Tire options...

[V8EATR]

Hello all. I have a PP GT with diff bushing inserts, cradle lockout, RLCA bearings, toe link bearings, vertical links. After speaking with BMR I do have a set of SP080's going on the stock struts in spring. Car is a semi daily that will see occasional track use. I see a lot of people running square setups. I prefer to keep the OEM wheels. Car has the stock Pirelli's up front and Dunlop Sport Max RT's out back. When its time to swap tires, what would you all recommend? Getting another set of rear PP wheels and running 275 or 285 all around? Something else? Thanks.

Also I'm not a track rat and don't care to swap pads or alignment settings or wheels just for the track so I'm not looking to set any records here. I just personally feel the car could use a bit more tire in the front.

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[BmacIL]

Yeah try and grab another pair of rear wheels. They'll fit on the front with a 5 mm spacer. I'd recommend 285/35R19 all around. You'll really enjoy the car with the addition of springs and more front tire.

 

[johnson.ba]

I run 275/40/19 BFG sport comp 2's all around on my pp rims. I do need a 5mm spacer up front because the tire rubs the strut. My car is stock besides an mgw and it has been great the two times i've been on track with it.

If you got two more rear wheels and put em up front you could run 285 square with a spacer.

 

[NightmareMoon]

Agreed, 285 square works pretty well.

Most street tires aren't going to tolerate too many sessions of hard track driving (or bad track driving), so make your tire selection very carefully.

 

[AlbertD]

I agree, that the most cost effective route would be to acquire another set of rear wheels to run up front.

I used to run 285/35/19 Michelin PS4S all around for street/track and they held up exceptionally well. If you can afford it, I would highly recommend those tires.

Another tip, that hasn't been mentioned... I know you said you don't want to mess with alignment, but if you do plan to start going to the track more often you should really invest in some adjustable camber plates. If you run stock camber on track you will prematurely wear the outside edges of your tires which in the long run is going to be less cost effective versus getting the camber plates and adjusting when you go to the track. I am lowered 1" with Steeda Linears... with the camber plates fully pulled out I am well within factory alignment... at the track I push the camber plate in fully for max negative camber and the tire wear is great. The camber adjustment doesn't take more than a few minutes... essentially jack up the front of the vehicle, loosen the camber plate mounting nuts, push/pull to make adjustment and retorque the camber plate... easy peasy and it will save your tires.

 

[Radiation Joe]

I feel the suspension of these cars is very similar to the e9x M3 BMWs, of which I had two. I had wider fronts on both and it made a huge difference. Putting a larger footprint in the front is a great first step for these cars. 285s on the right width wheels will be good. Do it! You've already started addressing the other suspension limitations.

 

[NightmareMoon]

Having just destroyed an RE71R around 50% of it's normal life from inadequate camber (and too narrow of a wheel), I'd say the camber plates pay for themselves almost immediately.

 

[Stuntman]

Short of a PS4S, go with this:

http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticles/ID/4456/TESTED-Continental-Tire-ExtremeContact-Sport.aspx

 

[Static_LV]

Up to this point, I have been grabbing Pirelli P Zero take-offs from local tire shops. (Thank you to all the Mustang drivers who think that the stock tires suck and swap them out in less than 1k miles). They might not be the fastest tire available but they are plenty capable and I'm not yet a good enough driver for it to make that big of a difference. Depending on the shop, I have been able to grab these from Free-$100/set of four which makes getting some track time pretty reasonable. I am really really disappointed that Ford went to the Michelin Pilot Super Sports on the 2018 because that is going to completely ruin my cheap track tire source :(

 

[JohnD]

Up to this point, I have been grabbing Pirelli P Zero take-offs from local tire shops. (Thank you to all the Mustang drivers who think that the stock tires suck and swap them out in less than 1k miles). They might not be the fastest tire available but they are plenty capable and I'm not yet a good enough driver for it to make that big of a difference. Depending on the shop, I have been able to grab these from Free-$100/set of four which makes getting some track time pretty reasonable. I am really really disappointed that Ford went to the Michelin Pilot Super Sports on the 2018 because that is going to completely ruin my cheap track tire source :(

Good plan. I think the P Zeros in the performance pack get a lot of crap dumped on them that's not factually borne out on the track. Last track day I did there were 2 other PP1 Mustangs there. One guy could drive very well and he and I ran a dozen or so laps together, I had to work way harder than I should have had to in order to keep him 5 or 10 car lengths back. I have aftermarket 10"/11" wheels with 285/305 Nitto 555 G2s.

