Another Autocross tire question. :)

I'll finally be able to hit a few local Autocrosses and I'm looking for a tire that can take some abuse.

I'll most likely be running my Lincoln Mark VII in F Street with a completely stock suspension (Except for a class legal sway bar upgrade) which means very little to no positive caster and very little negative camber. It's a Fox chassis car (As I'm sure you know) so the suspension geometry is absolute E36 M3. The car is right around 4,000 lbs with fluids and a driver so the front tires will be taking a LOT of punishment.

I'm not concerned with winning a trophy, I just want to have fun and not burn through a set of front tires in a single weekend. That being said, I will be trying to drive the piss out it so I'd like to stay away from hockey puck type tires. I'm looking for something with some grip but tons of durability.

What say ye?

Oh yeah, sizes... the O.E. size is 225/60R16 on the BBS type 16 x 7 wheels, which is what I'll be using. I'd like to stay close to the circumference of the stock tire size; around 83.66" so the speedometer isn't too far off since I will also be driving it on the street.

A 245/50R16 is pretty close at 83.568".

And budget... I'd like to stay under $100 per tire.

Am I looking for a Unicorn?

BFG G-force Sport Comp 2 comes in 245/50 for $118 a tire, and they will eventually have a $50 rebate deal I would imagine, that’s about the best I can come up with. Under $100 a tire regular price probably isn't going to happen for tires in that size that are acceptable to use for autocross.

That's what I figured. It's tough being a tightwad.

The 16 wheel is the bastard child when it comes to tire choices. 225 will be as wide as you'll get, and choices in sidewall my be limited as well. Several years ago Hankook made the RS-2 on a 245/?/16, but they've long vanished and didn't carry that size over to the RS-3.

So yeah, unicorn.

I've hear some positives about Federal tires; SS595 AND RS-R

SS 595 @ ~$78/tire

I think yoy can get Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval Indy 500 for less than a hundy/tire

I got BFG G-force Sport Comp 2s for my Mustang and it plows like a tractor. I am going to work hard on the understeer this spring. You can use crash bolts on you car to help get some more negative camber. If I go back in time I would get the Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval Indy 500 which they had in a wider size that the BFG. I only run my tires to and from the event.

In reply to pjbgravely:

The plan for now is to stay in F Street or H Street (whichever I get lumped into) so for now I can't use crash bolts.

In reply to Strike_Zero:

Thanks. I'll have to look into those.

Found some wide ovals in 225/55R16 for $88.10 each. Not bad.

The_Jed wrote: In reply to pjbgravely: The plan for now is to stay in F Street or H Street (whichever I get lumped into) so for now I can't use crash bolts.

Crash bolts are legal in street, unless they changed the rules on me. I hope not because I just ordered them for my car. This is from the 2016 rules.

13.8 SUSPENSION E. If offered by the manufacturer for a particular model and year, the use of shims, special bolts, removal of material to enlarge mounting holes, and similar methods are allowed and the resulting alignment settings are permitted even if outside the normal specification or range of specifications recommended by the manufacturer. If enlarging mounting holes is specifically authorized but no material removal limits are specified, material removal is restricted to the amount necessary to achieve the maximum factory alignment specification.

Nice, thanks! I must have glossed over that section.

Way back in '03 I put crash bolts in my H-Stock Impreza and was lumped into STS. I just assumed the rules hadn't changed so I didn't read that part closely enough.

You might have significantly more fun running your Mk VII in CAM-T rather than FS.

The CAM rulebook is one sheet. that sounds like something right up your alley.

http://cdn.growassets.net/user_files/scca/downloads/000/010/078/2016_CAM_handout_-_Rules_Final.pdf?1446494308

To be legal for CAM-T you'll have to pull the ABS fuse, which I suspect you'd want to do anyway.

Would finding some Mustang take off wheels be possible to get you into 17" rubber? Especially if you run the CAM class.....

Oh yeah, if I were to jump into CAM I could definitely snag some 17's or 18's and bask in the wondrous tire selection. I look at them constantly on craigslist. Or even STX. Then I could run C/C plates, a panhard bar, the works.

I have considered it on many occasions.

I'm trying to keep the investment to a minimum, though, since I'm still holding out hope someone will buy it.

I just showed the wife an '02 Miata with 61,000 miles (much more logical fun car) that's for sale locally for what looks to me like a great price and she was all for it. She even mentioned keeping it for the kids to share and use as their first car.

Anybody here know anything about those Miatas? Keed.

Back on topic, I'm liking what I've read about the Wide Oval 500's so far.

Back off topic, that Miata would be in E Street with a better PAX than my Lincoln(Assuming the Lincoln gets pushed into F Street). LOL

Autocrossing a Lincoln Mark 7 sounds like it would be amusing. Once. Then frustrating, followed by disheartening. Snag the Miata, it's SOOOOO much more the right tool for the job.

You're probably right.

In fact, pretty definitely.

Nonsense, anyone can auto x a Miata. It takes a real idiot to want to go out there and wrestle a 3500-4000lb V8 pig around the course

I've had the Firestone Wide Ovals, the BFG Sport Comps, and now a set of Continental ExtremeContact DW. That's how I would rate them, going from 3-1, Conti's being the best (so far, only one auto x and a couple hundred street miles so far.)