you are looking at trying out R-Comps, this is the best deal there is!
More to come... For now my closing thought is that I wish these tires weren't so good. You see, performance sells if GM could slap on a set of R-Compounds on every factory car and post the outrageous performance numbers they are good for, you can rest assured that they would... These tires will come with some compromises; the noise and ride comfort are perfectly fine for me, but wet road traction and longevity may be an issue, and one I may force myself to deal with just because of how disappointing street tires will feel after this... We will see
UPDATE: Just drove this in the rain: on a wet road *with no standing water* they still provide more traction than the PS2s.
Last edited by PowerLabs; 04-06-2009 at 11:06 AM.
04-01-2009, 12:32 AM
#5
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
Member Since: Oct 2007
Location: Greater Detroit Metro MI, when I'm not travelling.
Posts: 6,149
Likes: 0
Received 10 Likes
on
10 Posts
These are:
Fronts:
Toyo Proxes R888 in 265/35R18
Rears:
Nitto NT555R2 in 305/35R18
Both are the same kind of tire (exact same composition actually); a 100Threadwear R-Compound (Racing Compound) Road Racing tire.
This combo is 2 sizes wider and 26 pounds lighter than the factory wheel and tire combo.
04-01-2009, 12:35 AM
#6
Le Mans Master
Member Since: Mar 2006
Location: Valencia '32 Ford 3 window with 615 HP!!!!
Posts: 7,838
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
St. Jude Donor '06-'09
I would think with all that power{I'm about there},,stickier tires might work better.
I like my nitto 555r's, but just got a set of M&H street/drag tires.
Enjoy
I like my nitto 555r's, but just got a set of M&H street/drag tires.
Enjoy
04-01-2009, 12:37 AM
#7
Race Director
04-01-2009, 03:23 AM
#8
Tech Contributor
Congrats on a successful TractionMonster upgrade. When I first did this mod to my car and posted, I was surprised at the reactions, which had most people asking about the gains in traction but at the same time had a few people asking questions that I felt were odd. I have 12psi boost on a H/C geared car with nitrous and the rims are fine after over a year of hard driving. I didnt clearance the control arm and dont see why you would touch them. Mine didnt touch in all the time on the car and I tried to get it to touch.
The critical part of this upgrade was the rim for the rear tire. As seen in the post and in mine, the rim is a front widened to 11".
NO THERE ISNT AN EXISTING REPLICA WHEEL THATS JUST AS GOOD SO STOP LOOKING FOR THE EASY WAY OUT.
Hey man, whats the best tire for the stock rim? The PS2 for street tires and look at Sam's results. For r-compounds it would likely be the 305 R888 and they are better on an 18" rim. I was just in a car with the 19" R888 and couldnt understand why it kept breaking traction in 2nd gear with near Sam's power level.
It was actually pissing me off that people would spend years and thousands and thousands of dollars to mod their car for power and yet, when it came to the most important interface (tire to ground) people didnt want to spend 400 bucks to widen wheels to accomplish taking more time off your street 1/4 mile than any 3 mods combined. Sorry, but when it comes to it, this mod is required.
Why 18's? Hey you can kid yourself about running the stock rear rims but a 19" isnt as good, if it was, it would be good enough for the C5R, and the C6R, but they use 18's all around, so why take the easy way out? I have been in cars with 295/30/19's hoosiers.....nope, not as good in any area of performance.....and just recently the R888 on a 19" rim, I found that the reason they all use the 18's in racing is that 18's are better. "But spin why dont you just.....get a replica, get a 19" rim?".....I want to be faster.
I'm actually happy that the lazy guys wont ship a set of rims off to get them widened, it makes me faster. Sam tried 0-60 times and saw 3 seconds flat. I ran those tires but didnt measure them. I had 100hp more and knew that I needed something even crazier so I went with the mickey Thompson 305/35/18 for straight line. These MT's are the same 305/35 size as the nittos that came off after a year.
and it handles more power than the 555R2 which I had on my car. The downside is that the car now gave up a lot in handling for all-wheel drive-like acceleration. To the guy that goes through months of buying appearance mods like a rear spoiler and sending it out for paint and putting that on your car.....you are kidding yourself by not doing this mod.
