[1LEASYE]

I'm looking to run either Charlotte's ROVAL and/or Dominion Raceway in Northern Virginia next month and after viewing all the threads. I like to make this one to encompass everything possible.

1) I'm at 2300 miles of this writing so I am about to get my oil changed. If I decide to put 5w-40 instead of the usual 5w-30 in my 18 SS 1LE is the 5w-40 ok for daily driving since that's what I do most with the car.

2) if I go with the -2.0 front 1.5 rear camber settings is leaving those adjustments dialed in ok for street use without putting extra wear on my Summer Only Goodyear's

3) With the car still be fairly new, it sounds like the stock brakes pads should hold up on at least one track run unless I'm diving bombing corners like hell. What are the best pads for street/track use? The stock pad brake dust I read about is worse than I thought. I'm not heavy on the brakes at all and the dust is annoying, makes the wheels especially the fronts look rusted even from a distance after a few days.

4) Even in my old 96 v6 Camaro with a 5 speed I never did rev match downshifting so I use active rev match a lot and found downshifting between 1500 and 1000 RPMs doesn't buck the car/bog down the motor but i don't want to run Active Rev Match and Traction Control since it seems like most others don't to get the best feel for the track and the car overall. From the videos I've seen, is it best to just shift the gear and blip the throttle during the throw or hold neutral for a sec and blip the throttle while still in neutral then go into the desired geared?

5) For the long term for year round driving, what would be some good tires to invest in for both street and track use? Mind you as of right now I probably will only run about 5-10 track days a year at most.

6) I'm definitely changing the brake fluid to either DOT 4 or SPF 600, is there a better daily driving preference between the two? Whatever I put in the brake lines I like to keep there after the first track day if possible.

Thanks for any/all input. I'm trying to be cautious the first time out and not wreck a car that took me 25 years to finally buy something like this on my own.

[Stephen12ZL1]

brake fluid definitely swap to DOT 4 & stock pads are fine. Alignment isn't absolutely necessary. Adjust air pressure at the track to 29 psi cold for your first runs. Have fun and pay attention to traffic.

[Alpha1BC]

Originally Posted by 1LEASYE

1) I'm at 2300 miles of this writing so I am about to get my oil changed. If I decide to put 5w-40 instead of the usual 5w-30 in my 18 SS 1LE is the 5w-40 ok for daily driving since that's what I do most with the car.

Yes, 5w-40 is just fine for daily driving. You can run that or any 0w-40 for track and DD use, just make sure it's Dexos2 certified if you want to maintain your warranty.

Originally Posted by 1LEASYE

2) if I go with the -2.0 front 1.5 rear camber settings is leaving those adjustments dialed in ok for street use without putting extra wear on my Summer Only Goodyear's

I've noticed no issues with wear and I got the GM track alignment done at 1500 miles. I'm now sitting at ~6000 miles and 5 full track days and tire wear looks close to even, but maybe a little more wear on the outside from track use. You're definitely going to want the track alignment, otherwise you're going to eat the outside shoulders of the tires on the track. Make sure they set the toe to the track spec as well. Toe being out of spec with the added camber will eat the inside shoulder of the tires during DD use.

Originally Posted by 1LEASYE

3) With the car still be fairly new, it sounds like the stock brakes pads should hold up on at least one track run unless I'm diving bombing corners like hell. What are the best pads for street/track use? The stock pad brake dust I read about is worse than I thought. I'm not heavy on the brakes at all and the dust is annoying, makes the wheels especially the fronts look rusted even from a distance after a few days.

Stock pads on the 1LE are just fine and will stand up to the abuse, even if you are dive bombing corners. There's always going to be some compromise when picking brake pads, especially if you're looking for one pad to cover both track and street use. Most of the time, better braking performance comes with more dust and brake noise. If the dust from the stock pads is a deal-breaker for you, you might consider getting a separate pad for street use and swap to the stock pads or another track pad for track use. Some other users on here have gotten Powerstop Z26 pads for street use because they have virtually no dust and comparable performance to the OE pads on the street, bu these pads won't stand up to track use so you'd need to swap for a track day.

Originally Posted by 1LEASYE

4) Even in my old 96 v6 Camaro with a 5 speed I never did rev match downshifting so I use active rev match a lot and found downshifting between 1500 and 1000 RPMs doesn't buck the car/bog down the motor but i don't want to run Active Rev Match and Traction Control since it seems like most others don't to get the best feel for the track and the car overall. From the videos I've seen, is it best to just shift the gear and blip the throttle during the throw or hold neutral for a sec and blip the throttle while still in neutral then go into the desired geared?