When I pushed I could pull away a few lengths every lap, but he was not losing much ground at all. There was no sign of ugly wear on the P Zeros afterwards, they were not rolling over in the corners. Both of these cars are unmodified, his totally stock mine just has the wheels/tires. This guy could drive, or rather, was smart enough to not OVERDRIVE, which seems to be a big problem with a lot of people. Excessively sliding tires do not make grip.

 

[BmacIL]

Good plan. I think the P Zeros in the performance pack get a lot of crap dumped on them that's not factually borne out on the track. Last track day I did there were 2 other PP1 Mustangs there. One guy could drive very well and he and I ran a dozen or so laps together, I had to work way harder than I should have had to in order to keep him 5 or 10 car lengths back. I have aftermarket 10"/11" wheels with 285/305 Nitto 555 G2s.

When I pushed I could pull away a few lengths every lap, but he was not losing much ground at all. There was no sign of ugly wear on the P Zeros afterwards, they were not rolling over in the corners. Both of these cars are unmodified, his totally stock mine just has the wheels/tires. This guy could drive, or rather, was smart enough to not OVERDRIVE, which seems to be a big problem with a lot of people. Excessively sliding tires do not make grip.

The crap they get is for their street manners. Lots of wheel hop and chatter and below 60 F they're very skittish (if it's damp, especially bad). On the track, where they can get hot, they're not half bad. I expect those kind of behaviors out of an RE71R or Sport Cup 2, any street legal track tire, but the Pzero is OE equipment for a street car, very much primarily driven on the street. It's easily outclassed by many, many tires for grip there.

 

[OKC S550]

I agree, that the most cost effective route would be to acquire another set of rear wheels to run up front.

I used to run 285/35/19 Michelin PS4S all around for street/track and they held up exceptionally well. If you can afford it, I would highly recommend those tires.

Another tip, that hasn't been mentioned... I know you said you don't want to mess with alignment, but if you do plan to start going to the track more often you should really invest in some adjustable camber plates. If you run stock camber on track you will prematurely wear the outside edges of your tires which in the long run is going to be less cost effective versus getting the camber plates and adjusting when you go to the track. I am lowered 1" with Steeda Linears... with the camber plates fully pulled out I am well within factory alignment... at the track I push the camber plate in fully for max negative camber and the tire wear is great. The camber adjustment doesn't take more than a few minutes... essentially jack up the front of the vehicle, loosen the camber plate mounting nuts, push/pull to make adjustment and retorque the camber plate... easy peasy and it will save your tires.

Are you eye-balling the camber adjustments? How do you account for the affect on toe?

 

[AlbertD]

Are you eye-balling the camber adjustments? How do you account for the affect on toe?

So for street... camber plates pulled all the way out (away from car) gives me -1.3 camber on both sides. I run 0 toe at this camber.

For track... I push the camber plates all the way in, minus a hair so they are not in contact with the shock tower... I'm not sure how much negative camber it gets me, but tire wear has been within 1/32 deviation after 6-7 track events thus far. The tracks I run are shorter with more aggressive/tighter turns... so this camber seems to work well.

From what I understand, adding negative camber promotes toe out... I'm not sure how much toe out I'm getting by going full negative on the adjustment, but... on track the turn in and steering response is feels great to me.

I do plan on buying the Longacre camber gauge eventually so I can keep better statistics of how the car reacts to various camber adjustments.

 

[JohnD]

The crap they get is for their street manners. Lots of wheel hop and chatter and below 60 F they're very skittish (if it's damp, especially bad). On the track, where they can get hot, they're not half bad. I expect those kind of behaviors out of an RE71R or Sport Cup 2, any street legal track tire, but the Pzero is OE equipment for a street car, very much primarily driven on the street. It's easily outclassed by many, many tires for grip there.

No doubt, but the OPs comment was getting take offs for $100 a set, and that's a hell of a deal for a tire that works pretty well on track, from what I've seen. If the goal is to get maximum laps at minimum cost he's got a good plan.

 

[Norm Peterson]

$100/set was somebody else.

OP wants a tire that's reasonably capable of street duty without any restrictions in addition to being at least adequate for a little track time. Ford may be implying that they think the P-Zero fills the street side of the bill by fitting that as an OE tire, but more than a few people disagree.


Norm

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