In know this guy that dumped 40k in mods to his car......twin turbos, stroker, transmission work (no gears because they cause wheel spin----wrong) and what does he do when time comes to get his 900hp to the ground? He gets a set of chinese reproductions with BFG 295/30/18 drag radials for a 9.5" wide wheel and it looked so bad sticking out of the fender. Whah, why cant I hook? I'm so fast I spin tires all the way through 5th gear!!!!
I'm standing there asking why he didnt send out wheels to get widened....I got all the BS answers but not the real reason....you're a lazy SOB that wants to have everything be easy and not ship anything, wait for anything, or have to do any math. Oh, his responses?
Welded widened wheels arent strong enough (handled my wheelie monster fine for 20 years on the same rims). He said, they took too long waiting for widening. He said they arent better than these tires (which were on a 9.5 rim because they didnt make a 10.5 that fit any better. This was a laugh since the wheels he had were sticking out of the fender 1/4 inch and looked retarded.
The truth was you were just too lazy. "I dont want to box up rims.....I have 900hp!!!!!"
I made statements long ago that a H/C car on the street was overpowered for any tire available and would, with gears, be the equal in 0-60 or 0-100 over any silly powered FI car and I got slammed. Its laughable hearing from guys with 475rwhp to 500rwhp and gears absolutely kill a 700rwhp FI car due to traction limits 0-80. No you cant control that kind of wheel spin with your right foot. Once you broke traction, you lost....period. This mod ends that. When I did it, I could floor my H/C car on motor and got zero wheel spin with 471rwhp and 4.10's on a Z51. It would stick 2nd gear with 560rwhp and 611rwtq on a 75 shot nitrous and I was killing cars with 700+rwhp. All I do now is look at the rear tire a guy is running and I dont even ask the power level. If you have a street tire, your traction is 440rwhp or less with my gears and effectively thats your power level to ground interface for anything under 80mph. Got 700hp? The ground will never see it without an r-compound.
Today I run the MT ET street on the exact same 18x11 rims as Sam has and it sticks 2nd no problem. In fact I try to get it to break lose in first but cant unless I drop the clutch but I wont. Rolling into first it sticks and 4.10's never felt so good. So you tell me, if Sam got 0-60 in 3 seconds, whats more HP with 4.10's on a Z51 do with ET streets? Its not bragging but rather trying to sell a point. No other mod makes you this fast. Less power with traction wins 99 times out of 100.
No other mod is more important and no, 19" rims arent as good and no the best street tire is 1/3 the performance of an R-compound. I have been in Hoosier cars with 325 and 345 wide rear R6 and A6 tires on Z06 fendered 12" rims and they are horrible tires after they have about 20 heat cylces in them......as bad as runflats. Get an 18" and enjoy the saving for tire cost. They are hundreds less and work better. Yes they stick better. A 18" with the 305/35/18 sticks better than a 19" rim with 305's. 19" rims are for posers. If they worked, I'd get them as would the C6R.
The 555R2 is fine in rain at legal speeds. I had it and lived with it for an extended time. If someone says they did too and they werent good.....try them again because I'm not buying it. They are as good as the runflats in the rain.
Sorry for the rant but do the mod the way you see it. With pressure sensors, widening and shipping (yes you have to wait) the rims will total less than 1400 for tires and rims and a program tool. Its not a 500 dollar mod but headers wont make your car do this. Dont try to save 140 bucks with containers and pressure sensors. Do it right with a sensor reset tool and spend the extra 250 bucks tohave the feature. You bought chrome this and that for silliness under the hood, dont cheap out on the best mod there ever was.
