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      06-18-2018, 02:12 PM   #1
Joe731
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Best Track Tires for M235i

I would like to track my M235i, and want the best track tires possible. My normal track car is a Porsche GT3RS and I run Hoosier R7s and like them a lot. The M235 is my backup track car and will likely see 5-8 track days/year. I have over 100 track days in total and am a national PCA instructor, so I have some experience and am completely comfortable with R compound tires.

Since sizes are so much smaller on the BMW, grip is more important than cost to me, so I am looking at a few options as follows in order of preference.

In any case, I would trailer the car to the track, so streetability is not a factor, and I would likely set camber at 2.5 up front zero toe and 2.25 rear at 1/16 in each side.

1.) Buy TR C4 17*8 with a 40mm offset wheels and mount Hoosier R7s in 245/40/17 square. Highest grip, highest cost, unknown chance of rubbing/fitment issues. Anyone running these?

2.) Use existing snow tire wheels 17*7.5 and run Hoosier R7s in 225/45/17 square (obviously less grip), would need to mount/dismount snows 1X per season

3.) Use my existing BMW 18" staggered wheels and run Hankook Ventus Z214s at 225/40/18 and 245/35/18 (same size tires as stock). The thing I like about this option is it seems to minimize the likelihood of rubbing, but it's not square, so there will be more understeer, I would also need to dismount my street tires and swap these in every time I track the car, and I have no experience with the Z214s

Looking for some informed opinions ... Thanks in advance
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      06-18-2018, 05:20 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe731 View Post
Looking for some informed opinions ... Thanks in advance
As I don't pick up my M240i until tomorrow, these are opinions uninformed by ownership of the car. They are instead informed by a couple of hundred track days, mostly run in a pro-built race car looked after by a shop owned by a fellow with decades of pro racing experience.

1) Hoosier recommends a tread width +/- 1" of the wheel width. The tread width of the 245/40-17 R7 is 9.7". I don't remember the word/phrase for what this will do to the tire, but you'll have a tire that is crowned or rounded on the wheel. That is, the tread won't be flat once the tire is mounted; it may look flat, but if you place a framing square up against the sidewall and the tread you'll see the effect. That's the process by which I was strongly encouraged not to run tires too wide for the wheels, even though I had no trouble bringing those tires up to their recommended temperature range.

2) Successful club racers and TT drivers that I've seen running 225/45-17 DOT-R compound tires were most frequently driving cars in the 2,600-3,100# / 185-225 RWHP range. It's my opinion that this car's weight and power call for something in the 245-265 range, with 245 being the very minimum if you want to be able to lean hard on the car. With all the trouble you're going to, I'm assuming that's what you want to do.

3) I won't go there.

Since I don't have the car yet, what I can offer no insight into is wheel and tire fitment on the car. I'm calling Bimmerworld next week to find out what they know about the F22. My fallback is Turner Motorsports. I'd like to hear that I can run 17 X 9.5s with 255/40-17 Nitto NT01s; I have a strong suspicion that any more tire than the "tweener" NT01 will overmatch the stock suspension.

The little I've gleaned in this regard from this forum tells me that I may well be looking at running a 17 X 9 with 235/40-17 NT01s. That's okay in my case, as my principal reason for going to the track is to instruct. All I need for that is a setup that allows me to safely run 6-7 10ths - demonstrating the line to advanced+ students is what I'm doing out there these days.

I realize that I have strong opinions - hopefully they're of some benefit.

I see you're in NY - where do you run?
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      06-18-2018, 06:24 PM   #3
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Thanks

Thanks for the input.

As you say the R7s 245/40/17 has a 9.7" tread width, and using your +/-1, one shouldn't really use a rim on less than 9", yet their spec have a rim width of 8-9.5 with a measured rim width of 8.5" Is the +/-1 safety or max performance?

