Track Tire Recommendations?

[FloridaChris]

I have a new coupe coming and intend to track the car occasionally. I am considering another set of wheels and tires for track use only. Any recommendations out there on non-runflat tires that are particularly good for the track?

 

[SylvanSRT]

if you plan to stay w/ the stock wheel/tire sizes you are mostly s.o.l. and really only have the choice of stock pilot sports or the same tire in a non-runflat(much lighter). i have found that the stock tires are VERY capable and i am not willing to give up the safety/convenience of the run flats, remember you have NO spare tire and if you drive the car to the track you could end up in a situation. The other alternative is to buy another set of wheels and tires(18") and do the e-brake relocation kit available. The options on track tires will become much greater if you go to 18", you will also be spending 3-5k on new wheels and still need to buy tires and the brake relo kit. Even at the least expensive end of the rainbow new wheels tires and brake relo kit you are looking at 5-6k. thats why i stayed w/ my stock wheels and tires and will wait it out till tire options become available in stock sizes.

 

[Kai SRT10]

18 inch SSR Comp wheels: 13 inches wide in rear, 11 inches wide in front. Very light weight, but you will need to relocate the e-brake in the rear (not hard to do with the Archer kit.)

Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires. Much lighter and much more sticky than the stock tires. They wear extremely well for a competition tire, and will last at least two to three times as long as a typical "R" compound tire. They take a while to heat up, however, so you will need quite a few hot laps before the tires achieve maximum grip. When cold, they have less grip than the stock tires. (this makes them great for track days, but lousy for autocross)

This is the set-up I use. The new tires and wheels give the car much increased performance at the track, both because the tires add grip, and the wheel/tire combo is about 20 pounds PER CORNER than the stock set up, which makes your suspension work better. Cornering and braking are significantly better. You will have to decide for yourself if the cost is worth it.

 

[FloridaChris]

Thanks for the suggestions. I am leaning toward another set of rims and tires for track use only (and the drive to/from the track). 20 lbs savings per tire/wheel sure sounds tempting!

 

[Viper X]

Good advice, Kai.

18's are the way to go now. Hopefully, we'll see some 19's soon.

I choose the Forgeline SX3s 18 x 11 front / 18 x 13 rear(Viper Racing League approved) in polished and Pilot Sport Cup tires. These are very light, strong and look good too. Big difference in performance as Kai says. Naykid racing runs the SX3Rs and they are a pro viper race team.

SSR comps are not currently available, but should be again in January, I'm told by Luke at tire rack. I have a set of them too but need 2 rears (18 x 13) and will likely keep them for tracking the GTS.

I would not suggest seriously tracking the car with run flats. Traction is greatly reduced over specialty track tires. I would also suggest taking it easy to and from the track with the cups. While they are quite a bit stickier than stock on the street when slightly warm, they tend to be much firmer riding and will grab the seams / lines / ruts in the road and create a bit of wander.

The ebrake relocation kit is easy to install. Check the archives for photos. They helped me a bunch.

Good luck,

Dan

 

[MannyC]

Trust me guys, if you plan on tracking, get yourself an extra set of wheels. Nothing beats the convenience of quickly swapping out your wheels and having better grip at the track. I find that if your car does start to get away from you, you have a much better chance of recovery with stickier tires.

The most important factor for me was that I didn't want to ding up my street wheels if I accidentally spun the car or put two wheels in the dirt, etc. I did that with my RT10 when I have my brand new chrome HRE wheels on it. Ended up costing me $600 bucks to fix all 4 of them (went off deep at Pahrump.) Yes, I was running on 18/19" run flats too.

You can pick up a used set of racing wheels pretty cheap vs. new. For those of you with GTS's, I have some 17 inch Purner race wheels for sale (two sets.)

-M

 

[MannyC]

Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires. Much lighter and much more sticky than the stock tires. They wear extremely well for a competition tire, and will last at least two to three times as long as a typical "R" compound tire. They take a while to heat up, however, so you will need quite a few hot laps before the tires achieve maximum grip. When cold, they have less grip than the stock tires. (this makes them great for track days, but lousy for autocross)

Kai, what pressures do you run hot at the track with the sport cups? One of my fellow Viper friends was asking me about this at a previous event, but since I don't run those tires, I wasn't sure. I've heard different pressures from various people, from 28 pounds up to mid 40's. That's too much of a gap -- somebody knows the correct pressure who's actually done real racing on them.

