Did you adjust the air pressure in your front tires to stiffen the side walls?

 

they could have used more for sure, i couldn't get the stupid pump that came with the car to work quick enough to do it between runs. i need to rtfm, couldn't get the **** to turn lol

 

Ok, Shane. I think what you need is more experience.

At least before you go spending money on "improvements" which you will not be able to appreciate.

Spend you initial money on track events to learn about your car and driving technique.

And as recommended above, tire pressures are very important!
Oh, by the way, did you read the Ford supplement in the owners manual for tracking the Boss? Lots of good stuff there.

 

You should be fine. My GT500 is probably lowered about that same amount and I ran them on track without issue. The 305 fits pretty well on the 10.5 rim. It doesn't bulge much so it may move it in slightly but not much.

 

Wish I was only 90 miles from you

 

yep, getting that now. yes i did read the manual on tracking the car

 

Tire pressure adjustments are a cheap (and recommended) way to make those tires work a little better. When I didn't have an air tank, I used to go to a gas station close to where the autocross was held to fill the tires.

I found that getting used to street tires before going with race tires helped me to focus on feeling the weight transfer under braking and acceleration, as well as being smoother on turning the steering wheel and applying the gas and brake pedals.

 

Take that with a grain of salt, using DOT ratings to ascertain relative performance (and this is giving UTQG ratings alot of credit) would be crude at best since the method of testing is left up to the individual tire manufacturer (as an example at one time Michelin rated an 80k all-season passenger tire at 400 while thier current crop of 80k tires are rated at about 740) As a tool of comparison within a manufacturer's product line they are a bit better.

A multi brand tire comparison (if you can find one) would be a much better tool to choose with.

--->thinking out loud<--- I wonder how well a tire magazine or webzine would work? --->not thinking out loud any more <---

 

You mean this one that was posted earlier?

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...mparison_tests

 

winner winner chicken dinner!

moving to super sticky tires to soon just covers up bad habits. and it only gets worse..

when you get to hpde4 then think about it.

if i had a new boss and was starting to do track days, i would stick a set of star specs or kook v12s on it and learn..

beers

 

Hey whadd'ya know, yep like that one

 

I am thinking about a NT05 295/35/18 on those 10.5 PF01's. Do you think that will accomplish nearly the same result?

 

That looks like a Great Daily driver tire for my stock rims, once I burn up my high-dollar Pirelli's. Thanks for pointing them out.

 

but seriously, as I stated earlier, the dunlop star specs have proven to be a great choice...at least with the cayman / boxster guys I've been running with over the last few seasons.

 

If you can find them in 18" or 19" with widths that work on our Boss cars let us know.

 

running 18 275/35's square on the bbs 18/10 rims.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....t+Z1+Star+Spec

 

Gary is gonna yell at you He really does not like the square setup on the Boss. Like he says they set it up this way for a reason. I know you have a lot more experience with this then me but I am sticking with what he said and getting the staggered setup.

 

This. You don't want less rubber on the rear.

 

Gez, looks like a number of people are now talking about the Car and Driver report on summer tires I posted up earlier in this thread. (now even in other Forums).

This report has been out there since July 2009. Anyone else done some research into tire options specific to the 19" rims on our Boss?

What do you say 5 DOT 0? What are you leaning toward?

 

hey, I haven't driven the car, so I'll wait to judge until I do.

I don't think the issue is how much rubber one has on the rear, but how how much total tire patch (or 'rubber') you have and how it's distributed. a 275 square setup gives more total tire patch than the stock setup.

(and, if you were to judge purely based on 'how much rubber you have on the rear, I'm pretty confident a 275 star spec is going to give you more grip that the stock tire in a 285)

I'm very much on board with respecting what's been engineered into the boss. But I'm also well-aware that nearly every performance car maker delivers cars with a tendency toward understeer as opposed to oversteer. This mostly comes down to driver safety / liability...it's believed to be safer for the average driver of these cars to have them understeer vs. oversteer. And when I say 'average' driver, I'm talking about the kind of person flying around the streets or doing casual DE's who's never spent one day in an actual driving school, read a book on the subject, etc. Because, let's face it, that's what a lot of people do. And I see lots of cars doing very well at the track with square setups that were delivered as staggered setups. e36 bmw's, boxster / cayman, evo / sti's. And there's the added benefit of being able to rotate them front-to-back.

All the reviews I've read suggest that the boss is a very well-balanced (neutral steering) machine...so I'm not saying that I know the square is better, but I am going to be trying it for the track. I don't think it's a matter of Gary being right or wrong...I'm pretty sure he's right for him. And he may be right for most drivers...maybe even for me. Different tastes are possible, and I tend to like a car the rotates pretty quickly...coming out of mid-engined cars for most of my track driving experience. So we'll see. that's half the fun...getting the car dialed in to best suit your preferences.