wvumtnbkr Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/681284/10002/-1 I can run 245 40 15 with these wheels. They seem cheap, lighter than the wheels I am running, and most importantly AVAILABLE! I am going to do at least 1 upgrade this winter. Wider wheels and tires OR a nice big wing on the car (a legit one). Which will offer the most bang for the buck? I am currently running a front airdam and rear spoiler (simple aero).I am running 225 45 15 tires on 15 x 8 inch jeep wheels. Either path will improve lap time and cost me zero additional points. Which one will make the car faster? Which one is better (not the same question).. Thanks for any and all input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zauskycop Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 Sorry to say this...and what you don't want to hear, but testing is your friend. Wider tires will help you in turns pretty much exclusively (but a lot!). Aero will help you under braking, in turns, and in transitional state.....but will that help be better than just wider tires? Testing is your friend.... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDChristianson Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 (edited) Clearly you should do both. Its a long winter you have time. As an option, the 245's work well on 9in wheels also Edited November 8, 2018 by JDChristianson 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted November 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 18 minutes ago, Zauskycop said: Sorry to say this...and what you don't want to hear, but testing is your friend. Wider tires will help you in turns pretty much exclusively (but a lot!). Aero will help you under braking, in turns, and in transitional state.....but will that help be better than just wider tires? Testing is your friend.... I get that. I just dont have the baksheesh to drop dollhairs on both. If it was you, what would you spend your money on first? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alchemy Autosport Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 I agree with @Zauskycop But if this was me, and only knowing the little bit about your car, here are some considerations: 1. There is definitely a point of diminishing returns with tire size... What do your tires look like after a race? if the wear is normal/expected and you never blister or really overheat them while on track, then maybe you dont really need more tire. 2. Are you running a splitter with the air dam? If so, I would start with the wing. And oh btw, you may create enough grip with the aero to then need more tire. Thats not a bad problem to have. 3. If the car is well balanced Front to Rear grip though, especially in the mid-high speed cornering conditions, then tires would be a good upgrade to start with. 4. If you are running the RS4 tires, the 245/40-15 is CHEAPER than the 225/45-15... Not by much but it is. 5. TEST and have fun! 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBraden Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 12 minutes ago, wvumtnbkr said: I get that. I just dont have the baksheesh to drop dollhairs on both. If it was you, what would you spend your money on first? We've done both. Do tires first, for the simple reason that you will tax smaller tires even more with aero, and may run into tire overheating / greasy issues. If time is less of a constraint than $, get a flyingfoam wing and glass it yourself (add spars as you see fit) - AND do the wheels/tires. We did it, and it was a PITA, but not expensive. We went too big, and have to run it at 0 AOA - so very little drag for all the downforce on the rear we want. Our car is noticeably more stable at speed than in really slow stuff. Big tires allow us to drive as hard as we want without grip falling off... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators E. Tyler Pedersen Posted November 8, 2018 Administrators Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 If it were me and with your car Rob I think start with wheels and tires (I might know someone with 245 take offs we can use for testing) and then if you feel like you need more corner grip go aero. Hard to tell for me as I did both aero and wide tires at the same time. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theblue Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 20mm more tire width on each corner would easily by quicker here I suspect. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mender Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 Another vote for maximizing mechanical grip before adding aero. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted November 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 Well, that did not go as I thought it would.... I like the mechanical grip first then aero theory. Thanks everybody. What do yall say about the wheels? Would you try them? Do they scare anybody? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators E. Tyler Pedersen Posted November 8, 2018 Administrators Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 1 hour ago, wvumtnbkr said: Well, that did not go as I thought it would.... I like the mechanical grip first then aero theory. Thanks everybody. What do yall say about the wheels? Would you try them? Do they scare anybody? They look good Rob. Aluminum is better than steel. I'd try a set to see how they are on track. My wheels are aluminum and you saw how they held up at Road America. For the price it's better than Bassett. My own opinion 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted November 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 39 minutes ago, E. Tyler Pedersen said: They look good Rob. Aluminum is better than steel. I'd try a set to see how they are on track. My wheels are aluminum and you saw how they held up at Road America. For the price it's better than Bassett. My own opinion Opinions good! Without actual testing it's all I have to go on. I hope I don't test my wheels to quite an extreme example! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xph Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 2 hours ago, wvumtnbkr said: Well, that did not go as I thought it would.... I like the mechanical grip first then aero theory. Thanks everybody. What do yall say about the wheels? Would you try them? Do they scare anybody? So here is where our team is on this, before we swapped the CRX, we had a real issue adding weight and rotational mass, we noticed we would actually loose top speed with bigger wheels (both due to aero and the required power to spin them)... but even with that, we were able to adjust our suspension to allow us to run softer compound tires, so we were always quicker, but the splits showed it was of marginal value at some tracks vs others... On that side, its all about the tire... if you can use the entire tread width, and keep it in the right temperature zone, and a wider tire is available in a better compound... this will make you faster. going wider allowed us more run time on the softer tires. Our aero testing, the only thing that made us faster was lowering the car... (although I suspect just an airdam would have had a similar effect) adding the wing only helped make people more confident at high speeds (I suspect by adding drag to the rear of the car to balance out the front of the car having to plow through the air...)