[DaveC113]

SCCA legal for all classes now, and the GRM test results are promising.

There will be a price to pay if you want to run 345/30/18, and the front fenders are going to pay it, lol. I was about to install Race Louvers fender vents anyways, so no big deal. The rears are darn close, just a bit closer than my 325/30/19 PS4S and I may need a few more mm of clearance but I don't want to alter the rear fenders if I can avoid it. It's close but it may not rub...

[Msquared]

Three things:

1. I haven't seen anything official from SCCA yet. Feb Fastrack just says they will "monitor the performance potential and availability of the tire and will update the membership with any new developments." I assume Dallas Reed wouldn't hype the news if he didn't know it was true (unlike the prior distributor). But has anyone seen something from SCCA about this?
2. Compared to the 345/30/18, the 345/25/19 should have similar outer dimensions while giving an extra 1/2" inside the wheel on the inside for strutt and brake clearance. Might that be a better option? Of course, I know DaveC113 has 18s already.
3. Seems like the 295/30/19 and 305/30/19 will be the combo to run in FS this year.

[clyde]

Originally Posted by Msquared

Three things:[LIST=1][*]I haven't seen anything official from SCCA yet. Feb Fastrack just says they will "monitor the performance potential and availability of the tire and will update the membership with any new developments." I assume Dallas Reed wouldn't hype the news if he didn't know it was true (unlike the prior distributor). But has anyone seen something from SCCA about this?

It's done and was publicly announced on February 1. Check the SCCA managed FB National Solo page.

Unofficially, the lag between decisions/actions and Fastrack publication is lengthy. Occasionally, something substantial enough with some kind of time sensitivity happens and an initial announcement is made through SCCA managed channels outside the the normal Fastrack process.

[Msquared]

Thanks, Clyde!

[apexit53]

Originally Posted by DaveC113

SCCA legal for all classes now, and the GRM test results are promising.

There will be a price to pay if you want to run 345/30/18, and the front fenders are going to pay it, lol. I was about to install Race Louvers fender vents anyways, so no big deal. The rears are darn close, just a bit closer than my 325/30/19 PS4S and I may need a few more mm of clearance but I don't want to alter the rear fenders if I can avoid it. It's close but it may not rub...

Looks beefy!

I take GRM with again of salt. In the past they have always tested tires, called something fast, then get to nationals and they aren't near the top.

Race what you feel most confident in. If its in the noise, you can make them fast.

[DaveC113]

Originally Posted by apexit53

Looks beefy!

I take GRM with again of salt. In the past they have always tested tires, called something fast, then get to nationals and they aren't near the top.

Race what you feel most confident in. If its in the noise, you can make them fast.

Yeah, it'd be great if they are faster but my #1 wish is to buy only one set of tires per season. Maybe not possible, but I hope the P1s have a longer competitive lifespan vs REs or A052s. I think it's highly likely they'll be "within the noise" vs the others though, Tire Rack testing shows very small margins in between the 200tw tires and I'd bet the advantage varies depending on the car, driver, surface, and the weather. P1s weren't rated as good in the wet, but I have a set of ZLE-sized PS4S too.

They are too beefy! I'm going to order these fender flares, just got off the phone with Clinched and they can be clocked and molded to the car using a heat gun, made of ABS plastic. I can either paint them satin black or wrap them the same color as the hood and flag graphics. I'd need to do this to run 315s, too, the 295/35/18 REs are the only tires that'll fit in stock front fenders using 12" wide wheels.

https://clinchedflares.com/collectio...w-schoolxl-4cm

[apexit53]

Originally Posted by DaveC113

Yeah, it'd be great if they are faster but my #1 wish is to buy only one set of tires per season. Maybe not possible, but I hope the P1s have a longer competitive lifespan vs REs or A052s. I think it's highly likely they'll be "within the noise" vs the others though, Tire Rack testing shows very small margins in between the 200tw tires and I'd bet the advantage varies depending on the car, driver, surface, and the weather. P1s weren't rated as good in the wet, but I have a set of ZLE-sized PS4S too.

They are too beefy! I'm going to order these fender flares, just got off the phone with Clinched and they can be clocked and molded to the car using a heat gun, made of ABS plastic. I can either paint them satin black or wrap them the same color as the hood and flag graphics. I'd need to do this to run 315s, too, the 295/35/18 REs are the only tires that'll fit in stock front fenders using 12" wide wheels.

https://clinchedflares.com/collectio...w-schoolxl-4cm

That would be nice and honestly for me i probably could get away with that myself given where i live and the locals here. Personally though, nationals i wana go in with my tools sharp, a scrubbed in set of tires is perfect! Maybe i take it too serious sometimes :p

Youll have to keep us updated on those tires! Id worry you wont get heat into those!

[Scargoes]

So, an update on my tires. Did some more testing and it seems that I have possibly gotten two different compounds. Or that one pair were really old and artificially heatcycled out. Cant really tell, the tires with grip don't have DOT or Date codes on them and the tires without grip were produced 4623. Working to sort it out now but not really hopeful.