Expect 6k miles from max driving out of the tires which are 600 a set. I got 5500 out of my first set of runflast and 5k out the second and gave up on street tires and no I didnt sit at red lights doing a burn-out....in fact I never did a single burnout till the night I was swapping the tires. They wore out so fast because of engine power spinning the tires on a throttle roll-in trying to keep up with all wheel drive cars......losing all night. Its priceless seeing an all wheel drive ricer's face
when he sees a sub 3 second 0-60, just priiceless.....from a rear wheel drive car. Dude, headers cost more than this mod. I drive this thing with these rims and tires everyday.
Here are a few more pics with the 305/35/18 nittos on the car with the same 18" widened wheels to help you decide if you're on the fence about doing this mod. Now you tell me, does this look like a geared up 700hp car with traction? :
SLEEPER
The critical part of this upgrade was the rim for the rear tire. As seen in the post and in mine, the rim is a front widened to 11".
NO THERE ISNT AN EXISTING REPLICA WHEEL THATS JUST AS GOOD SO STOP LOOKING FOR THE EASY WAY OUT.
Hey man, whats the best tire for the stock rim? The PS2 for street tires and look at Sam's results. For r-compounds it would likely be the 305 R888 and they are better on an 18" rim. I was just in a car with the 19" R888 and couldnt understand why it kept breaking traction in 2nd gear with near Sam's power level.
It was actually pissing me off that people would spend years and thousands and thousands of dollars to mod their car for power and yet, when it came to the most important interface (tire to ground) people didnt want to spend 400 bucks to widen wheels to accomplish taking more time off your street 1/4 mile than any 3 mods combined. Sorry, but when it comes to it, this mod is required.
Why 18's? Hey you can kid yourself about running the stock rear rims but a 19" isnt as good, if it was, it would be good enough for the C5R, and the C6R, but they use 18's all around, so why take the easy way out? I have been in cars with 295/30/19's hoosiers.....nope, not as good in any area of performance.....and just recently the R888 on a 19" rim, I found that the reason they all use the 18's in racing is that 18's are better. "But spin why dont you just.....get a replica, get a 19" rim?".....I want to be faster.
I'm actually happy that the lazy guys wont ship a set of rims off to get them widened, it makes me faster. Sam tried 0-60 times and saw 3 seconds flat. I ran those tires but didnt measure them. I had 100hp more and knew that I needed something even crazier so I went with the mickey Thompson 305/35/18 for straight line. These MT's are the same 305/35 size as the nittos that came off after a year.
and it handles more power than the 555R2 which I had on my car. The downside is that the car now gave up a lot in handling for all-wheel drive-like acceleration. To the guy that goes through months of buying appearance mods like a rear spoiler and sending it out for paint and putting that on your car.....you are kidding yourself by not doing this mod.
In know this guy that dumped 40k in mods to his car......twin turbos, stroker, transmission work (no gears because they cause wheel spin----wrong) and what does he do when time comes to get his 900hp to the ground? He gets a set of chinese reproductions with BFG 295/30/18 drag radials for a 9.5" wide wheel and it looked so bad sticking out of the fender. Whah, why cant I hook? I'm so fast I spin tires all the way through 5th gear!!!!
I'm standing there asking why he didnt send out wheels to get widened....I got all the BS answers but not the real reason....you're a lazy SOB that wants to have everything be easy and not ship anything, wait for anything, or have to do any math. Oh, his responses?
Welded widened wheels arent strong enough (handled my wheelie monster fine for 20 years on the same rims). He said, they took too long waiting for widening. He said they arent better than these tires (which were on a 9.5 rim because they didnt make a 10.5 that fit any better. This was a laugh since the wheels he had were sticking out of the fender 1/4 inch and looked retarded.
The truth was you were just too lazy. "I dont want to box up rims.....I have 900hp!!!!!"
