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      10-15-2020, 10:24 AM   #40
OG Shark
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Drives: Angry
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Spring Branch, TX

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Quote:
Originally Posted by M1500Z View Post
I just had my first weekend at COTA and now I'm on the hunt for tires for December's event, so this thread is of much interest to me. I don't want to derail it, but I'm very curious about which tire might be a good fit — I'm at a bit of a crossroads. I'm also how curious what delta in lap times you might expect to see between some of these tires.

My setup
'18 M2 DCT
Öhlins R&T
-3º front
-1.8º rear
Pagid RSL29 front

Last weekend I ran the stock 3-year-old Continental SportContact3 that came on the car. Even without the heat, searching for grip would be an understatement. So now I'm looking at what tire, and if I should either get 18" or 19" track setup.

OG Shark's comment about trade-offs makes a lot of sense and I think what I want is a tire/setup that isn't going to give up much on lap times but has good feel and break away properties and would last at least 2 weekends. I generally liked the way the car drove with the stock staggered sizes in terms of predictability. RS-4s may be the option as I continue to learn, but I do wonder what the delta in times would be from the RE-71R/A052/maybe even NT01 if I pick up 18" wheels. Oh... and not sure if this matters, but I like the curbs
So there a few things to think about when deciding a direction to go with track wheels/tires on the F87. First - do you run DSC on or off? If run with it on then keep in mind that if the diameter of the front tire is greater than the rear then it will likely trip up the computer frequently - even just going down straights. Just something to keep in mind when deciding on tires - you have to run DSC completely off in order for this not to happen. Second - kind of constrained on widths & offsets on this platform. Just a bit of homework to do here - definitely workable solutions but the window is a bit on the smaller side to make it work here.

18 vs 19 - definitely more options in 18, imo the way to go if there is no brake clearance issues. Pricing is a bit better too - but having more options is the main benefit imo. Also want to consider tire progression - are you looking to get into faster tires in the future? If so then might not be a bad idea to make sure they are available to fit the wheel diameter & width you decide to go with.

Tire selection - besides the trades offs that you are already thinking about between the different choices - what are you looking to get out of your track time right now? Depending on what you are trying to do on track I think there are different benefits to each tire. RE71 is going to be the king for lap times in this range. From my experience RS4 as much as 4sec slower at a track like COTA - but the RS4 will last over twice as long. The NT01 is going to fall somewhere in between there while being extremely consistent down to the cords.

Also square is nice to increase lifespan. Staggered ultimately faster though if you take advantage of being able to run a bigger tire out back.
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