I switched to the Rival S tires...I seem to drive these tires better than the RE-71's. I was only a couple tenths quicker on our 35 sec test and tune course, but I was able to do so consistently.

The Rival S's don't launch as well and lack the "sharpness" of the Stones, but they are a lot friendlier at the limit.

I just completed the 2015 State Championship and moved up on all but one of my benchmarks by a hefty margin. On the Stone's, I was getting straight-timed by 4 national STX drivers (and crushed in the pax of course)

After switching tires, David Marcus was the only STX driver to straight-time me, and I closed two thirds of the gap I was seeing on the Stones.

I was in the first heat of the day so the Rivals had to deal with 50 degree temps. (They prefer heat) David (drove in the second heat) seemed to think I was at more of a disadvantage than i did. (I didn't think it warmed up that much for his heat)

The best part about switching to the Rivals is that everything is more familiar. I left about half a second on the track, but I could "see" the mistakes that cost me the time, and the car was fast enough that I was able to do well without putting together a miraculous run.

1st place in STU, 6th in pax overall:



BTW I forgot to comment on your video Glenn. Looked like you did a good job of getting on the cones. How did you do for the day?

 

Before I dismounted the RE71's, I wanted to document how much wider the Rival S runs compared to the RE71's:

This is at the top of two sets of 4 tires, mounted on identical wheels. (Both stacks are RPF1 18X10.5 RE71's on the left. Rival S's on the right.

EDIT: **some, possibly all of the difference is probably due to PSI**

 

Interesting. Based on how much a 275 is pinched on my front 9" wide wheels, I thought the RE71Rs ran wide.

 

I just pulled up the specs of the two tires. Rivals show to be narrow compared to the 71 lol

 

Dismounted the RE71's and mounted my old RS3's. The 275 Rival S's appear to be just a hair wider than the 285 Hankooks:

EDIT: **some, possibly all of the difference is probably due to PSI**

 

Did you sell the Re71 to Ian?

Chris

 

Yep. He's getting them Saturday.

 

Cool. Ill order mine then

Chris

 

Hmm, when I compared my 285 RS3 to my 275 RE71R, the 'Stones seemed to be wider but you're seeing Rival > RS3 > RE71R?

 

Correct. (Using the tire-stack test anyway)

 

That's been my experience, too. R-S3v2 on left, RE71R on right, single tire, unmounted.

How was the car this weekend, Mike? Did you run the Hankooks or the Rivals? I saw you were the lone non-STX car to break up the FRZ/BRS party in the Top 10 in PAX!

 

Slacker

 

I think the RS3 V2s were wider than the V1s. The RS3 I compared the RE71R was the V1 285, so that's probably why.

 

We had a lot of talent show up and a few of the national guys had a really good day. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of them.

I was happy with the car, (I ran the Rival S's) but there were two sections of the course that I just never put together.

 

I am happy to report that the Rival-S's are actually pretty good on a wet track.

The water never got deep enough anywhere to seriously test hydroplaning-resistance, but the track had a consistent wet film and the tire's behavior was was still progressive and friendly at the limit. (It's just a lower limit when it's wet)

I still miss the longitudinal grip of the RE-71's. (particularly off the line) But I still prefer the Rival S.

-Just ordered a fresh set for Dixie.

 

I forgot to take pictures, but my stack of new Rivals was slightly taller than my stack of old Rivals. (same size tires)

I'm pretty sure the only difference was air pressure. The old rivals were at ~38 PSI hot but have long since cooled down and lost PSI in the process. The new Rivals were stacked up at 39 PSI cold, so the new stack probably had ~5 more PSI per tire.

***Disregard my previous tire-stacking comparisons because I did not control for PSI.***


In other news, my favorite old-school alignment shop relocated and my car does not fit on the new equipment they have. Grrrrr

 

More info on the Rival S tires:

Cold Rival S tires + asphalt = bad.

My first run on the Dixie test & tune track resulted in a ton of understeer on turn in and oversteer with almost any throttle. After the initial first run, they work well and hold their heat well-enough.

I didn't notice the issue at state (also asphalt) but I got more runs there and probably took it easy on the first run.

Once up to temp, they work fine on asphalt, wet or dry. (still lack longitudinal grip compared to the Stones)

 

There's still plenty of room for improvement with my driving, but I have become a bit complacent with the car's development.

After getting some top talent to drive my car at a recent event, I found that the car itself is still considerably off the pace from where it ought to be....

With plenty of time to experiment before Nationals, I decided to start wrenching on the car again for the first time in a long time.

The lowest-hanging fruit for making the car faster was the alignment, so I resolved to get the kind of camber many have been recommending.

New arm on the left with shaved locking nut, zip tie removed for a little more adjustment too.



Smart strings are AWESOME! It was very tedious, but I don't think my car's alignment has ever been this symmetrical. There is virtually no cross-camber or toe.


Results:

Front Camber -3.5
Rear Camber -3.0

Front toe (out) 1/16"
Rear toe (in) 1/16"

I am looking forward to getting this thing on the track. For the first time since getting the suspension, I can now detect a good bit of body roll. (thanks to more lateral grip) Need to wait until I have had a chance to drive it at the limit with this alignment, but I anticipate stiffer shock settings will be needed.

 

That garage looks familiar

BTW my abs and legs are dead today.

For you stu guys I need to seriously look at making urethane replacements for the SPL arm heim joints. If the kinetix and similar arms are such a labor intensive PIA to adjust and require modification I don't see how the spl arm with urethane pivots cold be contested.

Wasn't it more like 3/32 toe in the back

 

You could make a lot of money just shaving down the locking nuts and reselling them. Lol

Thanks again for all your help!