[BlueStreak91]

An introduction first: A long time ago I was an SCCA RoadRacer, AutoXer, and Rally-X competitor and instructor.



I'm not planning on going back to competing, but this new car of mine is so much fun I'd like to put another set of wheels/tires on it, and with the fewest changes possible, go exercise it at an autocross.


What's the best bang for the buck for a wheel/tire set these days? And I really don't care about maximizing width, I don't want to touch the fenders.


Any setup advice?


TIA

[kropscamaro16]

if you are going to autocross it and dont care about sizes just do a 19x10.5 305 square setup

[BlueStreak91]

Originally Posted by kropscamaro16

if you are going to autocross it and dont care about sizes just do a 19x10.5 305 square setup

This makes a lot of sense. Got any suggestions for offset and sources? Tirerack has a qty of 1 of these available. Not 1 style, 1 wheel!

[VR Baron]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak91

This makes a lot of sense. Got any suggestions for offset and sources? Tirerack has a qty of 1 of these available. Not 1 style, 1 wheel!

From what I have seen, going with the 10.5” people use Apex wheels with 35 offset but to clear the struts with more camber you need a 26mm spacer and longer studs. That or get a 19x11 wheel with 9 offset or close, basically a zl1 1le stock size. That for the front. For rear same size but 35 to 43 offset.

If you don’t want to spend a lot and as you said not getting to involved, I use a cast ZZR wheel , x25 model. It’s 19x 10.75 with 15 offset front and get the same but 35 offset rear. Very inexpensive wheels, not for road courses but autocross is fine. Been using them for six years no issues. At the time we’re like $600 a set, more now but great deal. Falcon or Nanking tires best choice

Bear in mind square tires will push you into potential oversteer, but not sure how the verts behave so that’s trial and error.

[kropscamaro16]

yup check out apex they have all the info you need tirerack is good for tires but not wheels

[DaveC113]

Check out Apex wheels, they have Camaro specific wheels and can help with fitment.

I'd tend towards a ZL1 1LE wheel setup with 315/30/19 rear and 305/30/19 front Falken RT660s. A square setup would require longer front wheel studs, spacers and a front anti-roll bar for best results as VR Baron mentioned.

Other have gone with SS 1LE size wheel in 19s, you could run the same tires as above or 305 rear/275 front.

[apexit53]

apex race parts makes some good camaro fitments you should check out.

[cdrptrks]

Originally Posted by VR Baron

Bear in mind square tires will push you into potential oversteer, but not sure how the verts behave so that’s trial and error.

I have read this too. A square setup is more popular for track days so you can reduce tire costs by rotating front to back.

Originally Posted by DaveC113

I'd tend towards a ZL1 1LE wheel setup with 315/30/19 rear and 305/30/19 front Falken RT660s. A square setup would require longer front wheel studs, spacers and a front anti-roll bar for best results as VR Baron mentioned.

ZL1 1LE wheels will require strut mod or camber plates (which boot the car out of SCCA stock class if you care) to clear MRC struts , especially with front camber maxed out, but they work with stock wheel studs.

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=526353

[BlueStreak91]

I like the idea of the square 19" setup. If I want to leave the camber stock, and don't want to change studs, what wheel width and offset am I hunting here? Also, in the size range we're talking, what's the most common size? 305/30/19?

[DaveC113]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak91

I like the idea of the square 19" setup. If I want to leave the camber stock, and don't want to change studs, what wheel width and offset am I hunting here? Also, in the size range we're talking, what's the most common size? 305/30/19?

IMO that won't work out unless you sacrifice on tire and rim width. And a square setup, at least on my SLE, is a handful in autox with the possibility of snap oversteer.

If you don't want to do studs and a front roll bar I'd stick with a staggered setup, the "strut mod" required for ZLE sizes is 5 min with a small grinder, NBD. SLE sizes will fit fine too with no mods, and you could run ZLE tire sizes (or in this case 315/305 RT660s) with a minor amount of pinch, it's within tire mfg'er recs.

On classing you'll be in CAM-C unless you stick with OEM rim widths and no more than 7mm difference in offsets. IMO not worth it.

[BlueStreak91]

Originally Posted by DaveC113

IMO that won't work out unless you sacrifice on tire and rim width.

I'm perfectly willing to make that sacrifice. The trophy room is full, I just wanna go play.



I actually have a line on a set of 295 30 18's that I'd be happy with, but I'm still trying to find the right offset for a square setup.

[cdrptrks]

You are going to want at least the track alignment if you plan to do autocross regularly or else you will cord the outsides of the front tires early and end up paying a lot more than needed for front tires while also having less grip than you could. IMO, might as well max front camber to around -2.5° if you are already changing the alignment rather than setting it at -2° per the track alignment specs. Also I have read that some 200 treadwear tires popular for autocross require a lot of camber to work effectively.

If you are just doing a single autocross event, you can still have fun using the stock wheels and tires! Autocross wheel/tire setups are generally about squeezing the maximum possible performance out of the car for competition within the rule limitations of the class you are running in using sticky tires that don't last very long...kind of the opposite of bang for buck. Since you said you don't want to compete or change your street alignment, I really don't see the point of getting a second set of wheels and tires for autocross.

[DaveC113]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak91

I'm perfectly willing to make that sacrifice. The trophy room is full, I just wanna go play.



I actually have a line on a set of 295 30 18's that I'd be happy with, but I'm still trying to find the right offset for a square setup.

Ok, well in that case you can figure out the minimum width rim required for those tires and the front offset required for that rim width. For example if you can use 10" wide rims you can use around 20mm offset, 11" wide rims need around 10mm offset. Again, check with Apex on exact numbers as you'd want to use the most offset possible so the rears don't poke too much. You'll still have more oversteer than you might want, which a staggered setup will balance out...

[BlueStreak91]

Originally Posted by cdrptrks

You are going to want at least the track alignment if you plan to do autocross regularly or else you will cord the outsides of the front tires early and end up paying a lot more than needed for front tires while also having less grip than you could. IMO, might as well max front camber to around -2.5° if you are already changing the alignment rather than setting it at -2° per the track alignment specs. Also I have read that some 200 treadwear tires popular for autocross require a lot of camber to work effectively.

If you are just doing a single autocross event, you can still have fun using the stock wheels and tires! Autocross wheel/tire setups are generally about squeezing the maximum possible performance out of the car for competition within the rule limitations of the class you are running in using sticky tires that don't last very long...kind of the opposite of bang for buck. Since you said you don't want to compete or change your street alignment, I really don't see the point of getting a second set of wheels and tires for autocross.

Totally agree on all points. I was just asking a hypothetical "if I don't want to change anything, what fits?"


I'll being doing an alignment just because of the way I drive on the street.