Trying solve for that problem and the load issue, I could go with R7s square at 245/40/18 with a tread width of 9" on an 18*8" rim and be within the +/-1" and pick up some load rating (e.g., 1,168 vs 1,235). With this setup, I think the rears will fit, but am a little worried about the fronts. I will need to do some measurements this weekend.

As for tracks in NY, Watkins Glen is my home track, then NJMSP, and I have been to Lime Rock, but am not the biggest fan -- too many trains on a short track with limited passing zones.

Thanks again
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      06-18-2018, 09:05 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe731 View Post
Thanks for the input.

As you say the R7s 245/40/17 has a 9.7" tread width, and using your +/-1, one shouldn't really use a rim on less than 9", yet their spec have a rim width of 8-9.5 with a measured rim width of 8.5" Is the +/-1 safety or max performance?

Trying solve for that problem and the load issue, I could go with R7s square at 245/40/18 with a tread width of 9" on an 18*8" rim and be within the +/-1" and pick up some load rating (e.g., 1,168 vs 1,235). With this setup, I think the rears will fit, but am a little worried about the fronts. I will need to do some measurements this weekend.

As for tracks in NY, Watkins Glen is my home track, then NJMSP, and I have been to Lime Rock, but am not the biggest fan -- too many trains on a short track with limited passing zones.

Thanks again
It's max performance - that was the sole focus of a conversation I had with the Hoosier tire engineer who offered me that rule of thumb.

This page on Tire Rack's website explains that it's the tire industry that decides the measured rim width for a given tire size: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret...jsp?techid=199. In looking at the competition tires on the Rack's site, the section widths range from 9.6" - 10.3". Curiously, the H2O Wet shows a measured rim width of 8.0".

My sense of it is that for track work the +/- 1" rule is a good one for us to follow. There's another rule of thumb in this context: a narrower tire on wider wheel trumps a wider tire on narrower wheel. The idea is that you'll have more tread contacting the surface of the track, and that wider tread will be more stable as it's stretched tight across the width of the wheel. Note that autocrossers are inclined to do the opposite, often to what seem like extremes.

I'm not sure how much load rating matters here, as all of the tires you're likely to consider would seem to have plenty of load capacity. That might be something to discuss with the Rack; my experience has been that they're able and willing to answer just about any question you might pose to them, and in plain English, too.

I've read other members' comments pointing out that spacers are sometimes needed up front. As I say, though, I have no personal experience with the car yet. There is always the possibility that you will need to roll the front fenders to accomodate a wider tire.

From a safety perspective, this car's weight and power argue for a wide tire when running on a high-speed, heavy-braking track like the Glen. FWIW, I have a feeling you can make 245s work.

So that the rest of us can learn more about tracking this car, please let us know what you choose to do, how your build progresses, and what worked and didn't work for you.

Good luck with it!
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      06-18-2018, 10:37 PM   #5
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For maximum grip and a tyre that will fit at 2-3 deg of camber on a 2-series I would use a Pirelli DM (medium compound) slick. I’ve used this tyre on my Caterham and found it to be superior to the Hoosier full radial slick, which is a bit higher grip than the R7. They are difficult to find in North America, but Frisby Tire have them in 245/645-18 DM size (closer to 255 wide on a 9” rim, but on an 18x8” rim should be close to 245 wide). Diameter wise they are slightly larger than a 245/35-18, but less than 245/40-18: https://shop.frisbyracetire.com/prod...4&categoryId=2
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      06-20-2018, 06:00 PM   #6
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Welcome! With so much track experience I'm surprised you're asking for tire compound recommendations.


As for sizes:
With your planned alignment spec and with maximum grip being your goal you could probably get away with a 255 tire up front and a 265 in the rear (depending on tire brand) with a 9" wide wheel up front and a 9.5" in the rear. Would require the correct offsets obviously and not square.

If you want a true square setup with your planned alignment spec you'll be limited to a 9" wide wheel and 255 or 265 tire (depending on brand).

