Great thing about 1 gen s550's.. super reliable with 700-750 hp & it'll always be 'smiles per gallon'. Cheers.
Good thing is either way they are far lighter and priced well. The new 555R ii are available in both 19 and 20 (555r predecessor was not available in 19) so you have good options for the rear in either size. If I were to do it again now I'd go 19 just for shorter tire. But the concave on the 20 is deeper if you are more interested in the look.
Roush CAI and canned tune. It came on the car when I bought it used 2 years ago. I daily drive it and even though I haven't put many miles on it (12k in 2+ years) I can't imagine supercharging it. You're right, a manual is the way to go because they are so much fun...it's the reason I bought this car. I just think that the car has plenty of pep already and anything I do to it should increase the "fun factor", which means suspension and wheels/tires. I just don't have any idea where to start.
If you want the car to be nimble, do some more suspension work. Springs alone wont get you there. Read up or hit up Brian, he is pretty knowledgeable in this area. Also the car is plenty quick, just need some suspension work and you can take plenty of corners at speed, which gives that thrill of speed.
It's also nice when a N/A s550 hands any boosted 3-valve it's butt. haha
Awesome thanks for the input man! All great points.Roush CAI and canned tune. It came on the car when I bought it used 2 years ago. I daily drive it and even though I haven't put many miles on it (12k in 2+ years) I can't imagine supercharging it. You're right, a manual is the way to go because they are so much fun...it's the reason I bought this car. I just think that the car has plenty of pep already and anything I do to it should increase the "fun factor", which means suspension and wheels/tires. I just don't have any idea where to start.
If I wanted big power I would probably just say "screw it" and trade it in towards a 13-14 GT500 rather than supercharge my S550.
I've also been a member of SVTP for a loooong time (like 2008?). Love it over there but recently created an account here after many years of lurking.
I agree with everything here. Lots to be said for taking corners at speed, I guess I’m just old school as I get a bigger thrill out of pure acceleration as opposed to lateral acceleration. Corners are fun and I love that too, but I wanna be able to stomp it and it pull like a mutha. Probably a little spoiled with past S/C cars (termi and 17psi Novi on a 2V). My car as it is does pull good, I just feel like I’d like a little more. I’ve had 550whp in the past and I thought it was about perfect. All that said, I realize you can’t have it all, especially if budget and reliability are a concern. Which is why if I could get to 450whp NA (within reason on budget) I’d just do that and then work on wheels, tires, etc.
I'd probably do the following mods, all at the same time:
PP2 wheels are even heavier than PP1 wheels. For comparison, SVE R355 or R350 wheels are only 23-24 lbs. PP1 wheels are ~ 33 lbs each.
Keep in mind tire weight (rotational mass far from the center of the wheel) and width adding to rolling resistance. Getting a lighter wheel then putting a bigger, heavier tire on it is counter productive. The tire affects rotational inertia even more than the wheel since ALL of its weight is far from the center of the tire. You don't really need very wide tires up front unless you're tracking it. Michelin has tire weight for every size on their website. I wouldn't go 285 up front - 265s should be more than adequate and weigh about the same as the 255s. Same thing in back - consider weight but I understand the extra width may help traction -- unless you go with a smaller diameter tire then you'll have less traction than a slightly narrower but taller tire. This is because the longer patch length on the taller tire adds square inches to the contact patch.
