Tire recommendation for autocross

[BuickMike231]

I ran my first autocross yesterday with my car and I had a blast. It's all stock right now but it was good to get a baseline drive with it. The thing that really held me back was the tires, they are complete crap. I've got the stock wheels with some knockoff no name tires that didn't grab at all (they were on the car when I got it). The tires are 235/60/15's, so my question is, what's a good tire and size to use with the stock size rim (I've got the stock 87 GN's and a set of 84 T-Type wheels too) that's still pretty sticky. I've seen some decent tires in a 225/50/15 size but I've never really seen one that size so I can't picture it on the car. Alot of the really good sticky tires don't come in many 15'' sizes either, so I was wondering if any of you have had experience with this. Any help would be great, thanks!

 

[84TXGN]

I would try to fit a 245/50/15 or something like all the way around. Then go with azenis, BFG KDW, Hankook Ventus, or Michelin Pilot sports. MY personal preference is the michelins.

 

[BuickMike231]

Ok thanks for the quick reply! I've not really looked into the 245's at all, so I'll check those out! Thanks again!

 

[84TXGN]

This is all assuming you wanted street tires. There are tons of autox drag radials and r-compound tires out there for autox but I wouldn't use them on the street.

 

[BuickMike231]

Right, yeah I'm not really looking for a tire to leave on all the time. I would most likely leave the crappy no names on for street driving for now, and use the good ones for autocrossing. This way they'll last longer and I can get a bit more of an aggressive tire as well.

 

[84TXGN]

If you can use R-compound tires in the class you are trying to run and don't plan to keep the autox tires on the car all the time then I would deffinately go for the R-compounds. They will help out a lot. Check The Tire Rack - Your performance experts for tires and wheels for their selection of autox race tires.

 

[BuickMike231]

I'm running in F-Stock right now for the autocross, and I believe R compound is allowed in stock classes. It seems like there aren't too many tires available in that size, but there are a couple of R compound race slicks or super high performance tires. I'll probably end up going with those, just need to save up some cash since they're not too cheap!

 

[84TXGN]

yea, f-stock allows R-compounds and thats what I would go with. Your next trip to the autox should be fun if you have those.

 

[turbofish38]

I've done the R-compounds in F-stock. Seems like 20 years ago because it was that long ago. Okay do not run those 245's on the front. They will rub, they will understeer,they will screw up the steering response. If it was me I'd run the 225/50 on the front and maybe a 235/60 on the rear. Weight balance is just plain crappy. To keep the car from plowing you're going to have to induce oversteer with the throttle, hence a tire that will slide on the back and one that wont roll over on the front.

Here's my opinion. Dont waste your money on the R-compounds. Try to race in a street tire class. Your G-body is always going to be second or third on the podium no matter what tire or how good of a driver you are. You still have to race against Camarobirds,Mustangs and the ocassional DSM AWD Turbo in F-stock. And the G-body cant match any of those handling wise, stock for stock, mod to mod. I racked my brains for a couple of years in FS before I moved up to ESP for some more agravation. I finally got my local region to incorporate a street tire class that ran on a PAX system so I didn't have to dump a ton of money into my car. Instead of buying a set of R-compounds every year for the same amount of money I ran the same tires for three seasons. My GN is more or less worn out. I haven't ran it in an autocross going on 7 years now. I like to have fun with it, but its no fun breaking parts and wasting money.

Someday I'll have to tell you the story of how I built a Regal to run in HS. Yep thats right. A real Civic killer! There is little joy in running in the class that is considered to be at the bottom of the food chain IMO.:biggrin:

 

[turbofish38]

Here's a pic of mine with 225/50s on the front. Thats a 8" wide wheel on the front and not the stock 7".

 

[84TXGN]

I've done the R-compounds in F-stock. Seems like 20 years ago because it was that long ago. Okay do not run those 245's on the front. They will rub, they will understeer,they will screw up the steering response. If it was me I'd run the 225/50 on the front and maybe a 235/60 on the rear. Weight balance is just plain crappy. To keep the car from plowing you're going to have to induce oversteer with the throttle, hence a tire that will slide on the back and one that wont roll over on the front.