... we have not been able to make the car substantially faster with anything like down-force... its also very track dependent, having to run different springs, and different wing angles to improve one corner, but sacrifice at another... where as tires just made us faster... The other thing we found, stretched tires were quite a bit faster as well... we run our 245's on a 10 inch wide rim... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiredBirds Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 Whats faster AERO or wider tires? more cubic inches is faster. does that answer your question? 1 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Infiniti Posted November 9, 2018 Report Share Posted November 9, 2018 Wing is a 1 time cost, bigger tires are more $$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted November 9, 2018 Report Share Posted November 9, 2018 2 hours ago, TiredBirds said: Whats faster AERO or wider tires? more cubic inches is faster. does that answer your question? He already more than doubled his factory displacement. More ore tire would be my first place to start. I'm a bit wary about drag racing wheels for endurance. Did you see the 318TI team that was paddocked next to us at Nelson Ledges that broke the barrels off almost every wheel the brought? Those were 15" or 16" Weld wheels meant for drag racing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jer Posted November 9, 2018 Report Share Posted November 9, 2018 (edited) I run the RS4 245 40 15 on nines, and man the tires just last forever. Grip is amazing. And those wheels are like $60 each on Tirerack. Edited November 9, 2018 by Jer 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted November 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2018 1 hour ago, Team Infiniti said: Wing is a 1 time cost, bigger tires are more $$ They are actually cheaper for some reason... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karman1970 Posted November 9, 2018 Report Share Posted November 9, 2018 4 hours ago, Xph said: So here is where our team is on this, before we swapped the CRX, we had a real issue adding weight and rotational mass, we noticed we would actually loose top speed with bigger wheels (both due to aero and the required power to spin them)... but even with that, we were able to adjust our suspension to allow us to run softer compound tires, so we were always quicker, but the splits showed it was of marginal value at some tracks vs others... On that side, its all about the tire... if you can use the entire tread width, and keep it in the right temperature zone, and a wider tire is available in a better compound... this will make you faster. going wider allowed us more run time on the softer tires. Our aero testing, the only thing that made us faster was lowering the car... (although I suspect just an airdam would have had a similar effect) adding the wing only helped make people more confident at high speeds (I suspect by adding drag to the rear of the car to balance out the front of the car having to plow through the air...)... we have not been able to make the car substantially faster with anything like down-force... its also very track dependent, having to run different springs, and different wing angles to improve one corner, but sacrifice at another... where as tires just made us faster... The other thing we found, stretched tires were quite a bit faster as well... we run our 245's on a 10 inch wide rim... 10" wide on a CRX? Jeez. Might need some pointers from you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDChristianson Posted November 9, 2018 Report Share Posted November 9, 2018 This is purely opinion and based on observation. A “full aero” car is harder to drive at the limit. Maybe I’m not saying that right. The car has to be kept at a speed that maximizes the “aero grip”. It’s somewhat counter intuitive when your in the car. As stated above, the car will feel better at the speeds your used too but your not faster just more comfortable Which is not a bad thing. BTW I fall into the category of not maximizing our aero potential. That’s a lot of blather for: I agree with Tyler, do the wheel tire upgrade first. You wont regret doing a splitter and wing when you get there either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Magic Posted November 9, 2018 Report Share Posted November 9, 2018 I think those actually weigh more than the bassett wheels.... The bassetts have their own annoying nuisances that come with welded wheels, but most likely will clear a bigger rotor if you are looking for that. Depending on caliper design and spacer used, 12.8" rotors will clear that wheel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvumtnbkr Posted November 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2018 2 hours ago, Black Magic said: I think those actually weigh more than the bassett wheels.... The bassetts have their own annoying nuisances that come with welded wheels, but most likely will clear a bigger rotor if you are looking for that. Depending on caliper design and spacer used, 12.8" rotors will clear that wheel. Yea, the bassetts arent that heavy. I was never able to keep them round and somewhat balanced.... I am going to run a 1/4 wider rotor with all of the 1/4 inch coming from more venting in the center. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Magic Posted November 9, 2018 Report Share Posted November 9, 2018 44 minutes ago, wvumtnbkr said: Yea, the bassetts arent that heavy. I was never able to keep them round and somewhat balanced.... I am going to run a 1/4 wider rotor with all of the 1/4 inch coming from more venting in the center. Thanks! We flat spot soo much i think it vibrationally offsets the wheels 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zack_280 Posted November 13, 2018 Report Share Posted November 13, 2018 On 11/8/2018 at 6:22 PM, wvumtnbkr said: Opinions good! Without actual testing it's all I have to go on. I hope I don't test my wheels to quite an extreme example! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karman1970 Posted November 13, 2018 Report Share Posted November 13, 2018 1 hour ago, zack_280 said: That's pretty cool. The ending is the best, though. I hate gophers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.