[Msquared]

Scargoes' post #36 raises a question. In the beginning, it seems that the P1 was crapshoot in terms of how it was marked (date codes, DOT, UTQG, etc), what compound it actually had, maybe how it was constructed, and how it performed. Different examples that should have been the same were all over the map. I'll refer to this as "v1." From what I can infer (I haven't seen this officially stated explicitly), the P1 now is marked correctly and has a consistent and good-performing construction and compound. Let's call this "v2." My question is this: how would someone know whether any particular example of a P1 is v1 or v2?

Follow-up questions:

1. Is it reasonable to assume that any v1 P1s in the hands of America's Vitour Tire (AVT) were reclaimed by the factory and taken off the market?
2. Does anybody have official knowledge of the changes made to the construction and compound of the v2?
3. How did Quingdao Vitour United Corp allow such a hodgepodge of tires in the "v1 era" to be produced and exported in the first place? Or put another way, what is the manufacturer's culpability in the initial debacle? Perhaps the answer is that they were relying on AVT to guide them as they attempted to enter the American tire market, and that they were steered very wrong by AVT in that process. I can accept that explanation, but nobody has said it yet.

I think these are all obvious questions that lots of people are wondering but nobody has answered. I am not good at many thing, but I'm pretty good at asking the obvious!

[apexit53]

more so with how picky some racer can be with build dates.

[DaveC113]

Originally Posted by Msquared

Scargoes' post #36 raises a question. In the beginning, it seems that the P1 was crapshoot in terms of how it was marked (date codes, DOT, UTQG, etc), what compound it actually had, maybe how it was constructed, and how it performed. Different examples that should have been the same were all over the map. I'll refer to this as "v1." From what I can infer (I haven't seen this officially stated explicitly), the P1 now is marked correctly and has a consistent and good-performing construction and compound. Let's call this "v2." My question is this: how would someone know whether any particular example of a P1 is v1 or v2?

Follow-up questions:

1. Is it reasonable to assume that any v1 P1s in the hands of America's Vitour Tire (AVT) were reclaimed by the factory and taken off the market?
2. Does anybody have official knowledge of the changes made to the construction and compound of the v2?
3. How did Quingdao Vitour United Corp allow such a hodgepodge of tires in the "v1 era" to be produced and exported in the first place? Or put another way, what is the manufacturer's culpability in the initial debacle? Perhaps the answer is that they were relying on AVT to guide them as they attempted to enter the American tire market, and that they were steered very wrong by AVT in that process. I can accept that explanation, but nobody has said it yet.

I think these are all obvious questions that lots of people are wondering but nobody has answered. I am not good at many thing, but I'm pretty good at asking the obvious!

Dallas said some of the older tires were not stored properly.

I'm not sure and we may never know, seems like they made a mistake with their choice of original US distributor. Seems better sorted now.

Also, I've been considering what to do with the front fenders and am leaning towards ordering these flares:

https://clinchedflares.com/products/...pr_seq=uniform

I was planning on raising the rear ride height, I reduced rake quite a bit but never got a chance to test different rake angles. After some research I may get better turn-in with more rake. Will definitely get a bit more clearance though. Those 345s are pretty large.

[VR Baron]

Originally Posted by DaveC113

Dallas said some of the older tires were not stored properly.

I'm not sure and we may never know, seems like they made a mistake with their choice of original US distributor. Seems better sorted now.

Also, I've been considering what to do with the front fenders and am leaning towards ordering these flares:

https://clinchedflares.com/products/...pr_seq=uniform

I was planning on raising the rear ride height, I reduced rake quite a bit but never got a chance to test different rake angles. After some research I may get better turn-in with more rake. Will definitely get a bit more clearance though. Those 345s are pretty large.

Dave,

It’s worth a try as to rake. Not quite the same, but with coilovers on my old fifth gen, and knowing rake range the car should be in, adjusting rake so nose could be lowered 1/8” to 1/4” or so lower then stock helped turn in a lot. Going opposite, such as making rake even visually though with some actual rake built in, made turn in worse, even a feel of the front rising at freeway speeds.

Rick

[DaveC113]

Originally Posted by VR Baron

Dave,

It’s worth a try as to rake. Not quite the same, but with coilovers on my old fifth gen, and knowing rake range the car should be in, adjusting rake so nose could be lowered 1/8” to 1/4” or so lower then stock helped turn in a lot. Going opposite, such as making rake even visually though with some actual rake built in, made turn in worse, even a feel of the front rising at freeway speeds.

Rick

Thanks for your input, I'll try raising the rear end about 1/2".

[Msquared]

Yep, that rake situation is mostly a function of roll center heights (to use old-n-busted terminology). If you lower the front ride height you lower the front RC, which effectively decreases roll stiffness even though the spring/swaybar/damping rates all stay the same. Raising the rear raises its RC, making it more stiff in roll and also adding to jacking during cornering. Either one will shift your cornering balance away from understeer and more toward oversteer. Just know that raising the rear ride height also raises the static CG and the cornering CG, so it's likely to decrease rear grip rather than just increase front grip. So don't make big changes.