Any of the above options will require a combination of:
front camber plates
coilovers
custom spring up front for inner wheel clearance
Front spacer (maybe rear too)
Front fender roll

I run 255 square on 9.5" wheels and the exact alignment spec you're planning on running except I have 3* camber up front (I assume your rear toe is toe in). No rubbing. I would pick the RE71 over the NT01. I've ran both. Unless NT01 has a new compound out that i'm not aware of. Either tire is too much for the stock suspension and brake pad obviously; unless you don't mind driving around those short comings.

Last edited by Anthony235; 06-20-2018 at 06:07 PM..
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      06-24-2018, 03:41 PM   #7
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Good input

Thanks all. And please excuse me for thinking out loud, but the idea of tracking this car is new to me and I am still coming up to speed on what does/doesn't work, so I really need some help.

The M235 is my backup track car and does double duty as a weekend commuter car, so I don't want to go too far down the road of track over street.
In other words, the setup will be for both weekend commuting in they NYC area (read rough roads) and 3-4 trips a year to Watkins Glen. That said, I want to at least get to a decent camber setup and wider track tires as I think that will we worth the spend.

From what I have read above, the measurements I have taken in the garage, and what is posted on these forums, I am trying to narrow down the following:

1.) FRONT CAMBER/TOE: I want at to run -2.5 and zero toe, but to do so, I am under the impression that I need front camber plates as the stock setup cannot even dial -2.0 of camber in. Is that correct? If true, I am leaning toward Dinan Front camber plates: I read about the GC's and the Vorshlag, but lean toward the Dinan's as they seem to have more range (43MM total 30 negative and 13 positive from OEM) and thus can comfortably get to -2.5 degrees. For $650, they seem reasonable. I read about some problems they had with noise, but did the v2 fix that? Anyone strongly think there is a better camber plate and if so, why is the alternative better?

2.) REAR CAMBER/TOE: If -2.5 front, then -2.25 rear with 1/16" toe-in each side. I am under the impression that this can be done with the stock setup, correct?

3.) DEDICATED TRACK WHEELS SQUARE OR NOT SQUARE: It seems like the advantage of square is easy rotation across front and back as well as helping to dial out understeer, but to get those you need the same offset front and rear, which on this car is not the starting point and would thus need to be addressed with some front spacers (10-12MM) to get things to line up better. True? Non-square eliminates the convenience of front/rear rotation but gets rid of the need to address different ETs with spacers.

4.) For tires, I have run Hoosier R7s and R6s for years and like them. They only last 20 heat cycles and are not really streetable (though DOT legal), but the extra grip is worth it for me. Real race slicks as suggested above clearly have better grip, but I feel like that grip is wasted on stock springs and dampers and I am not ready to change out dampers/springs for a car I still street.

All of the above leads me to 18*8.5 ET 40 Square with 10MM spacers up front on Hoosier R7s in 245/35/18. But there don't seem to be a lot of options for 18*8.5 ET 40 with 5*120 pattern for our cars that are not expensive. Recommendations?

Finally, If I cannot find good 18*8.5s, I will go with the 18*8 ET 40s C4s that Tirerack makes, and run the same tires, even though I would be at the bottom of the tire maker's rim width recommendations.

All advice is welcome. Thanks in advance.
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      06-25-2018, 08:42 AM   #8
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Setup

Ugh,

Dinan is out of stock on the camber plates and most suppliers direct ship from Dinan. Best alternative? I really want to get to -2.5 degrees upfront.
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      06-25-2018, 10:08 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe731 View Post
Thanks all. And please excuse me for thinking out loud, but the idea of tracking this car is new to me and I am still coming up to speed on what does/doesn't work, so I really need some help.

The M235 is my backup track car and does double duty as a weekend commuter car, so I don't want to go too far down the road of track over street.
In other words, the setup will be for both weekend commuting in they NYC area (read rough roads) and 3-4 trips a year to Watkins Glen. That said, I want to at least get to a decent camber setup and wider track tires as I think that will we worth the spend.