I made statements long ago that a H/C car on the street was overpowered for any tire available and would, with gears, be the equal in 0-60 or 0-100 over any silly powered FI car and I got slammed. Its laughable hearing from guys with 475rwhp to 500rwhp and gears absolutely kill a 700rwhp FI car due to traction limits 0-80. No you cant control that kind of wheel spin with your right foot. Once you broke traction, you lost....period. This mod ends that. When I did it, I could floor my H/C car on motor and got zero wheel spin with 471rwhp and 4.10's on a Z51. It would stick 2nd gear with 560rwhp and 611rwtq on a 75 shot nitrous and I was killing cars with 700+rwhp. All I do now is look at the rear tire a guy is running and I dont even ask the power level. If you have a street tire, your traction is 440rwhp or less with my gears and effectively thats your power level to ground interface for anything under 80mph. Got 700hp? The ground will never see it without an r-compound.
Today I run the MT ET street on the exact same 18x11 rims as Sam has and it sticks 2nd no problem. In fact I try to get it to break lose in first but cant unless I drop the clutch but I wont. Rolling into first it sticks and 4.10's never felt so good. So you tell me, if Sam got 0-60 in 3 seconds, whats more HP with 4.10's on a Z51 do with ET streets? Its not bragging but rather trying to sell a point. No other mod makes you this fast. Less power with traction wins 99 times out of 100.
No other mod is more important and no, 19" rims arent as good and no the best street tire is 1/3 the performance of an R-compound. I have been in Hoosier cars with 325 and 345 wide rear R6 and A6 tires on Z06 fendered 12" rims and they are horrible tires after they have about 20 heat cylces in them......as bad as runflats. Get an 18" and enjoy the saving for tire cost. They are hundreds less and work better. Yes they stick better. A 18" with the 305/35/18 sticks better than a 19" rim with 305's. 19" rims are for posers. If they worked, I'd get them as would the C6R.
The 555R2 is fine in rain at legal speeds. I had it and lived with it for an extended time. If someone says they did too and they werent good.....try them again because I'm not buying it. They are as good as the runflats in the rain.
Sorry for the rant but do the mod the way you see it. With pressure sensors, widening and shipping (yes you have to wait) the rims will total less than 1400 for tires and rims and a program tool. Its not a 500 dollar mod but headers wont make your car do this. Dont try to save 140 bucks with containers and pressure sensors. Do it right with a sensor reset tool and spend the extra 250 bucks tohave the feature. You bought chrome this and that for silliness under the hood, dont cheap out on the best mod there ever was.
Expect 6k miles from max driving out of the tires which are 600 a set. I got 5500 out of my first set of runflast and 5k out the second and gave up on street tires and no I didnt sit at red lights doing a burn-out....in fact I never did a single burnout till the night I was swapping the tires. They wore out so fast because of engine power spinning the tires on a throttle roll-in trying to keep up with all wheel drive cars......losing all night. Its priceless seeing an all wheel drive ricer's face
when he sees a sub 3 second 0-60, just priiceless.....from a rear wheel drive car. Dude, headers cost more than this mod. I drive this thing with these rims and tires everyday.
Here are a few more pics with the 305/35/18 nittos on the car with the same 18" widened wheels to help you decide if you're on the fence about doing this mod. Now you tell me, does this look like a geared up 700hp car with traction? :
SLEEPER
Last edited by SpinMonster; 04-01-2009 at 04:06 AM.
04-01-2009, 10:04 AM
#12
Safety Car
I can attest to the what Spin is saying...the first time I experienced the widened rear tires on Guy's car, I almost had to visit the chiropractor... he literally made a right turn on to Cameron's block at 45mph and the car felt like it was on a rail. DO NOT FEAR THE WIDENED WHEEL! With this mod on a bolt on car, you WILL lay waste to F/I cars with runfalts no problem.
I'm still looking for a cheap set of silver split spokes to do this mod myself....as all I got for my birthday were gift cards
So if any has a spare set of 18" 08 silver split spokes, PM me.Thanks for the info Sam. I want to ride in that beast....if you're not going to Strictly Corvettes, let me know...I'll ride out to NJ and buy you dinner.
