I have my factory track wheels (Ray's) that are powdercoated that I intended on using for track events. I now am having difficulty finding suitable tires that would fit these wheels.

Anyone have any suggestions regarding tire size, or should I just sell them and buy a set of 17" wheels and tires? I appreciate any input into this thread.

Thanks,
Steve

 

I assume you are running 18" diameter Rays forged wheel. IF the wheel width is 8.5"F and 9.5"R then you can run 245/40 front and 275/35R on that wheel for an even 25.3" overall diameter both front and back. The stagger in width will promote slight understeer tendency, which you may have to adjust for depending on the rest of your set up.

Toyo makes the RA-1 in those sizes, and it is a popular choice for track days.

Hope that helps a little.
Have fun on the track.

 

With our vehicle already plagued with the understeer problem, do you think that the size option that you mentioned exacerbate any pre-existing conditions? Maybe my NISMO suspension setup will help to combat any understeer tendencies? Thanks again for the reply.

-Steve

 

Size for the front is 8 and rear is 8.5........what sizes would you recommend now?

 

Steve:
Well, one thing is sure, we cannot run the sizes I mentioned above, except that you can do the 245 on the rear wheels.
Here is the general discourse on the RA-1 that I like to run:
http://www.toyo.com/tires/tire_lines/high_perf/ra1.html

Here are the available tire sizes:
http://www.toyo.com/tires/tire_specsheet.cfm?id=1

It looks like in 18's with the rim sizes you have, you could run 225/40F and 245/40R. Those might be too narrow for what you are trying to do, I do not know. The recommended size for your street use would be the same tread widths, but with the higher aspect ratio of 45, so a taller sidewall. By going to the 40's you would drop the car closer to the pavement. And I would talk to your tire pro, but you could conceivably fit the 245/40 all around, it does show as being within the parameters of fitment for that tire size on a 8 inch rim, but it is not ideal. The good thing about that tire is the significantly greater load strength it has. Since your car is only 200 pounds lighter than mine (maybe less with all the stuff I took out of it), having the stronger tire is a consideration. If you go to the sizes I run, you will see the diameter match and high strength parameters, for the 18's. Is there any chance you could, rather than spending lots of money, find someone to swap or sell your 8.0 inch wheels to and then get a pair of 9.5's for the rear? That might get you into the shoes that you would like for nickels instead of quarters.


As for the understeer, there are so many ways to diddle and fiddle with that, that you can dial it out, or down, to what your preference is. Just takes a bit of trying it different ways to settle to what makes you comfortable. I found adjusting the sway bar stiffness was the easiest. However I also noticed that by increasing the front negative camber slightly (to 4 degrees) it seemed to give me more bite which, when combined with a touch more throttle or a slightly earlier throttle, caused the back end to slip or come around for yaw very very easily. The adjustable front upper control arms are marvelous little things for that, and improve the felt turn in response too. For a street car they would be a waste of money, but if you like to track it, or canyon drive, pretty slick...right up there with a lsd for a mod choice I think.

Good luck. See you out there someday this coming year perhaps, I would love to see your car.

 

I'm running 245/40-18 Hoosiers all around on the OEM track rays wheels. No problems, plenty of grip and very little understeer.

 

Does this size (as posted by Bourne) cause any problems with the VDC when on all four corners? I know you can just turn the thing off, but I have read somewhere that it is still on a bit even though you manually disable it. I think I read something about pulling a fuse......asked about it at the drag strip the other day and no one knew what I was talking about.

Thanks,
Steve

 

Once FedEx finds my two missing Track rims and MX tires I plan to run the same size except put the 8.5" up front to get a better/strong sidewall to offset the lack of camber.

 

For track tires you will have a much wider choice of sizes in 17" diameter if that helps.

 

If you're doing track events, I'd go with 17s.. like say a 5Zigen FN01RC in either 17x9 +15 or 17x10 +22 all the way around. You can run anything from a 225 to a 275 (or more possibly) on the 9" wheel, and bigger on the 10. 17x10 w/265 or 275 all the way around sounds good to me.. plus 17" tires are a little cheaper.

 

I don't have VDC (my car is an enthusiast) but this shouldn't be a problem. Things like VDC are tuned to start reacting at gross discrepancies (things like one wheel turning 20% faster than the other 3). Small differences such as the expected difference in rotation between front and rear axles which is not present with the same size tires will not cause any problems on its own. However, if you are sliding around (e.g., wheelspin) VDC may kick in earlier than if you had the staggered tires because the diameter is a bit smaller than it expects (e.g., imagine that it kicks in at 20% slip difference normally and the original size difference yielded a 5% OD difference, the VCD may now trigger at 15% slip instead of 20% but not a big deal).

Besides, at least with traction control (forget what Nissan calls it) when you turn it off, it is really off. I would really hope that this is the case with VCD as well. Otherwise Nissan needs an ***-kicking.

 

Do you think the 5Zigen FN01RC will clear the brembo's??? Also, I have found several offsets....which would be best?

 

Enkei RPF1

 

I have ssr comp-h's 17X9.5 all around.

 

Anything with an offset of 30 mm or less should work. I have the FN01RC's in 18x8.5 and they clear my stoptech brakes without any problems. I'd reccomend MB Motorsports Comp wheels 17x9 with a 27 mm offest. They're cheap and you can fit a 275 mm wide tires on them. I run that setup on all four corners for the track.

 

OK....I've decided on the 5Zigen FN01R-C wheels.....but should I stagger the size or run the same size on all four corners? I guess I could get the same wheel size on all four corners and just run different tire sizes. Any other comments or suggestions?

 

I would get the 17x9 +15, or the 17x10 +22 (might be +24) and run those all the way around. Big advantage to running the same size all the way around is you can rotate the tires if needed.

 

I went with same size all around for a couple of reasons. The biggest being you can rotate them. This is important not only for longevity (cost savings) but also so you can buy all 4 tires at the same time. If you go staggered you will be wearing the fronts and rears at different rates and replacing them at different times. This can be a dangerous thing. I replaced a flat once with tires that I had only used for 2 (track) days and the handling was downright scary with one new tire and 3 slightly scrubbed tires.
The second reason for not staggering is better balance / neutrality. I suppose you can achieve this by suspension tuning (heck, the pros are doing this) but for my stock setup, this is an easy fix for a balanced car.
If you're by chance going to Laguna Seca tomorrow I'd be happy take for a spin and show you how a non-staggared setup runs.

 

How about this tire/ wheel combo?

Wheels: Tires:
5Zigen FN01 R-C Hoosier R3S04
Front: 18x8.5 245.35.18
Rear: 18x9.5 275.35.18

This is a big change in tire style for the track, but I'll take it easy the first day out.

-Steve

 

Those sizes won't interfere. The fuse you might be referring to is probably 10a, the brake light fuse. If you pull it it will cut off the signal going to the ecu allowing you to do the standing burnout for a better 60 foot at the drags, or easier heel and toe for drifiting/autocross. You can wire a switch into the wire leading to that fuse to cut off the signal. Don't bother going to Nissan, they don't know squat. The mod is safe too, myself and others have been running the mod for over a year. Get the harness extension instead of going to lowes to buy wire spools, it's plug and play.