From what I have read above, the measurements I have taken in the garage, and what is posted on these forums, I am trying to narrow down the following:

1.) FRONT CAMBER/TOE: I want at to run -2.5 and zero toe, but to do so, I am under the impression that I need front camber plates as the stock setup cannot even dial -2.0 of camber in. Is that correct? If true, I am leaning toward Dinan Front camber plates: I read about the GC's and the Vorshlag, but lean toward the Dinan's as they seem to have more range (43MM total 30 negative and 13 positive from OEM) and thus can comfortably get to -2.5 degrees. For $650, they seem reasonable. I read about some problems they had with noise, but did the v2 fix that? Anyone strongly think there is a better camber plate and if so, why is the alternative better?

2.) REAR CAMBER/TOE: If -2.5 front, then -2.25 rear with 1/16" toe-in each side. I am under the impression that this can be done with the stock setup, correct?

3.) DEDICATED TRACK WHEELS SQUARE OR NOT SQUARE: It seems like the advantage of square is easy rotation across front and back as well as helping to dial out understeer, but to get those you need the same offset front and rear, which on this car is not the starting point and would thus need to be addressed with some front spacers (10-12MM) to get things to line up better. True? Non-square eliminates the convenience of front/rear rotation but gets rid of the need to address different ETs with spacers.

4.) For tires, I have run Hoosier R7s and R6s for years and like them. They only last 20 heat cycles and are not really streetable (though DOT legal), but the extra grip is worth it for me. Real race slicks as suggested above clearly have better grip, but I feel like that grip is wasted on stock springs and dampers and I am not ready to change out dampers/springs for a car I still street.

All of the above leads me to 18*8.5 ET 40 Square with 10MM spacers up front on Hoosier R7s in 245/35/18. But there don't seem to be a lot of options for 18*8.5 ET 40 with 5*120 pattern for our cars that are not expensive. Recommendations?

Finally, If I cannot find good 18*8.5s, I will go with the 18*8 ET 40s C4s that Tirerack makes, and run the same tires, even though I would be at the bottom of the tire maker's rim width recommendations.

All advice is welcome. Thanks in advance.

1) No front camber adjustment at all. You will need camber plates. Camber plates with OEM suspension will probably cause lots of noise. Those of us with full coilover and camber plates have no noise.

2) I'm unsure if you can get that rear camber at stock ride height. I do, but I'm lowered.

3) You can run square without spacer depending on width and offset of the wheels. If you run a very aggressive wheel you will need spacer though. A good hubcentric spacer is not an issue though. Not sure what your concern is.

Here is my square setup and what's needed for it to work. You can use for reference.

18x9.5 +45
255/35 RE71R
20mm front spacer
Wheel stud conversion
Front fender roll (not sure if required, but did it preemptively)
KW Clubsports (comes with camber plates)
Shorter front main spring to raise lower coilover perch (gains inner clearance).
3* front camber
2.5* rear camber

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      06-25-2018, 02:01 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe731 View Post
3.) DEDICATED TRACK WHEELS SQUARE OR NOT SQUARE: It seems like the advantage of square is easy rotation across front and back as well as helping to dial out understeer...

4.) For tires, I have run Hoosier R7s and R6s for years and like them. They only last 20 heat cycles and are not really streetable (though DOT legal), but the extra grip is worth it for me. Real race slicks as suggested above clearly have better grip, but I feel like that grip is wasted on stock springs and dampers and I am not ready to change out dampers/springs for a car I still street.
3) This is just a general comment - absent the introduction of significant issues or problems, I would make the minimization of understeer a top priority. Comparatively, the ability to rotate in any corner is a nice to have (and it is very nice to have! :-)

4) I will be surprised if R7s are not too much tire for the stock suspension. But I've just gotten my car and have not modified or tracked it yet. A real race slick will almost certainly overwhelm the stock suspension; the only way it will not is if you're not leaning hard on the car. I don't recall if I mentioned this here, but my experience on an E36 M3 race car was that the camber settings for a Yoko A005 race slick were significantly different than they were for Hoosier R6s and BFG R1s. I learned that the hard way during a NASA TT session, where the car's understeer with the slick was terminal, resulting in my running a full 3 seconds slower at the Glen - the car simply would not turn.