04-01-2009, 10:57 AM
#13
Le Mans Master
Why did you elect to go with the 18" Nittos on a widened wheel rather than the Toyos on the stock wheel? Especially if you got the Toyos up front.
04-01-2009, 12:02 PM
#14
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
Member Since: Oct 2007
Location: Greater Detroit Metro MI, when I'm not travelling.
Posts: 6,149
Likes: 0
Received 10 Likes
on
10 Posts
Hey man, whats the best tire for the stock rim? The PS2 for street tires and look at Sam's results. For r-compounds it would likely be the 305 R888 and they are better on an 18" rim. I was just in a car with the 19" R888 and couldnt understand why it kept breaking traction in 2nd gear with near Sam's power level.
It was actually pissing me off that people would spend years and thousands and thousands of dollars to mod their car for power and yet, when it came to the most important interface (tire to ground) people didnt want to spend 400 bucks to widen wheels to accomplish taking more time off your street 1/4 mile than any 3 mods combined. Sorry, but when it comes to it, this mod is required.
It was actually pissing me off that people would spend years and thousands and thousands of dollars to mod their car for power and yet, when it came to the most important interface (tire to ground) people didnt want to spend 400 bucks to widen wheels to accomplish taking more time off your street 1/4 mile than any 3 mods combined. Sorry, but when it comes to it, this mod is required.
One thing I forgot to mention though is that my car had TERRIBLE wheelhop when the PS2s broke lose. Now with the Nittos I have *ZERO* wheelhop, no matter how hard I spin them. This is most likely a benefit of the taller sidewall absorbing loads and vibrations better
…I'm still looking for a cheap set of silver split spokes to do this mod myself....as all I got for my birthday were gift cards So if any has a spare set of 18" 08 silver split spokes, PM me.
Thanks for the info Sam. I want to ride in that beast....if you're not going to Strictly Corvettes, let me know...I'll ride out to NJ and buy you dinner.
So if any has a spare set of 18" 08 silver split spokes, PM me.Thanks for the info Sam. I want to ride in that beast....if you're not going to Strictly Corvettes, let me know...I'll ride out to NJ and buy you dinner.
I actually got both... John B from johnbtires at gmail.com sold me a complete set of (shaved, heat cycled and used for one event) Toyo R888s sized 265/35R18 and 305/35R18 for $460 SHIPPED. I elected to put the Nittos in the back first, then the Toyos once the Nittos are done, so that I can do a true back to back comparison between the two tires. This will allow me to decide which one is best; I will then buy my next set of those tires...
04-01-2009, 02:25 PM
#17
Melting Slicks
Member Since: Nov 2005
Location: Houston 06 C6 Ysi SC 402 fgd TX
Posts: 2,345
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
Excellent write up Sam. and of course you to Guy. waaah waah pics are great....I think we get your point
Can harldy wait to put the new MT 345s on the soon to be widened to 12" 18" dia Z06 fronts on the rear widebody
Can harldy wait to put the new MT 345s on the soon to be widened to 12" 18" dia Z06 fronts on the rear widebody
04-01-2009, 02:58 PM
#18
Safety Car
04-01-2009, 03:13 PM
#19
Do you think you should have widened the fronts by 1/2-1" to better accommodate the 265/35/18's? I am still deciding what to do about my setup. I wonder if taking the fronts to 9 or 9.5 and the rears to 11 would be the move. Also what do you think about going down to 10.5 on the rear to prevent rubbing on the control arm? BTW, great job. Your car looks sick and is a freaking beast!
Steve
Steve
04-01-2009, 03:13 PM
#20
Pro
Member Since: May 2007
Location: Dallas TX
Posts: 699
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sam
I'd be just as glad to drive up somewhere to meet up with you and give you a ride; just make sure we pick a safe road ...
...
Just joking.Great Write up and I know you will enjoy it, just be safe.