Here's my opinion. Dont waste your money on the R-compounds. Try to race in a street tire class. Your G-body is always going to be second or third on the podium no matter what tire or how good of a driver you are. You still have to race against Camarobirds,Mustangs and the ocassional DSM AWD Turbo in F-stock. And the G-body cant match any of those handling wise, stock for stock, mod to mod. I racked my brains for a couple of years in FS before I moved up to ESP for some more agravation. I finally got my local region to incorporate a street tire class that ran on a PAX system so I didn't have to dump a ton of money into my car. Instead of buying a set of R-compounds every year for the same amount of money I ran the same tires for three seasons. My GN is more or less worn out. I haven't ran it in an autocross going on 7 years now. I like to have fun with it, but its no fun breaking parts and wasting money.

Someday I'll have to tell you the story of how I built a Regal to run in HS. Yep thats right. A real Civic killer! There is little joy in running in the class that is considered to be at the bottom of the food chain IMO.:biggrin:

Good points. I wasn't even thinking when I said 245s all around. IF he was going to do suspension mods that wouldn't be a problem but then he wouldn't exactly be in f-stock. :redface:

I used to do well in my GN at autocrosses when it was still hot air powered. I was always second to one of those damn AWD talons though...

 

[BuickMike231]

Great info guys, thanks a bunch! I was looking at the 225/50's but had never seen them on a car like ours before so I was worried they'd look too small. I've got 235/60's all around right now, so maybe I'll look into a set of good 225/50's up front and stay with a 235/60 in the back like you said. I hadn't really thought of that. Any other input or firsthand experience would be great! And I would love to hear about the H-Stock Regal sometime too!

 

[BuickMike231]

Hey Turbofish38, badass stance on your car by the way. Would you recommend an 8'' wide wheel or could I get away with the stock 7''?

 

[BuickMike231]

I've been doing some searching and it's looking like it's very tough to find a decent tire that's available in a 225/50 and 235/60. Would it be wise to mix and match tires? I'd much rather keep all four the same, or at least similar, but it seems that the 235/60 is a weird size for performance tires. I can find alot of tires I like in the 225/50 size but not many in the other. Just wondering what you've run on your cars. What size are the rears in that picture of your car with the 225's up front?

 

[BuickMike231]

I just found BFG G-Force Sports that come in 225/50 and 225/60, but I'm not sure that would be enough of a difference to induce the throttle oversteer that Turbofish was talking about. Any ideas on that combo?

 

[turbofish38]

Go with the 225 on the stock wheels all the way around. I think you still can find those in a soft street compound in the 140-200 range as that size was used on a lot of imports. I did squeeze by for a few years running some stock widened wheels that were 8 inch wide. The GN or any G-body has a great advantage because aint nobody is an expert on them. Everybody knows how to cheat with an import so its hard to get away with the obvious. Ask someone what is stock on a G-body and you'll get blank stares. These so called sports car experts think the GNX has twin turbos after all.

 

[BuickMike231]

HAHAHA Yeah this is true, I have heard the GNX Twin Turbo thing. I was actually thinking about that too the other day as well, that nobody really knows these cars that well. When I was getting teched in at the autocross two weeks ago, the guy doing it stops and looks at me and says..."you know, I ain't ever seen one of these in person before....just on the internet!" I guess people really don't know these cars too well yet, lucky for us! I was thinking about going with the 225's all the way around just because it's easier to find instead of matching sizes and alot more tires come in it. I was told awhile ago it'll look too small on the car, but I'm only running them at autocrosses, so it should be ok I guess. Thanks again for the feedback!! I'll keep you posted when I actually buy something.

 

[BuickMike231]

I'm think I'm going to end up going with the BFGoodrich G-Force T/A KD's. I didn't really want to go to a full slick type tire since they're all close to 200 bucks a tire. These KD's still aren't cheap but I think they'll last longer than slicks too, especially since I'm not going to run them all the time, just at autocrosses and racing events. Anybody have any experience with those tires? They look pretty awesome and seem to be a pretty good deal for what I'm looking for. Just have to save up to get them now.....