-------

You've mentioned that your regular track car is a GT3RS. My experience to date with driving normal BMW street cars on the track has been confined to the cars of students I've been instructing. These include a wide range of models, all the way from modest and unmodified xDrives to M3s with sticky rubber and moderate camber adjustments. Compared to cars like your GT3RS, a car I haven't driven but have ridden in with students driving, the suspensions of these street BMWs have been soft and unfocused. This is to be expected when putting a street car on a race track, including BMWs. My point here is to once again suggest caution in terms of tire selection.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony235 View Post
Here is my square setup and what's needed for it to work. You can use for reference.

18x9.5 +45
255/35 RE71R
20mm front spacer
Wheel stud conversion
Front fender roll (not sure if required, but did it preemptively)
KW Clubsports (comes with camber plates)
Shorter front main spring to raise lower coilover perch (gains inner clearance).
3* front camber
2.5* rear camber
Thanks for posting this!

Do you run these camber settings on the street, too, or do you adjust for daily driving? If the latter, do you mind sharing your street settings?

Last edited by dradernh; 06-27-2018 at 09:59 AM..
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      06-25-2018, 03:06 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dradernh View Post

4) I will be surprised if R7s are not too much tire for the stock suspension.

Thanks for posting this!

Do you run these camber settings on the street, too, or do you adjust for daily driving? If the latter, do you mind sharing your street settings?
Agreed, R7 or any R comp tire is too much tire for stock suspension. Sure car will be faster, but it will feel like a sloppy mess. I think the factory MPSS tire is too much for stock suspension on a track driven at 8/10+.

I run the above setup on the street. Wear is uneven obviously because of camber, but not bad since I run 0 toe up front and can rotate the wheels. I recently switched over to the Federal RSRR as my daily tire. Less grip than RE71 (not noticeable on the street really) and just as loud, but half the price.

I think I'm actually at 2* camber in the rear. Can't remember off the top of my head though. Also note that in addition to the shorter front main spring I also upped the spring rate in the front to better match the square setup. I run 7 compression up front and 6 in rear (from softest setting) on the track and street. I recently tried a softer compression on the street, but it felt horrible to me. Rebound is the only thing I really adjust going from street/track. Keep in mind this for RE71.

I'll probably switch over to a 9" wide wheel and run less camber since I "retired" from tracking my daily driver. I'm at the point where I really need a dedicated track car.
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      06-26-2018, 01:26 PM   #12
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If you are serious about not going too far towards track-specific, then would it make sense to consider sticking with something that can handle rain, like the MPSS or Conti extreme's (or at least one of the max-perf summer tires)? Should last longer on track than stock, with the available camber and ability to rotate.
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      06-27-2018, 01:54 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Maynard View Post
If you are serious about not going too far towards track-specific, then would it make sense to consider sticking with something that can handle rain, like the MPSS or Conti extreme's (or at least one of the max-perf summer tires)? Should last longer on track than stock, with the available camber and ability to rotate.
Extreme performance tyres will last longer on track than MPSS, they overheat and wear rapidly. I used to get twice the track life out of RE71-R and Star Specs than MPSS in my Z4M, even though the MPSS would last longer in normal road use.
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      06-27-2018, 09:21 AM   #14
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Ground Control or Vorshlag is the go to for camber plates. I have GC because that is what was in stock at the time. From my understanding, the max camber I can have (with coilovers) is just under -4.0.

