Almost never cancel any events. Bring your rain capable tires! It's good learning. Speeds are much slower, but you can learn good car control and learn the wet line

 

New wheels dry run. I'll see what tune shop says about potentially trimming bolt for increased clearance.

 

Very pretty. Clearance looks fine to me...

 

thanks dmicheals, I don't have any experience with new wheels & fitment (rookie) :-)

 

what incident with Forgestar?

Those are the Forgestar F14's, right? Do the center caps not fit?

 

Forgestars broke off completely during a recorded trackday.

You're right, need to inspect prior to and after trackday wheel conditions.

Yes I have F14 Forgestars. I think the center caps fit but I didn't even try :-) honestly don't care if I have on or not

 

This thread is very bad for me right now haha. I spent most of yesterday pricing out a set of Ford Racing BBS (stupid expensive I know) wrapped with some R888's and then looking at the Cortex Watts Link and Torque Arm and Tiger Racing hood for ****s and giggles.

 

Nice! How much got ordered? I've had days like that... Today, yesterday, day before...

 

I'm very interested in the torque arm, thoughts on why you looked at it (suspension/chassis)?


I've read not to get the fiberglass tiger racing hood because of long term wear, I thought the recommendation was to get the same tiger hood but different material (I cant remember the other option)

 

None . I have to save my money for when I get the bill from JPC on putting the motor in my car and tuning it. I am still so confused on which mod to do first. On one hand, the Tiger Racing hood looks badass and I have always wanted one, but with all the power I will be making I will need some good traction and wide tires. Although, I could grab the Fluidyne radiator/oil cooler to help with cooling on the track since 2012 Boss's suck on track in terms of cooling. I know I want to wait for the suspension so I can get a feel for the car as is and then delve into the suspension mods. Watts link/torque arm combo then the cortex coilovers and take a break from there.

I have read a few reviews from people who have had UCA's and then swapped to the torque arm and they all say the same thing the car will hook better, nose dive less during braking and less body lean in during turn in. The racers who have them absolutely love them, although they do have some of their downsides, but if the reviews live up tp the hype, I can certainly live with them that's for sure.

If I do get the Tiger Racing hood, it will be the Carbon Fiber version. It certainly isn't meant to be a showcar hood, but it does save about 16lbs. off the stock hood and I could use all the weight savings I could get haha.

 

Smart. That's what I did. That's why it took me 2.5 years to get the suspension mods done to the car. I did a bunch of track days on stock suspension to get a good feel for what I like and what I don't, then researched for a year before deciding on components.

 

It's the smartest thing I've heard all day!

 

that takes a lot of self discipline

 

Yes sir no doubt wow!! I was just talking about a few track days and some autocross. I think I will go with the tires option. Now comes the conundrum.

Ford Racing 18x10 with 305/35/18 Toyo Proxes R888 - 26.3in tall
Ford Racing 18x10.5 with 315/30/18 Toyo Proxes R888 - 25.5in tall (if they even fit on the rear since I don't know for certain)

So the front tires are .7" shorter and those rear tires are 1.4" shorter than factory. So I can probably stick with the 305's all around and rotate the tires to get a little more life out of them and I'm hoping the R888's will be sticky enough to keep ~ 580HP somewhat planted on the streets and on track.

Or do I bump up to a somewhat lightweight 19" wheel and have a wider variety of tires (especially ones that do well in the rain) but sacrifice the weight savings of the 18" wheel/tire combo.

 

Does your car come with 3.73s? If so it's also important to consider the effect shorter tires will have on gearing.

At the tracks I go to I run out of 3rd gear between corners. 100 yards left to the brake zone, do I upshift for a second just to downshift again, or do I ride the rev limiter?

1.5" difference is huge. It will translate to 6~7mph less in each gear. You might not even be able to hit 60mph in 2nd.

Also can you physically fit a 305 up front?

 

That it does, all Boss's and Track pack cars come with them. That is another part of the problem I am looking at right now. It is so hard to find a properly sized tire since Ford screwed us from the factory with an odd tire size height, then trying to find one that is 18" and that is wide makes it even more harder.

The 305/35/18 is 26.4" which is about as close to factory as you are going to get and the only tires that size are the R888, & the NT01's. Both very good tires until you hit standing water.

If I go with 295/35/18 I have a 26.1" tire height, but that opens up my range of tires and out of those, I think the MPSS are probably the best tires out there in that size.

Or do I say **** it and try finding a 19" wheel that I like that is also reasonably light? That would open my tire choices up to just about every good tire out there and give me the opportunity to run the RE-11's which I am dying to try. That would be at a cost of probably 20lbs or so that I could potentially save if i went with the 18" wheel/tire combo.

You can fit a 305 tire in the front along with 10" wheels, many people have done it and there is a thread on S197 devoted to such a topic:

http://www.s197forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=88803

You can even get Vorshlag 18x11 fitment Forgeline F14's or you can run the Cortex coilovers with the offset strut and run a 315 tire up front without having to do anything crazy.

 

Good info, thanks!

If it were my decision I'd go to a 19x9.5 front and 19x10 or wider rear. This way you can do up to 285/35-19 front while still having an option of going wider. You're making tons of power, and the Boss came staggered with 285 in the back anyway, so now even more reason to go wider still.

285/35 is 26.8" which is just 0.2" shorter than 255/40-19.

I have 19x9.5 wheels, and I'm currently debating between 285/35-19 and 265/40-19 for my next set of track tiress. On one hand 285, F&$# YEAH! But on the other the measured size for that tire is 19x10, so I'm not sure about "squeezing" a 285 on a 9.5 rim. What % of performance do I get? Sure, min rim width is 9.5, but am i sacrificing too much of a contact patch?

Also 265 is ~$240 a tire, which is a bargain in the same compound I want (Potenza RE71r).

But you're right, choosing the right tire is a lot harder than is should be.

 

Getting my wheels/tires mounted. They look better than expected :-) Grin for days :-)))

 

Be prepared that those NT05s are quite loud on the street! But sticky as hell with some heat in them.

 

no worries boss, I'm old (hearing) and got 2 boys (continuous noise forever) :-)