Quote:
Originally Posted by Msquared
I finally got to drive on the Falkens yesterday. First, I chickened out of my 305/315 plan (in B Street, so stickling with 10/11 wheels) and switched over to 275/305. Word on the street has been that "Falkens don't like to be pinched," and that concerned me a bit trying the 305 on the front 10" wheels. I don't know if this was a mistake or not. The upsides to the smaller fitment are: not a pinched fit, and shorter tires lower the CG and roll centers for less weight transfer. Obvious downside is less contact patch compared to the bigger tires. As a comparison, I used the stock Goodyears last year.
Well, to say the RT660s are different then the GYs is understatement! First impression was that they have so much more forward grip that I bogged the car off the line on the first start. Holy crap! These feel better in acceleration than the GYs by a wide margin, and also far better than Rivals. I think they are better than the RE71s that I drove on a friends 6th-gen Camaro, too. Also, they have significantly more lateral grip than the GYs. The rear-end step-out that seems to be caused by the eLSD disappeared. I didn't feel it once, and it wasn't for lack of pushing the car on corner exit. Crazy!
The one negative is that ice mode reared its head, which never happened with the GYs. I'm not sure if that's a product of the increased grip or the slightly bigger difference in front:rear diameter. If the latter, then maybe the 305/315 fitment would avoid this. It was easy enough to avoid with a more gradual brake application.
I tried keeping pressures at 35f/33r, which is a bit higher than I ran the GYs. This seems to be about right based on edge wear. I am running my car at -2.7 camber front and -1.9 rear (basically all I can get), and zero toe front and rear. So far I'm impressed. Temps were about 70F when I ran, with lots of sun and strong breeze, so not very stressful on the rubber compound. The two big questions will be how many runs they are good for, and how greasy will they be when it gets hot? For the latter, I don't mind using a sprayer, and I don't usually have a codriver, so I think it'll be okay.
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"Ice mode" is going to be most affected by tire compound and brake pads/brake force changes from OE. Messing with the F:R tire diameter (or revs) can also do that, especially if you go to an extreme.
275/30R19 front and 305/30R19 rear, or 275/35R19 front and 295/35R19 rear, will yield the same/similar F:R split to the OE GY SC3 setup as far as revs. With the 35-series, you a right there in diameter, too.
I have a feeling that running tires that are more sticky than the GY SC3 and in a square setup on the SS 1LE has the potential to allow "Ice mode" to become more likely of an occurrence in autox (not necessarily track, though, due to the nature of autox driving). It may also play into the eLSD. Why? Think about what the tire revs/wheel speeds are doing and than think about how the car is probably [optimally] programmed.