First Drive 09 Ssg Acr

Took the ACR out for a 40 mile ride today and have some impressions and questions..
I cant give a great comparison account of my 08 coupe against it having had only 135 miles on it but I did notice some things...
First for some reason the exhaust sounds deeper and louder with windows up or down.My ACR is NOT a ******** The ride is a bit stiffer but I expected that plus I havent even checked any of the shock settings or even the air pressure in the tires(bad move)....
The temp outside for the ride was only about 48 degrees so I was real nervous about even driving it after hearing all the horror stories of cold rubber and pavement...Add the fact that my wife was with me..I tried to make smooth shifts and of course no crazy steering inputs..especially running with the sport cups....One thing I did feel which was kind of strange was a wiggle(or if you took the wheel and gave it a short **** each way real fast...It happened when I was going about 70 and changing lanes...I was not shifting and the road surface was fine and it WAS NOT an abrupt change.It was also on the way home so tires were not cold so to speak...My wife felt it and thought I did it on purpose,lol......What does everyone think of that..??? Cold road surface maybe.??? After that she asked why I want to own a car that might kill me and now she doesnt want me to drive it until I get real rubber for it,lol....I told her its more likely the cold and the torque the Viper produces....Iam going to try and put more miles on it in the next few days;it will be cold but I will follow the same rules as I have above.
A couple of other things I noticed is that my car idles at close to 1K (even when at temp)but maybe the ECM will adjust after some time as I thought my 08 idled around 600 when warm...The gas pedel seems very hard almost like a mechanical linkage,lol.It doesnt bother me just a different feeling from my 08..
I just think I need to put some miles on it as I have never really got the feel of any Viper I had because of such little usage.......If anyone has thoughts or comments on the above please let me know....Kevin

I own an ACR also and in my humble opinion I would not be driving around on the cups in that kind of weather. There is no way your tires warmed up to be safe enough to do anything. And your pics show some snow and moisture in evidence also.
Get yourself some PS2's for the street.
You will probably hear the the cups are ok for the street from a few here but I will be surprised if you get positive answers about their safety in those low temps and potential snow and dampness.
They are GREAT track tires and ok street tires in summer conditions.

I am a fairly decent driver and I refuse to go out below 60 degrees on the Pilots in my ACR...follow the advice above and buy some other winter tires. Jon B can give you some solid advice.
Brian

Lee,
The temps were probably even lower then I posted as the high in SLC was 53 and we are always 10-15 lower here in Park City.....I guess I was lucky enough to get away without hurting the car and more important my wife and I.....I will be buying different rims and PS2 but not until next year...I guess I shoud shut it down for 09.. Kevin

Brian,
Wow ,Iam an idiot...Iam real happy now that I was lucky enough not to be in the first drive crash club...Getting some PS 2s next Spring....Kevin

In SoCal the Cups are great street tires, and I wish they were still available for my car. They are certainly NOT cold weather tires and are downright scary at your temps. Congrats on your new ride!

Congratulations Kevin.
Great choice. Glad you went with the SSG.
Break it in gently and get the right tires and youll be ready to roll!

As for the wiggle - it's likely just the car settling into the grooves in the road. You likely can't see it - but with the wide tires, it will tramline a little and hunt for the groove in the road.

Enjoy - and I'll cross my fingers for some unseasonably warm temps in your neck of the woods to get your break in miles done.

Yesterday I had my ACR out and it was like driving on ice when I got in to it. It was 65 here in Illinois - aim straight and be careful.

I drive sport cups on my '09 ACR on the street, R 6s on the track and since it's the only street car I own, I drive it regardless of the weather. Part of the problem with the unwarranted bad reputation Vipers have for wrecks and being squirrely is lack of experience driving the car. If you leave it in the garage all the time, you aren't going to learn how to drive it. HPDEs are good too. I am not knocking anyone's driving ability here, it's just impossible to learn to drive a high powered sports car without driving it. They were not meant to be garage queens.

