Any word on expanded tire sizes now that more drivers are competing on street tires?

I want 285/40-17 and 275/40-17. Kumho XS is the last ones to offer them, and they are on eternal back order. I'll even pull the trigger on 275/40-17 for the rear but 255/40-17 is the widest I can find ATM.

 

Unkown about the sizing on the V2 RS3, but the largest Z2 star spec in 17 will continue to be the 255/40.

 

New 18" wheels would look nice, but add weight and make tire expenses go up.

Since I run tiny little brakes, I see no benefit to 18's other than wider tire choices....that will necessarily cost more.

My next tires will probably be a set of 275/40-17 888's if nothing changes before ZdayZ.

 

I would MUCH rather have NT01's than R888's....

 

Been a while since I drove a set of those, but they were nice IIRC.

I will probably go with the most durable of the two, rather than the fastest. (I hope to drive them to ZdayZ and back from the bottom of Florida)

They are both race-ish tires, so they are probably considerably faster than even the fast street tires.

Wet handling will matter a little too. They don't have to do well, but I don't want water ski's either. (I can't imagine any tire with tread being worse than the XS's though)

*edit* just noticed the RA1's come with a little more tread to start. Might be a better choice for a tire I want to take on a road trip.

 

RA1's will blister and chunk if you get run them hard on full tread.

 

18" tires are not always heavier. The sheer volume of tire is often less. Compare the volume of a 275/40/17 to a 275/35/18 RA1. The 17" tire is 29#, while the 18" tire is 27#. If they made a 285/30/18, it'd weigh even less. Yes, an 18" wheel of the same exact model as its 17" counterpart would be heavier, but by only 1# or sometimes less based on the offset (higher offset = more material = higher weight). I was on the 17" wheel/tire team for a long time, until I migrated mostly to 285/30/18 tires. Also, tire manufacturers design tires around the most popular size - 18" - so any variations (to 17 or 19") are not ideal designs. LASTLY, there are SO MANY lightly-scuffed 18" tires out there, way more than in 17", so you save money after all! Same goes for 18" wheels.

 

My SSR's are ~16lbs each. (17X9.5 and 17X8.5)

If I go 18's, I'll probably just get good (new) street tires for those and start running dedicated race tires on the 17's.

 

Are you just looking to have fun at locals or be competitive?

 

Yes?

My car won't be competitive at the national level because it has magical metal bushings. -More than just my A-arms. I have a solid metal bushing welded into the subframe for the diff. (Long story/repair)

If I can get good street tires in the sizes I used to get them in, I will just show up and drive at local events, taking care to make sure no one gives a crap about the bushings.

Last year was my first time competing at the national level, (A 2nd, two 1st places, and 3rd at the championships) but none of it was in my car. So when I run at the national level, I'll most likely try to be a competitive tire-warmer.

 

I was wondering what is the preferred hot psi for the RS3s?

I'm on 18x9.5s with 265/35/18 RS3s if that makes a difference, this is for road courses...namely Button Willow, Willow Springs. Thanks

 

RS3's seem to like to like a lot of pressure. When I dropped my psi from 35 down to 31 my times slowed noticeably.

 

28-29 cold. Do we have ANOTHER 350z SoCal guy!?!?!?????

 

I run my RS3's at 34 hot front and 33 hot rear on those tracks

 

I drive a Silverstone 350z with RPF1s.... you guys may or may not have seen me at the local tracks



Two conflicting replies here

I've usually ran my tires at around 28-29 cold which means they are around 34-35 hot. When i got the RS3s i read they need a lot of pressure so I ran them around 33 cold which is around 37-38 hot.

That seems to work pretty well but i guess since some of you are recommending a much lower psi, i can try that out next time. Thanks

 

I just picked up some new Yokohama Advan AD08 R's for this auto-x season. I've used them at 1 event so far this year and so far I am very happy with them. The event was wet and I felt a huge difference over the stock RE050's which I ran last year. I found them to be very responsive with lots of feedback. They held in corners very well. Hopefully the next event will be dry in 2 weeks, can't wait for that.

This is what I am running on my stock NISMO's:
Front: 265/35R18
Rear: 295/30R19

I am running in B-Street so I have no front camber adjustment. I decided to go with zero toe in the front. In the rear I am running -2.5 camber and am toe'd in just slightly (I wanna say -.3).

For these 295's in the rear I want to say I have about .5-.75 in. clearance between the inside of the wheel and the nearest suspension component. I have zero rubbing issues front and rear.

See below for pics...

Just arrived...


Front wheel clearance...


Angled view...

 

No problems with 285/30/18 having a much smaller O.D.?

I'm thinking about running 275/35-18 but I'm wondering if I might as well go bigger.

 

Thinking of running RC1 soon. Anyone have PERSONAL experience?

 

I like the feel of the 275-35-18, but if I'm honest... the 275-40-18 feels a little more forgiving and compliant.

 

I ran a couple sessions with them at BW, but didn't get a good feel bc the car was acting funny. I'll have them on this weekend at T-hill, and if the car behaves, I'll have a good idea how good they are. . . Oh, and I will likely sell them after this event.