I just put my new setup on today I like thale way it looks but it is not really practical. 17x11+37 with 275/40 and 9.5+22 with 255/40 toyo r888. They are fu@$ing huge. I should have looked more into how bulky r comp tires are. Lol. I didn't experience any issues with it being slugish since I'm at 450 whp. I can defiantly tell they grip much better then the last set of tires I had on the street I couldn't get the ass end to break loose in second lol. I really don't know near as much about tire setups as the rest of the guys on here but I can tell you that if you ran the r888 275/40 on your 9.5 wheel it will be so bulgy I think it would potentially take away from what you are going for. They are bulgy on my 11 inch wheel. Also I have j's front fenders and there is no room for much of anything with the 255 on there. I know your offset is 7 mm higher then mine but spoon fenders are not as wide as the j's though so it would be extremely tough to fit anything wider in an r comp tire then a 255

 

I am 48 years old -Club raced open class Superbike for years , Did some Club racing with a track modified 933Turbo with 550BHP.Spent lots of time over 150, I have sufficient motorsport experience.
This Car im building with my 16year old Son to teach him how to drive and build sport cars. It will be his daily driver ,The engine will be unmodified with exception of a cold air intake and exhaust the suspension ,wheels ,Tires ,brakes will be first rate.The Body will be modified to accomodate the wider stance. I will teach him how to club race on the California circuits .I plan on romping Laguna Seca with it myself on slicks. Cheers .

 

Thanks for that insite on your set up. So if I understand you right the 255/40 17 R- 40 wear spec street tire will be the widest option . I have decided to run the 255/40/17 on 9.5" wheels all the way around, so it looks like my spoon fenders will need some widening which is not a problem . Are the slicks in a 255/40 wider than the R comp 40 to 100 wear tires ? I want to buy the widest R Comp or slick mount them up ,Setup the suspension height and camber then modify the body to perfectly fit. So if i start out with the meatiest 255 tire in either a slick or R com Ill be covered in the clearance category for all the various types of race and street tire combinations.

 

I am 48 years old -Club raced open class Superbike for years , Did some Club racing with a track modified 933Turbo with 550BHP.Spent lots of time over 150, I have sufficient motorsport experience.
This Car im building with my 16year old Son to teach him how to drive and build sport cars. It will be his daily driver ,The engine will be unmodified with exception of a cold air intake and exhaust the suspension ,wheels ,Tires ,brakes will be first rate.The Body will be modified to accomodate the wider stance. I will teach him how to club race on the California circuits .I plan on romping Laguna Seca with it myself on slicks. Cheers .
[/quote]

Sounds like you're at home on a track.

Im not sure if you were saying that your son would also be driving the car with slicks, but you were then I have a few points I would like you to consider. (The following is my personal opinion, I am not trying to tell you how to spend your money and you are more than welcome to completely ignore it since you are his father and the one spending the money here) I would not start your son off on slicks for several reasons. The extra grip will teach him bad habits, almost all of them having to do with being smooth. Learning how to drive on lower grip street tires is the best way since you have to be smooth to go fast and it is easier to just learn good habits from the start than it is to try and correct old bad habits in the future. More importantly the likelihood of your son crashing the car will be much higher on slicks then on street tires. They are called velcro tires for a reason- once they let go they are very hard to catch... you can see how this would be a problem for a less experienced driver. Conversely, a street tire will have less of a drop in friction when the slip angles start to get big (ever wonder why professional drifters use the same street tires that most people on here are recommending) making the loss of grip slower, less extreme, and ultimately easier to recover.

Any of the EPS or EHP tires like the R-S3, RE-11A, AD-08, XS, 595 RSR, ZII, R1R, NT-05, and RT-615K will be the best tires to learn and develop on. I have been on them since I started tracking in December of 2010 and have placed personal goals for myself and the car before I move to anything more aggressive. To me at least, more grip doesn't necessarily translate into more fun. I love that my R-S3s and RE-11s can be fed large slip angels on demand.

On a side note I am from the bay area but attend college at Chico State University. I visit Thunderhill Raceway a lot since it's only 40 minutes from my house in Chico but I do drive at other tracks like Buttonwillow, Sonoma Raceway and Laguna Seca as well. I hope to see you and your son out there sometime soon

 

I am 48 years old -Club raced open class Superbike for years , Did some Club racing with a track modified 933Turbo with 550BHP.Spent lots of time over 150, I have sufficient motorsport experience.
This Car im building with my 16year old Son to teach him how to drive and build sport cars. It will be his daily driver ,The engine will be unmodified with exception of a cold air intake and exhaust the suspension ,wheels ,Tires ,brakes will be first rate.The Body will be modified to accomodate the wider stance. I will teach him how to club race on the California circuits .I plan on romping Laguna Seca with it myself on slicks. Cheers .
[/quote]

Sounds like you're at home on a track.

