Autox slicks v.SMF

I would recommend buying a pair for the front and a pair for the rear, then buying pairs for the front as needed.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:

DILYSI Dave wrote: Unfortunately, for national level competition locally, unless you're real lucky it means running against other classes with top shelf drivers in them. I Atlanta, we've got several National Champions at every event, so even though they aren't in my class, I get a good feel for where I stand via the index. As for an even wider choice, I've considered what it would take to put a 315/18 under my car, but for the time being, I'm going to do everything I can to get the most out of the 275/15.

18s?!?!?!? SCCA Donk class. I'm still not sure what to do for base-line setup tires. The kumho sizing isn't even close unless i want to buy another set of wheels and run 245/45-16 to set the car up. (I don't.) How dumb of an idea would it be to use a set of Kumho 225/45-15s to get my base-line, and once that's ok, go ahead and jump to the big A6s? Looks like that would save me a cool $300 or so. (Which... i guess is small peanuts at this point, huh?) I suppose if the rears are going to last a long time (likely) i could just buy a spare pair of fronts to sacrifice, and just always run A6s. So at the beginning of the season, buy 6 fronts and 4 rears and see if that'll carry me through.

The Kumho's will let you make sure the car is working, but so will used tires.

I'd probably make sure the car is working on something cheap / used, then go straight to 4 new Hoosiers. Buy fronts as they wear out. Given that you said that '12 will be a recon year, I wouldn't even bother with new tires for Nats unless it's just time.

Ok, so it looks like i'll go ahead and rip through a set of 225/45 Kumhos on my 15x7 wheels to make sure the car is working, then swap to the 15x10 6ULs and 275/35 A6s.

That seems pretty logical, since i should easily be able to have the car functioning acceptably by the time i kill a set of Kumhos.

I appreciate everyone's help!

DILYSI Dave wrote: I'm running 375/35/15 on 15 x 10's on the front and 225/45/15 on 15 x 7 on the rear. I'm planning to try out a 205/50/15 on the rear at some point, but I haven't yet.

I know that I'm a bit late to the party, but you gentlemen gave some great input here.

I ran last season on 205/50/15 AD08's in our custom, regional "street legal, street tire" class, and now I'm looking to step up to R-compounds, and SMF.

I'll gladly find scrap fenders to cut some height out of, raise the car slightly, and roll the rear fenders to run a smaller 225 out back, but my question is, do the 275's in the front ever rub on the edges of the bumper (or the rear of the fender arch) when the steering wheel is turned?

Thanks for the advice that you all have given so far. It's greatly appreciated!