Soloontario

I'm reasonably experienced in F body track cars but am new to my C5Z. Would like to have a "street" tire (read Hankook RS3 or Kumho XS) and wheel combo, likely all 18s, to learn for this year and move to RA-1s or NT 01s for next year.

Concerned re rim sizes and strength. I see lots of adverts for TSW and others. Are these strong enough for track use? Any other recomendation on rims (was hoping not to pay for CCWs, how about Enkei? )

Hankook RS3s only come in wide sizes in 19". Any idea what the appropriate offset would be on a C5Z ?

Biggest RS3 in 18" is a 285. (My experience with other RS3s is that they tend to be big anyway). Anyone running 265/285 stagger with these tires?

I have run 275 Nitto Nt 05s on a 3450 lb Camaro with a reasonably done up suspension and found they overheated pretty quickly i.e consistantly the 2 nd and 3 rd laps were slower than the first. I am frankly much happier with the reliability of R comps. Am I going to be really dissappointed in the small size Hankooks? Are the Kumho XS's better just due to larger sizes ? Is it worthwhile to find some 19" rears and get the 305/30-19 RS3s? even though they are 26.3 tall? Who makes a 19" rim that is wide enough for a 305 and what offset??

I know.... lots of questions. I really feel like a newbie again.

Brent Dalton

Run the stock C5Z 18x10.5 rear wheels on all 4 corners. Strong, light, and cheap. Tons of track guys here on the forum have been running them for years without issue.

rasrboy

I'll second Brent, run the rear Z06 rims all for corners. There are usually sets floating around here for sale, or House of wheels may have them.

I ran 315-30-18 on all 4, The XS is a great street/track tire.

Aaron

Soloontario

Ok so good replies re wheel choices, but what about tires?

I need a "street" tire i.e treadwear of 140 or more for this year.

Hankook RS3 seem wickedly fast but the biggest size in 18" is 285s

Yokohamas Advan 08s come in 295s

Kumho XS comes in 315 but the next size down is 275. (recipe for understeer??). Not sure I'm ready to run a 4 square pattern yet.

Nitto NT 05s are too hard in my experience.

Any experience with the relative speeds of these tires?

JimbeauZ06

x3 for stock wheels. Nitto 555RII are good dual-purpose street/track tire. You can easily run the 305x18 square if you have the wheels to do it or you can run the 275x17s on the front.

SoDiezl350

Will these tires/wheels see street duty besides for driving it to the track? If the answer is no I would recommend either square 18x10.5 Z06 wheels or the TSWs in 18x10.5 with the R-S3s in 285/35/18. The Hankooks are not too narrow in that size and will work really well.

If these are going to be your street wheels/tires as well then I would recommend either running the 17x9.5F 18x10.5R Z06 wheels or 18x9.0F and 18x10.5R TSWs with either a 265/35/18 or 265/40/17 for the front and the 285/35/18 for the rear.

You might even be able to run the 275/35/18 in the front without the Active Handling freaking out but you will have to check the actual diameters of the tires to confirm if the difference between the two is big enough.

TrueBlueCoupe

For those running the square C5Z setup (4) 18x10.5, do you have to run spacers in the front, and do they rub at all if you run a 265 or 275?

Will the C5Z 18" in front accept some bigger brake kits?

I was thinking of running 265/35-18 in front and 295/35-18 in the rear

Bluefire

I can only comment on my W/T combo at the track. I finally did purchase my dream wheels. CCW 505A's. I went with Hankook Rs3 tires.

My specific sizes are: 275/35/18 and 305/30/19.

I thought these tires handled phenomenally well at the track. They did not feel greasy, even after the third sesson of the day. I must admit if I was a better driver I would have left with a lot less tread.

The only "down-side" I see is $1500 a set. I can see a good driver needing new tires after 2 -3 track days. Next ones I buy may be the V12's.

meldog21

265 is probably going to be too skinny a tire on the 10.5 rim. I use the Nitto R2's with 285 fronts and 305 rears on all four 18x10.5 rims. The 285's work, but the tread width is just a little less than the rim width.

As far as tire clearance goes, 285-305 more than likely won't rub but it depends on your alignment set up. If you have brake duct extensions (DRM), 285's will rub the brake ducts at full lock. Its no problem at all while you're on the track, but you need to keep the rubbing in mind when parking.

Concerning brake clearance, the stock 18x10.5 Z06 rear wheels used on the front of a C5 will clear Stoptech ST40 (and many other similar sized) calipers without spacers. Depending on which brand and model of brakes you buy you must check with the manufacturer on whether or not they will clear or need spacers.

Dog

Soloontario

Have you used R compound tires before ? If so, how do the Hankook RS3s compare?

If you look at Tire rack and the specs on these tires(RS3s) they aren't all that big, (although I had thought they were). The Yokohama in 295/30-18 has a tread width of 11.5 " which is the same as the 315-18 Kumho XS while the RS3 in 285-18 is only listed as 10.1. That is a big difference. I know the 305-19 Hanook is also 11.5 but I was hoping not to have to go to 19" rims. OTOH the Yokohama is only 25" tall which means traction control problems right? BTW does this affect the ABS function?

I would be happy to use the Nitto 555R2 but the treadwear rating is 100 which would put me up a class in the Mobil 1 Time-attack series. If I were going to R comps I would likely use Nitto NT01s or possibly Toyo RA-1s. (Yes I know Hoosiers are faster but they would put me up ANOTHER class!)

BTW I will be using these tires to get to the track but not for regular street use.

justkickin

I ran the 265/17 (f) and 295/18 (r) RS3's in the last half of the season of autox up here this summer. Great tire. Lots of grip. Only downside, not very communicative. The Dunlop Star Spec communicates a lot better.

I would recomend them over XS's as the XS is terrible in the wet from what I have heard. On the street in the rain the RS3's weren't that bad at all. Never did have them on a wet track though.

The offset width was fine, car stayed fairly neutral in transitions and sweepers. Power on oversteer, as usual, is easy to achieve.

I plan on buying a second set of RS3's this winter for next year unless the Dunlop comes out in a better size. I have lots of tire left on the existing set, but they won't last all season and the 17's are hard to get a hold of as a lot of STR class cars run that size.

Soloontario

Where did you get those sizes? Hankook doesn't list a 265 in a 17" or a 295 in an 18" anywhere that I know of. Were these sizes discontinued??

justkickin

My bad, sorry. Read wrong section of my own note. Sizes I run are

255/40/17 (f)
285/35/18(r)

Still more grip than bigger XS from what others say.

RDnomorecobra

I've run 305/35's up front with no rubbing, and 315/30 which I think will contact the fender a bit unless you have some negative camber in there. I didnt have a problem with either hitting control arms but I am careful not to apply full lock in the paddock. I do not yet have brake ducts, I think that is biggest rubbing concern. And no spacers.

JimbeauZ06

You can run up to 315x18 on the front without spacers. You do have to be careful not to turn the wheel to full lock especially if you have brake ducts. This set up may not be ideal if you're doing AX but fine for road course.

longdaddy

if you have experience w R comps already, just get yourself a set of NT01, R888/RA1, Pilot Sport Cups etc and be done with it.

Kumho XS will do exactly the same thing as NT05 you describe - few great laps, then managing overheating tires for the next 15 minutes.

there is nothing worse than spending 1000+ on "dual use" tire and then realizing that you can only get 3 good laps out of it each session.

stay w 18inch wheels all around if you can, much better selection and cheaper tires.

running 275 front/315 rear would be OK.

I would stay away from 555 - there are simply much better choices.