Im not sure if you were saying that your son would also be driving the car with slicks, but you were then I have a few points I would like you to consider. (The following is my personal opinion, I am not trying to tell you how to spend your money and you are more than welcome to completely ignore it since you are his father and the one spending the money here) I would not start your son off on slicks for several reasons. The extra grip will teach him bad habits, almost all of them having to do with being smooth. Learning how to drive on lower grip street tires is the best way since you have to be smooth to go fast and it is easier to just learn good habits from the start than it is to try and correct old bad habits in the future. More importantly the likelihood of your son crashing the car will be much higher on slicks then on street tires. They are called velcro tires for a reason- once they let go they are very hard to catch... you can see how this would be a problem for a less experienced driver. Conversely, a street tire will have less of a drop in friction when the slip angles start to get big (ever wonder why professional drifters use the same street tires that most people on here are recommending) making the loss of grip slower, less extreme, and ultimately easier to recover.

Any of the EPS or EHP tires like the R-S3, RE-11A, AD-08, XS, 595 RSR, ZII, R1R, NT-05, and RT-615K will be the best tires to learn and develop on. I have been on them since I started tracking in December of 2010 and have placed personal goals for myself and the car before I move to anything more aggressive. To me at least, more grip doesn't necessarily translate into more fun. I love that my R-S3s and RE-11s can be fed large slip angels on demand.

On a side note I am from the bay area but attend college at Chico State University. I visit Thunderhill Raceway a lot since it's only 40 minutes from my house in Chico but I do drive at other tracks like Buttonwillow, Sonoma Raceway and Laguna Seca as well. I hope to see you and your son out there sometime soon
[/quote]

Great advise Thanks ! , I actually had a inverse Idea on what was Ideal for the street . I was thinking for the street to have him run on the stickiest compound out here so if God for bid he mad a mistake there would be a greater window for recovery before the tires let go. I think your correct on the suggestion on track tires for him in the beginning. I had so much fun with slicks on my last car I wanted to trade off on running hot laps with him. After talking it through I like the idea of working up to slicks with him slowly . It will give me something to look forward to .

 

FWIW, plenty of successful stock class s2000 autoX efforts have run 275/40-17s on stock-width 8.5" rear and even on 7"(!) front wheels.

275 is going to give a bit more ultimate lateral grip vs 255, and is a good fitment on 9.5" wheels.
Gearing is affected though, already brought up. May or may not be an issue depending on the track, autoX layout, intended application, clearance.

For the track, I'd be looking at Hoosier 275/35-17

 

You realize of course that this combination is used because stock wheels have to be used for the class, and that this is a compromise. If you’re not subject to class rules, there is no need to make the compromise to run more rubber. So the term "successful" should be used sparingly here. I can successfully drift an s2k, but that doesn’t make it the best drift car. Run the proper width wheel for the tire width. 275 on a 7" is down right ridiculous, I couldn’t imagine how horrid that must handle. 8.5" would be compromising enough. If your not limited to rules, run 275mm rim width or the nearest equivalent, that goes for any performance tire, period.

 

So based on this, is it ideal to run 205 on 8", 215 on 8.5", 225/235 on 9", 245 on 9.5", and 255 on 10"?

 

*Every* setup is a compromise.
He has 9.5" wheels, and he wants maximum cornering g's. 275s would be the way to go.

I certainly wouldn't recommend it! That isn't a "normal" front fitment for stock class AP2 autoX, but 245/40-17 is.

In most cases (including this one), people aren't buying wheels to fit tires, they're buying tires to fit wheels. He has 9.5" wheels, he wants maximum lateral grip. Barring other considerations, 275 or, hell, even 295/35 Hoosiers would be the way to go.

Of course there usually are other considerations, like clearance, gearing, $$$, streetability, tire life, etc.

 

You're very welcome.

Since you are not as familiar with car tires as Im sure you are with motorcycle tires Ill throw a little more knowledge your way. There are three "levels" of R-comps with each level being a little faster but giving up longevity (both wear and heat cycling).
Level 1 R-compound tire: NT01, RA1, R888, A048, PSC, TD, R-C1
Level 2 R-compound tire: R6, V700, R1
Level 3 R-compound tire: V710, A6, C91, R1S

Although all of the tires mentioned here are technically street legal, none of them were designed to perform at all on the street. The only time any of these tires should be driven on the street is to and from the track. Since they are all "for competition use only" they will actually have less grip when cold (street temps) than any of the EPS tires. Something else to consider is that the difference in lap times is only around 4 or so seconds between an R-S3 and a Hoosier A6 on a typical 2 minute road course (if you are driving the car to 95% or more of its abilities). An R-S3 is only about a second or so off the pace of an NT01, a level 2 r-comp is only about a second faster than a level 1 r-comp, and a level 3 is only about 2 seconds faster than a level 2 r-comp. If you are just starting out, these time differences will be much smaller. Not sure if cost is a concern to you, but a level 2 or 3 r-comp will only be at its fastest for the first 5 or so heat cycles (sessions) meaning they will get a little slower and harder to drive on after as little as one track day. Plus they would physically wear out much faster than the street tires and will be a couple hundred dollars more expensive per set.

You will find that almost all the S2000s you see at the track are using R-S3s or some other EHP tire with a few using NT01 or R888 but really nothing more. The only guys that spend the money for Hoosiers and other level 1 or 2 r-comps are the NASA TT guys who need them to be competitive in their class. But due to cost and life expectancy they are not a very good "track day" tire. Starting on street tires and working up is definitely the right choice. I may try a set of NT-01s coming up here but its hard to beat the value and fun of today's street tires, plus almost everyone I compete with is using street tires so it keeps the playing field even. Hope that helps clear a few things up and reinforces your decision.