Timmer

Timmer here in CT. Have an '02 Spa Yellow in stock form. Will want to occasionally autocross - assume this will be SCCA B Street. Fair weather commuter car - hence no intent to grossly change anything on the car. Considering wheel/tire alternatives to the stock 16 inch staggered set up. Before I assume too much, will the AP2 17 inch wheel/tire size fit w/o alterations? As I read the SCCA Solo II regs, making a 1" wheel diameter change is allowable in this stock class. Any autocrossers out there to point me in the right direction? I previously auto-xed a Civic coupe (HS) and an E36 M3 (BS) quite a few years ago; thought I would take it up as a hobby/driver training tool again...

thegolffather

I have an AP1 with AP2 wheels and I am in the same scenario as you. I think a square set-up would be better but still researching

Chuck S

The OEM 17" wheels fit the earlier model cars with no modifications to the wheels or car. A buddy has AP2V1 wheels on his MY02 car and they just bolted onto the car. Square tire setup may be better in a parking lot but will mess with your non-autocross handling with lots more oversteer (the '02 has plenty of oversteer already) and requires buggering the front fenders.

There are some spring and sway bar combinations you may be able to use to optimize autocross handling too. Honda put several different sets of these on cars over the years and they mix and match easily. Same for alignments.

Few of us can get full potential from the OEM cars so an immediate modification is not necessary. Run what ya brung and move incrementally from there. This ain't golf where we all know that a new set of clubs will solve everything regardless of how little we practice.

-- Chuck

Timmer

Thanks, Chuck and S2K632. I certainly agree that a hobbiest autocrosser will not get 100% of what the car can give. And I am not a candidate to go racing nor to try to attract sponsors for a resource-intensive commitment like that.

The chronic oversteer I am willing to learn how to better manage. Compared to my previous autocross cars, it is really snap-oversteer to me. Which can be fun or frustrating...so I don't want to make a change that makes it worse either on the street or in a parking lot.

Thought the larger wheels may improve ride quality on the street. I have stock-sized Dunlop Direzza Star Spec's on it (it came with a mixed mess of all-season tires), so I am sure the tire stiffness contributes significantly to ride quality on such a light car - and our lousy road surfaces. Which stick pretty darned well, and predictably, the few times I have been able to dodge cones so far.

Good to know - I will consider the AP2 wheels and maybe some alternative sway bars going forward (Gendron's operation is just up north from me in Monson, MA, for example). Need to get more seat time first. But I have better direction now - thanks again!

Timmer