Kevin,
I'm going to agree with Janni here, and suggest that the "wiggle" might well have been due to tramlining and/or bump steer. However, I'm also going to echo some other comments here about Sport Cups and cold temps. Those are definitely not cold weather tires; they're designed to heat up far more slowly than PS2s, which is great for the track, and OK for hot (or at least warm) weather roads. That, and the likelihood of sudden downpours here, is why I'm running PS2s on my ACR for the street.

My ACR is pretty twitchy, and searches out the smallest grooves in the road. I have added camber for track events, and it compounds the "twitchy feel". But it is worth it on those warm track days! As for the tires, I stepped down on the pedal a few days back to see what kind of traction the Sport Cups have in cool weather. And... it was like ice skating. So, if you are going to drive aggressive, or plan on launching hard, then get some PS2 tires. I plan on driving my car in cold weather, with the Sport Cups, and I'm not fearful of the tire. As long as you keep your foot out of it, they provide enough traction for tooling around town looking cool in your ACR. I'll wait for warm weather to lay into it!

vipernut94 said:

My ACR is pretty twitchy, and searches out the smallest grooves in the road. I have added camber for track events, and it compounds the "twitchy feel". But it is worth it on those warm track days! As for the tires, I stepped down on the pedal a few days back to see what kind of traction the Sport Cups have in cool weather. And... it was like ice skating. So, if you are going to drive aggressive, or plan on launching hard, then get some PS2 tires. I plan on driving my car in cold weather, with the Sport Cups, and I'm not fearful of the tire. As long as you keep your foot out of it, they provide enough traction for tooling around town looking cool in your ACR. I'll wait for warm weather to lay into it!

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Driving the Sport Cups on the street between track events makes them last longer too. The hard cornering wears the outside edge first on the track while street driving wears out the middle of the tread. As the cups get older it takes longer for them to heat up on the track but starting out with less air helps some. When they get 10,000 miles on them, they're done and will not grip the track no matter what. Be sure and watch your front tires on the inside at about 8,500 miles for a groove that the track set up can wear in the tire. The cups are fine for street as long as you are just driving the ACR like a daily driver, which mine is, and saving the aggression for the race track.

Wiggle is more than likely the road surface. Was it "groved concrete? My 06 wiggles all around on groved concrete which is all over Denver. I hate it! Yah it might be easier and less costly to maintain but it is a PITA. Smooth Ashvault is where I prefer to drive which is becoming a rarity to find. guess I have to move to the country.

Glad to see you putting some miles on this one. Also sounds like your wife is as enthrailed with the Viper as mine. She seems to not mind me driving it all I want, as long as she doesn't have to be driving in it with me! Ha! Ha! "Deaf kindey shaker" comment was the last thing she said on the last drive of the year. Ah, she is a good sport despite the loud Bellanger system on it and really just wants me to be happy.

Coloviper said:

Wiggle is more than likely the road surface. Was it "groved concrete? My 06 wiggles all around on groved concrete which is all over Denver. I hate it! Yah it might be easier and less costly to maintain but it is a PITA. Smooth Ashvault is where I prefer to drive which is becoming a rarity to find. guess I have to move to the country.

Glad to see you putting some miles on this one. Also sounds like your wife is as enthrailed with the Viper as mine. She seems to not mind me driving it all I want, as long as she doesn't have to be driving in it with me! Ha! Ha! "Deaf kindey shaker" comment was the last thing she said on the last drive of the year. Ah, she is a good sport despite the loud Bellanger system on it and really just wants me to be happy.

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The wife just wants me to be safe and not use it until Spring....She is going to get her wish because its pretty cold here and we have 2 small storms comming. Funny thing is this ACR seems to be louder than my 08 coupe was and she thought so too. I told her thats why not many people put good sound systems in Vipers plus I love that music...
I also told her if you think its loud now wait until next year...She calls it the Ricer car because of the wing...Maybe ...Minute Rice....because of its Ring time