smaller wheels for track
Discussion
i'm planning this years trackday events and i'm in need of new rubber for my car anyway so i'm wondering if using my (cheap) winter alloys would be ok for track use.
Honda fitted factory summer size of 235/35r19's on 8.5x19 (i run 255/35r19's for added alloy protection) and recommend 225/40r18's for winter use, so i bought some 8x18's for the winter setup. They're Riva DTM alloys which are part of the MSW group (contains Fox and various other known budget brands). Far from the premium and willy-waving brands but hard to justify a 3rd set of wheels for track duty that'll be used 3-5 days/yr.
I'm toying with the idea of 225/??r18 - ad08r, r888r, cup2 or something else track focused on the 18's and swapping the rubber between track and winter tyres bi-yearly.
means i can run the 19's on cheaper more road-orientated tyres; £70-100/tyre cheaper than track tyres
Also means that 225/40 ZR18 r888r are about £80/tyre cheaper than on a 19" size.
the 18's do run extremely close to the brembo calipers; half width of a stickon weight in the barrel of the wheel, and 2-3mm from the back of the spokes. i assume things dont flex/expand/move around to cause any problems here.
any thoughts on how good an idea this is - specifically the 'cheap' alloys and the fact i'll be down-inching and slightly narrower tyres. I'm expecting slightly higher wear and less raw grip than running equivelent on 19's but no other negative issues.
Honda fitted factory summer size of 235/35r19's on 8.5x19 (i run 255/35r19's for added alloy protection) and recommend 225/40r18's for winter use, so i bought some 8x18's for the winter setup. They're Riva DTM alloys which are part of the MSW group (contains Fox and various other known budget brands). Far from the premium and willy-waving brands but hard to justify a 3rd set of wheels for track duty that'll be used 3-5 days/yr.
I'm toying with the idea of 225/??r18 - ad08r, r888r, cup2 or something else track focused on the 18's and swapping the rubber between track and winter tyres bi-yearly.
means i can run the 19's on cheaper more road-orientated tyres; £70-100/tyre cheaper than track tyres
Also means that 225/40 ZR18 r888r are about £80/tyre cheaper than on a 19" size.
the 18's do run extremely close to the brembo calipers; half width of a stickon weight in the barrel of the wheel, and 2-3mm from the back of the spokes. i assume things dont flex/expand/move around to cause any problems here.
any thoughts on how good an idea this is - specifically the 'cheap' alloys and the fact i'll be down-inching and slightly narrower tyres. I'm expecting slightly higher wear and less raw grip than running equivelent on 19's but no other negative issues.
funily enough, i got looking into the NS1's at the weekend and found the NS-2R's which did seem to be an interesting tyre. plenty of options out there for track rubber. and i dont really have a preference on what to use, although have heard only good things about r888r and AR1's on track.
I've a feeling i'll be swapping tyres every change to see what works for me and the car.
i've just done a tyre-only cost between 19 and 18's.
full set of 255/35r19 cup2 - £948
full set of 18" ad08r and 19" Dunlop RT2 (my current road tyre) come in at £1040; £92 more - hard to argue with the financial side of things.
I personally cant see the 8x18 vs 8x5x19" will make any real difference on the track either. biggest unknown is using cheaper wheels at the track but they're still from a known company even if a bit heavy. hard to justify a nice £1200 set when i've already scuffed one of these 18's with a slush hidden kerb last winter
I've a feeling i'll be swapping tyres every change to see what works for me and the car.
i've just done a tyre-only cost between 19 and 18's.
full set of 255/35r19 cup2 - £948
full set of 18" ad08r and 19" Dunlop RT2 (my current road tyre) come in at £1040; £92 more - hard to argue with the financial side of things.
I personally cant see the 8x18 vs 8x5x19" will make any real difference on the track either. biggest unknown is using cheaper wheels at the track but they're still from a known company even if a bit heavy. hard to justify a nice £1200 set when i've already scuffed one of these 18's with a slush hidden kerb last winter
Im not sure how fast of a driver you are and how your tracks looks like, but that seems like very little tyre width for that car. I would expect 245 or above to keep reasonable temperature in the front tyres. It could be false economics to chose a to narrow tyre, since it might last half the time of a wider one. The tyre wear is very non linear, when you come up to the temp limit they can wear out very quickly. My experience is that smaller total diameter is almost always faster on normal cars, due to the lowered gearing mostly.
But you can try, although if i were to run tyres that narrow i would go for something with a stiff sidewall and design for higher temperatures like Kumho V70A.
For very fast tracks like the nurburgring its of course very different, then you can get away with much narrower tyres.
But you can try, although if i were to run tyres that narrow i would go for something with a stiff sidewall and design for higher temperatures like Kumho V70A.
For very fast tracks like the nurburgring its of course very different, then you can get away with much narrower tyres.
thats the reason i created this thread. 225's do seem narrow but i've no experience with trackday orientated tyres.
i've overheated road tyres (dunlop RT2) on 255/35/19's but they're not rated for any track use afaik, so put the chunking/tearing of the outter edge down to overheating.
I believe i'm pretty fast. Had driver tuition at Abingdon and the only (minor) point the instructor brought up was too eager to start the corner. nothing about speed, lines, control etc.
i guess there's one way to find out - buy and try. 3-4 trackdays/yr i doubt i'll be changing them too often - expecting 6-8 trackday events life on track rubber, but the tyre price differences on my current alloy sizes could work out cheaper even if i'm getting 20% less life.
i've overheated road tyres (dunlop RT2) on 255/35/19's but they're not rated for any track use afaik, so put the chunking/tearing of the outter edge down to overheating.
I believe i'm pretty fast. Had driver tuition at Abingdon and the only (minor) point the instructor brought up was too eager to start the corner. nothing about speed, lines, control etc.
i guess there's one way to find out - buy and try. 3-4 trackdays/yr i doubt i'll be changing them too often - expecting 6-8 trackday events life on track rubber, but the tyre price differences on my current alloy sizes could work out cheaper even if i'm getting 20% less life.
I don't have experience with CTRs but I reckon you'll be absolutely fine on 18s with 225 width tyres. My Megane (250) is on 18s running 235/40/18 road tyres and when I had track wheels, I was running Avon ZZRs at 225/40/18 with 320hp/360lbft going through them and always performed amazingly. 19s were optional for the Megane but it's widely regarded that they ride much better on the 18s.
I've done a track day at Rockingham on my 235/40/18 Michelin PS4s and will be taking it to Spa in April on those tyres and have no concerns whatsoever
I've done a track day at Rockingham on my 235/40/18 Michelin PS4s and will be taking it to Spa in April on those tyres and have no concerns whatsoever
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