I envy those who have power steering and A/C.

 

A/C is nice enough but power steering is over rated.

 

I had a manule rack to many turns lock to lock for me and still the power box has to many turns I am in the middle of doing a rack swap

 

I'm a big dude with big arms so I just put a small steering wheel on the truck. The manual steering box is fine with me.

 

Verdict is in. I'm going to be running FSP/T. Good thing too since I just ordered 265/50/15's for the back and 215/60/15's for the front.

 

Tires just went on this am. Fronts are just fine of course but the back is stuffed! I had to pull the inner fender bolts above the tires and bend their mounting tabs back before leaving the tire store.






I ended up pulling the inner fenders, the plastic splash guards and unbolting the bed side supports so I could pull the bed sides a bit more. I need to take the truck to my brothers place to put it on the lift and massage the lip back a bit more but it'll work for now.

 

Lookin good. Looking foward to the next auto-x video.

 

Same here! I'll have my wife running the camera more than just a single craptastic run for sure.

I guess the place we're running next weekend makes their courses even more open than here locally so it'll be higher speed but they throw in some hard corners to keep everyone in check. Good thing my brakes are very effective.


Oh yea, I forgot to explain my keeping the 15's... The first tire shop manager was supposed to make sure he could get the wheels I wanted in the right size/offset but he neglected to remember he was off all last week. So fawk'em I went to another les schwab location and dealt with the manager there and decided there was no point ingoing to 16's since my class allows anything I want to run as long as the tires are above a 140 tread wear.

I also forgot to mention my fawesome dented bumper and beat up valance They are perfect for a truck of this caliber and with a plastic valance I won't mind scrapping on things when I drop it down more.

 

To many turns lock to lock sucks manual box is even more turns then the power box

Even with my momo wheel helps but still to slow

 

I haven't had any issues with slow steering. Our courses are very open and high speed, we aren't putting around in first gear trying to run a tight maze.

 

Going from 205/75/14 to 215/60/16 to 205/40/16&215/60/16 to 265/35/18 to 245/40/18&275/35/18 to 275/35/18, having a significantly shorter tirewall helps a ton. The response gets sharper, along with tire choice.

The jump from 205/75/14 to 215/60/16 was more than enough to convince me I wasn't imagining things.
I got some free 205/40/16's that I threw up front and that made for some really sharp turn in. Wasn't great considering they are Civic sized and you felt everything. 205mm with 40% of that width for a sidewall made for a tiny sidewall. Bent a wheel one day.
Going from those to a set of 265/35/18's was a huge increase once everything evened out, but those tires were pretty old hand me downs for free. Didn't get THAT much grip, lol.
Then I raced on my Nitto NT-01's, quite the grip on those babies. The stiffer sidewall construction was nice along with the compound. I bought these from a friend, but stretching a 245/40/18 on a 18x10 didn't do much help. The grip was there, but I wasn't benefitting that much.
Then I got a full set of beautiful Bridgestone Potenza's, 275/35/18 all around. It was an absolutely great tire, I think 140 or 160 tread wear, but it was the run flat version, which I've read bad reviews about...
But I absolutely loved those tires. They gripped well through the mountains and the RFT sidewalls were stiff, big deal for me. <3

I ordered a set of Toyo R888's for the truck when I come home. 295/30/18's will be wider but slightly shorter than my 275/35/18's. I'll be getting 18x10.5's.

Having fast steering is great when you have to recover from sudden oversteer, then counter the snap oversteer. The lock to lock is crazy... but the truck allows for a bit more "precise" adjustments of steering, if you will.

Only 215's up front? You could probably get away with 245 up front without too much of a rubbing issue.

 

Interesting info. I myself am running 245/40R18s I don't know much about tires and what they really can do for you but they feel like they grip damn well. I love the wide tires for handling.

 

Figure out what tires they are really quick. Should be able to find your treadwear rate. Usually, but not always, the lower the number will equal greater grip, but faster wear (of course).


Ultra high performance summer tires usually sit around 140 to high 200's. High perf summer tires are around high 200's to 300 something for the most part.


At 245, that's a pretty good width for our trucks already, the balance is great.

I'm super stoked about my Toyo R888's...

 

Smaller sidewalls definitely help in the control department! I'm on the hunt for some 17's to slap some 245/40/17's onto for dedicated auto x duty. I'm eyeballing some toyo proxes R1R's at the moment. I have to run over 140 tread wear for my class.

The tires I just picked up will get ran next weekend and then get used for street only duty. They are wide enough that the truck sticks way better than it ever has. It's kinda boring now really, I can't kick the tail out anymore, it sticks even though they are 380/420 tread wear tires.

 

Hell, find a set of 03/04 Cobra wheels, those are 17" and look good.
If you want to run a spacer, try STI wheels, I know the 05-07 STI's are 5x114.3 BBS 17". I think they're 17x8 or 17x8.5, I can't remember.

 

I recently swapped to some 17x9 cobra wheels for my autocross event last Sunday, running 235/40 front 255/40 rear. They worked pretty well, I'm also picking up a 4runner here in the next week and a set of crown Vic brakes

 

I think the cobra wheels will be the best bet for cheap. I found steelies in the right backspace and width for under $350 shipped but the cobra wheels are likely going to be lighter which is a big plus.

What is the backspacing on the cobra wheels? I know I can look it up but I'm feeling exceptionally lazy this am.

 

I actually got to compare these cobra wheels with a set of 17x9 soft 8 steelies and they feel half as heavy, it was enough of a difference to where I will probably never buy steel wheels ever. I scored these wheels for $100 so..... Yeah lol
And I'm not sure on back spacing but you may want to run spacers or tub the fender wells if you want to go as low as me with similar tires cus I rubbed enough to where I'm gonna tub my fender wells.

Stoked to see how your build will turn out, these are fun little trucks to autocross

 

your lucky I wish we had more open place

 

I run the r1rs and I love them I was going to get r888 again but they get gooy over time aka they heat up fast this can be great on a coldish summer day but hot days they get slimy and they are horrible in the rain


my 2 choice are r1rs and full blown slick from hoiser or handcook kumo is ok but never ran them