As for tires, RE71R is a really good tire. You will go through them rather quickly, however, depending on how much you are willing to push the boundaries and flip them as needed, you could run them nearly smooth. My last set saw nearly 30 heat cycles and the treads 2-3 inches from the sidewall were nonexistent. Even at that rate, they were plenty sticky. Most people will run them for a day and claim that they fall off after the third lap. My experience tells me that they will fall off but not by much. To put it to a test, I lost 1 second from lap 3 to lap 12. That might sound like a ton but considering how they are at least a second faster than the RS4, not too shabby.

If you want a consistent tire with good like and really good communication, get the RS4. Pros will claim a half second between the RS4 and RE71R but for mere mortals like myself, the difference is about a second. I do like the RS4s a lot because of how long they last and how they communicate. The release of grip is very linear and they are very fun to slide around.

Conti ExtremeContact Sports are nice road tires that have some grip on track. They are considerably slower than the RS4 but they will last forever. Since they do slide a lot more than the others, it's a a fun ride at low speeds.

Run them at 35-37 psi hot.
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      06-29-2018, 04:02 PM   #15
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Decision Made, Finger Crossed

Well I made all of my decisions as follows:

1.) wheels APEX Arc-8s in 18*8.5 ET45 Anthracite with 12MM spacers for the front

2.) 245/35/18 Hoosier R7s

3.) PFC 08 pads front and rear

4.) RBF600 brake fluid

5.) Dinan Camber Plates

6.) Alignment with -2.5 0 toe front, -2.25 1/16" in each rear

I hope the wheels & tires fit without issue. Will report back once it's all together and then again after first track weekend on July 21st

Thanks to all for your advice, I appreciate it, even if I didn't follow all of it
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      06-29-2018, 05:43 PM   #16
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Quote:
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Will report back once it's all together and then again after first track weekend on July 21st
Thanks for letting us know; as I'm headed down this same road, I'm excited to hear how this turns out!

If you can, shoot some video for us at the PCA event.
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      06-30-2018, 05:10 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe731 View Post
Well I made all of my decisions as follows:

1.) wheels APEX Arc-8s in 18*8.5 ET45 Anthracite with 12MM spacers for the front

2.) 245/35/18 Hoosier R7s

3.) PFC 08 pads front and rear

4.) RBF600 brake fluid

5.) Dinan Camber Plates

6.) Alignment with -2.5 0 toe front, -2.25 1/16" in each rear

I hope the wheels & tires fit without issue. Will report back once it's all together and then again after first track weekend on July 21st

Thanks to all for your advice, I appreciate it, even if I didn't follow all of it
Thanks Joe & please keep us posted as to your results.
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      07-17-2018, 09:21 AM   #18
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Have not had any experience with track tires on the 2 but have been running the Toyo R888 on my other car (the new model is the R888R) for ~4 years now and don’t ever see myself switching to another tire.

Hooks with ~700whp and have been caught on the highway in a downpour and didn’t have a problem.
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      08-13-2018, 09:56 AM   #19
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Track Report out

I just got back from three days at Watkins Glen and have a much better sense of the car.

I did the first few sessions on pretty new MPSSs in stock configuration and was really disappointed with the way the car felt. It was loose all over the place.

I then changed to the Hoosiers as spec'd above and it transformed the car. Soooooo much more planted and grippy. On other track cars, I would estimate the difference between stock tires and Hoosiers at 3-4 seconds per lap at the Glen (3.4 mile track), but vs stock, I really think it was 5-6 seconds faster right out of the gate.

More broadly, the car has pretty good power and I was able to keep up with Cayman S's and non-GT 911s on the straights, but was still getting dropped by good drivers in the turns. I was running the the instructor group, so I would say that most of the other cars out there were more track prepped than my M235 with camber plates, alignment, pads and Hoosiers. Even with the 245/35/18 R7s I felt like the car could use more tire and more suspension, but not more tire without more suspension if that makes sense. For those who have ventured to Watkins Glen, I was running 2:16s pretty consistently on my first weekend in the car, and think I could run 2:12-2:14 with a little more seat time in the car, and 2:10 with a little more suspension work.