-Manny

 

[Vipera Russelli]

I have the same set up as ViperX and, like ViperX and Kai said, the Sports Cups are a major improvement over stock. Keep in mind, however, that the closer the tires are to slicks, the less audio feedback you get from them before they let go. Still, you can feel what's happening grip-wise through the steering wheel and seat. I can't hear much over my engine anyway.

The ebrake relocation kit is easy to install. Check the archives for photos. They helped me a bunch.

Here you go:

http://vca2.viperclub.org/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB21&Number=520355&Forum=UBB21&Words=e-brake&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=100&Old=3months&Main=520355&Search=true#Post520355

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Trust me guys, if you plan on tracking, get yourself an extra set of wheels. Nothing beats the convenience of quickly swapping out your wheels and having better grip at the track.

+1

 

[Kai SRT10]

Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires. Much lighter and much more sticky than the stock tires. They wear extremely well for a competition tire, and will last at least two to three times as long as a typical "R" compound tire. They take a while to heat up, however, so you will need quite a few hot laps before the tires achieve maximum grip. When cold, they have less grip than the stock tires. (this makes them great for track days, but lousy for autocross)

Kai, what pressures do you run hot at the track with the sport cups? One of my fellow Viper friends was asking me about this at a previous event, but since I don't run those tires, I wasn't sure. I've heard different pressures from various people, from 28 pounds up to mid 40's. That's too much of a gap -- somebody knows the correct pressure who's actually done real racing on them.

-Manny

Hot pressure of about 32-34 in the front, and 36-38 in the rear. This is much lower than what I was running at the track with the stock runflats. Anything in this range seems to work for me.

 

[JonB]

Im proud to say that several of the setups above came from PartsRack....
I agree with the advice above about a spare 18" set for track......
SSRs are gone til early next year (maybe) but Forgelines are about $3000 and are strong and light and 'pre-certified' for VRL-VD events. [And Forgeline and PartsRack both donate to VRL Awards Fund for every purcahse!]

And a valid piece of advice is also that several of those above have added the Mopar Performance Swing-Arm oil pickup to protect the motor..... once you achieve great grip and 1+ Gs cornering, you NEED this upgrade to protect the motor.... $1995 MSRP, under $1700 from PartsRack, thanks....

 

[Kai SRT10]

My wheels and tires came from Parts Rack. I also got my track oil pan from Parts Rack.

 

[MannyC]

Parts Rack has a 2nd mortgage on my home.

-M

 

[quick2tr]

JonB - PartsRack -

. . . And a valid piece of advice is also that several of those above have added the Mopar Performance Swing-Arm oil pickup to protect the motor..... once you achieve great grip and 1+ Gs cornering, you NEED this upgrade to protect the motor.... $1995 MSRP, under $1700 from PartsRack, thanks....

I had an experience that might add to this very good advise :

I had read up on this little oil starvation "flaw" over a year ago, and ended up feeling convinced that it should not occur on normal tracking with stock tires/suspension setup. My oil level is always carefully set to the top of the hashes on the dipstick (max right?). Yesterday I tracked my stock Viper with stock run-flats on a track with a long left turn (180 degree) at Chicago/Joliet ACC-Full. Scary as in : dropping clearly under 25psi at 3000 rpms. Also noticed it does not recover itself immediately upon straightening. Was acting weird for at least the next 30 seconds (took a while to purge all the air?). Next lap, same behavior, at the same spot. Pitted, verified oil level, and next session out I slowed a bit on that corner to avoid the problem for most of the remaining sessions.

Now I'm gonna get a big geeky and describe what my "TraqMate" GPS-Acceleration meter recorded of it. If this was illustrating the oil pickup flaw, the data makes me believe it occurs with an average 0.90+ Gs for 5.0+ seconds. Analyzing some of the other left turns 0.95-1.02 G's sustain over 2.0 - 3.0 seconds was not a problem.

I would definitely be concerned about quicker oil starvation occurring when using a stickier rubber/suspension setup.

 

[Viper X]

Manny,

Amen, my monthly Parts Rack bill would pay some guys mortgages (or so my wife tells me).

Florida Chris,

I too got my wheels / tire set up from Parts Rack. Jon is very knowledgeable, helpful and has some of the best prices on Viper parts anywhere. Give him a call.

I also put in the comp coupe oil pan set up prior to adding stickier tires and had WCV do the mods to the windage tray (the same mods as on McCann's cars) and install the parts.

At the last WCV event at Willowsprings, my oil pressure never dropped below 65 psi, even at 110 mph + on that long right hand sweeper at 105 degrees F. This is on my 04 supercharged SRT-10. This set up works.

Kai,

Thanks for your correspondence / information on this issue.