To clarify, active rev matching (ARM) and traction control/ electronic stability control (TC/ESC) are two independent. I highly suggest using rev match if you're not comfortable doing heel-toe shifting. Rev match lets you downshift as you brake for your corner rather than after the corner (slower) or in the corner (risk of upsetting the car). I also suggest using PTM rather than turning all of the TC/ESC systems off if you're not familiar with taking a car to its limits on track. You can still definitely feel the car out, but it'll help you recover if you accidentally push to hard. In a nutshell, here's what the TC and ESC systems do and how they are different for the levels of PTM:

TC - engine power limiter to avoid spinning the wheels from throttle application
ESC - brake applies to specific corners to help maintain stability and avoid unintended yaw (spinning out)

Wet- TC and ESC active, very sensitive and intrusive.
Dry- TC and ESC active, less intrusive than wet but still noticeable
Sport 1- TC and ESC active, less intrusive than dry
Sport 2- TC active, ESC off, TC is less intrusive than Sport 1
Race - TC active, ESC off, TC is at least intrusive level and is not as noticable. At this level, you can still keep the throttle planted and spin out if you try to when exiting a corner, but it takes a lot and gives you more time to react/correct your inputs than if you have all systems off.
All systems off - TC/ESC off, but ABS stays on. You can't disable ABS through the vehicle options, but I personally don't see any need to because it isn't very intrusive to track driving.

Originally Posted by 1LEASYE

5) For the long term for year round driving, what would be some good tires to invest in for both street and track use? Mind you as of right now I probably will only run about 5-10 track days a year at most.

The OE Goodyear SC3s are great track tires, but are not the best in the rain. A lot of people here seem to like the Michelin PS4 for dual duty use, but tey won't be as good as the OE tires on the track.

Also, do you have snow at all in central VA? Or temps regularly below 40°F? If you do, I'd suggest getting a second set of wheels to use a winter or aggressive-tread all season tire for the winter season. No decent summer tire is going to perform well in ~40°F or below conditions, and some (including the OE Goodyear tires) are prone to cracking or being otherwise damaged in temperatures that cold.

Originally Posted by 1LEASYE

6) I'm definitely changing the brake fluid to either DOT 4 or SPF 600, is there a better daily driving preference between the two? Whatever I put in the brake lines I like to keep there after the first track day if possible.

Brake fluid selection won't have any noticeable impact to daily driving, it'll feel just like it does today. You need DOT4 fluid for track use because of the higher boiling point. Brakes get VERY hot on the track, especially if you're pushing hard. Whatever DOT4 fluid you pick, I'd suggest planning on a full system bleed once per year, and then do smaller bleeds after every or every other track day to flush out the fluid that's in the calipers (where the fluid gets the hottest). I haven't found the need to flush the entire system every time.

Another couple of things to note:

-As mentioned above, lower your tire pressures to 28-29 psi cold before going on the track. As soon as you get in from your first session, check your tire pressures again. You want to be at 35-37 psi when they're hot. Take a look through the high performance supplement that came with the car as well as the high performance driving section of the owner's manual if you haven't already, has a lot of good information in it.

-Don't forget about changing your diff fluid! You'll want your diff fluid changed once before your first track day, and again after your first track day (and don't push the car to its limits on the first day, either). Reason for this is that the eLSD is only partially broken in during street driving so you flush it to get those contaminants out, but then on the track you get stronger engagements than the street that will further break-in the diff, so you'll want to flush again after that to get those contaminants out.

-Keep a record of your on-track driving hours. For these cars, the trans fluid should be replaced every 10-15 hrs of track use, and the diff fluid should be replaced every 24 hrs of track use (starting after you do the 2nd break-in diff fluid change).

-If you haven't already, I'd suggest looking into a catch can as well. This isn't required by any means, but I notice that it filters out a lot of oil and crap from the PCV that would otherwise be dumped into the intake manifold.

-If you have PDR, save the .mp4 files from each session! You can open them in the Cosworth Toolbox software and get a lot of useful data, and you can even potentially compare your lap head-to-head with other drivers that have PDR and use it to improve your skills behind the wheel.

Good luck out there and have fun! These cars are great fun to run at the track.

[kropscamaro16]

have fun be safe