I felt like the weakest part of the car was the throttle response. Coming out of a normally aspirated car, the turbo lag was really apparent. I was running in Sport mode as I didn't want to completely turn of DSC on my first weekend. I now think that was a mistake and I should have been in Sport+, which seems to just turn down the DSC sensitivity. I also felt like the car could use a bigger intercooler to reduce heat sink and either stiffer springs or anti-roll bars to keep it a little flatter in turns and control the weight transfer better.

And lastly, I think a right front wheel bearing was starting to go because as the weekend wore on, I experienced an increasingly loud thub thub thub from the right front wheel under load. I jacked the car up a wrestled the wheel a bit, and there was no movement, and I swapped the right front and left rear wheels, and the noise was still there, so I suspect the bearing is starting to go.

From here, given that it is still a daily driver, and the suspension already feels a little stiff for the streets in the NY Metro area, I think I am going to explore anti-sway bars, and perhaps some aero help.

Happy for any thoughts/guidance from those with more seat time in this car.

Best,

Joe
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      08-13-2018, 05:55 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe731 View Post
I just got back from three days at Watkins Glen and have a much better sense of the car.

Even with the 245/35/18 R7s I felt like the car could use more tire and more suspension, but not more tire without more suspension if that makes sense.

I was running in Sport mode as I didn't want to completely turn of DSC on my first weekend. I now think that was a mistake and I should have been in Sport+, which seems to just turn down the DSC sensitivity.

I also felt like the car could use a bigger intercooler to reduce heat sink and either stiffer springs or anti-roll bars to keep it a little flatter in turns and control the weight transfer better.

From here, given that it is still a daily driver, and the suspension already feels a little stiff for the streets in the NY Metro area, I think I am going to explore anti-sway bars, and perhaps some aero help.
1) That definitely makes sense. More grip asks more of the suspension as far as roll goes.

2) So, you were in Sport Mode and DSC was left on, but in a diminished capacity? I ask because I'm still figuring this aspect of the car out.

3) Did you experience heat soak; if so, what did the car do - reduce power, change the driving mode, or...?

4) FWIW, the shop I'm using suggested that a front sway bar would be the change to make if I don't like the amount of roll when the car is on the track.
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      08-13-2018, 07:32 PM   #21
Joe731
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Track day

When I cycle through the settings from comfort to sport to sport +, when I go to sport + a light on the dash comes on that says DSC off. I assumed this meant that it fully turned off Dynamic Stability Control (aka nannies), but in reading the manual afterwards, it says that it reduced DSC in acceleration and in turns, which to me suggests to me that Sport + would tolerate more slip angle before applying individual corner brakes and reducing throttle. Running on the track in Sport, I did not feel like it reduced throttle, but I did see the DSC light blink a few times in turns when I did not think I needed any help as I was not close to losing control of the car. In other cars that step in too early with SC, that just leads to brake pad wear and slower lap times.

On the heat sink, I felt like when I was really flogging it, I would get back on the throttle and there was less punch available. That's really a seat butt dyno sense though. No data to support this.
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      08-13-2018, 09:44 PM   #22
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Sport/Sport+ and Traction/MDM (one push of dsc) modes are great to get a feel of the car and track but the only way to really feel whats happening and be sure no electronics are affectent your driving full dsc is key..

By saying this I do not mean to turn it off just why, my car is xdrive and I only do it once I feel confident about it. And on a high speed track I might not even do it if I don't feel safe about it.

About tires, I run RE71r and I feel like I almost max the suspension, I can't even imagine running full slicks. I mean I see ppl doing it all the time but I hate changing wheels.. But you rwd guys need all the traction you can get to exit the corners thats for sure..
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