[Phab]

My OG M2 came with worn RE-71R 275/35R18 front and 285/30R18 rear.

Not used to staggered setups. Should I do more of the same with the RT660? Go 275/35R18 front and rear?

[AlpinewhiteM2C]

Originally Posted by Phab

My OG M2 came with worn RE-71R 275/35R18 front and 285/30R18 rear.

Not used to staggered setups. Should I do more of the same with the RT660? Go 275/35R18 front and rear?

suggest going with 270/30/19 front and 275/35/19 rear if running Falken RT660s. No rub in the front and shorter sidewall makes for crisper turn in.

[CLH]

Originally Posted by Phab

My OG M2 came with worn RE-71R 275/35R18 front and 285/30R18 rear.

Not used to staggered setups. Should I do more of the same with the RT660? Go 275/35R18 front and rear?

If you’re keeping the same wheels then 275/35-18 all around is the easy button. Check on availability though - that’s a popular tire right now and you may have trouble getting a set.

[Phab]

Thanks. I was planning on staying with 18 for the slightly better acceleration, our local venues tend not to have fast sections.

Anyone knows what was the setup of the M2 who just won Chicago Champ Tour?

[Phab]

Would it make sense to go with 265 in the front instead of 275 with the RT660 to maintain the M2 staggered setup?

[AlpinewhiteM2C]

Originally Posted by Phab

Thanks. I was planning on staying with 18 for the slightly better acceleration, our local venues tend not to have fast sections.

Anyone knows what was the setup of the M2 who just won Chicago Champ Tour?

Looks like I glossed over your indication that you were running 18" tires. I echo Chris H.s recommendation then of 275/35/18 all around. As for Chicago Champ Tour, based on pics I saw looks like the M2 leading BS in Chicago was running the 275/30/19 front/ 275/35/19 rear RT660s on 437Ms.

[Phab]

I may have found a set of 19 locally and the RT660 availability seems to be better in that size.

Is a spacer needed in the front with the oem wheel?

[AlpinewhiteM2C]

Originally Posted by Phab

I may have found a set of 19 locally and the RT660 availability seems to be better in that size.

Is a spacer needed in the front with the oem wheel?

no spacers needed if you're running stock wheels (e.g. 437M, 788M, 763M)

[Dean_Clevername]

Anyone here going to be at the Seneca Tour?

[Dean_Clevername]

Ran the Hotchkis bar for the first time at the Seneca Tour last weekend. Full soft per the feedback from the folks in this thread (thanks!). Definitely added understeer, but the roll stiffness was very welcome with all the slaloms and transitions.

Usual 30/30psi f/r was a little too stable on day 1, hard to get the rear involved (maybe I was just under-driving). Added 2psi to the rears on day 2 and the back end finally entered the chat. Not sure it was much faster, but it was certainly more fun and easier to get pointed where I wanted.

Prior to Seneca I snapped a stud installing the sway like an idiot and had to get the dealer to bail me out. Got the car back the day before I left (thankfully) and drove on the alignment they handed me. Here it is as a data point. I do have the camber correction hubs. As you can see they really were correction, not a bonus haha

Im on 275 square RT660

[Dean_Clevername]

Originally Posted by Phab

Thanks. I was planning on staying with 18 for the slightly better acceleration, our local venues tend not to have fast sections.

Anyone knows what was the setup of the M2 who just won Chicago Champ Tour?

I spoke with Tony at Seneca very briefly about bars and he said that in Chicago they were running the Dinan one from full soft. But that's as far as we got. He was co-driving at that event.

Someone else who claimed to be familiar with that particular car and m2 in general claimed (extremely vaguely) that you could get additional front camber on an M2 by loosening "everything" then "pull the lower section out kind of at an angle," hold it there and re-tightening everything down. He was pointing at the front wheel when he said this. Like I said, extremely vague. Anyone ever heard of something like this?

[JustAWhisper]

Originally Posted by Dean_Clevername

I spoke with Win-Hou at Seneca very briefly about bars and he said that in Chicago they were running the Dinan one from full soft. But that's as far as we got. He was co-driving at that event.

Someone else who claimed to be familiar with that particular car and m2 in general claimed (extremely vaguely) that you could get additional front camber on an M2 by loosening "everything" then "pull the lower section out kind of at an angle," hold it there and re-tightening everything down. He was pointing at the front wheel when he said this. Like I said, extremely vague. Anyone ever heard of something like this?

That sounds like what we all used to do on older BMW's where the centering pin on the strut was easily removeable and you just pulled on the strut to increase camber. Without a removeable centering pin, I don't know how you could possibly increase camber. It sounds to me like this guy has experience on other BMW's and assumed the new ones are the same.

[digitalseance]

Originally Posted by Dean_Clevername

Someone else who claimed to be familiar with that particular car and m2 in general claimed (extremely vaguely) that you could get additional front camber on an M2 by loosening "everything" then "pull the lower section out kind of at an angle," hold it there and re-tightening everything down. He was pointing at the front wheel when he said this. Like I said, extremely vague. Anyone ever heard of something like this?

I was told the same thing by someone familiar with the car as well, although his personal experience was in a 1M but was working with another M2 that hadn't seen the track yet at that time.

He emphasized loosening everything and never mentioned removing a pin.

[Dean_Clevername]

Originally Posted by digitalseance

I was told the same thing by someone familiar with the car as well, although his personal experience was in a 1M but was working with another M2 that hadn't seen the track yet at that time.

He emphasized loosening everything and never mentioned removing a pin.

Thanks for validating that! Was that guy Jeremy Foley by any chance? I should have asked Devin or Tony about this in person at the Bristol Tour over the weekend, gah! I did talk pressures with them. iirc they are running 36/38, which is a lot higher than the 30/32 I've settled into. Looks like both of our cars even had approximately the same degree of rollover, despite the pretty large pressure disparity.

[digitalseance]

Originally Posted by Dean_Clevername

Thanks for validating that! Was that guy Jeremy Foley by any chance? I should have asked Devin or Tony about this in person at the Bristol Tour over the weekend, gah! I did talk pressures with them. iirc they are running 36/38, which is a lot higher than the 30/32 I've settled into. Looks like both of our cars even had approximately the same degree of rollover, despite the pretty large pressure disparity.

Yes, Jeremy co-drove with me at Dixie '20 and I picked his brain for 2wks leading up to the event and during. I managed to get a wealth of information from him and having him drive and us study the data each run, I dropped over a second and by the end of the weekend I was nipping at his heels.

I've learned that 36R/34F on the AO52s is where my car is the happiest based on how I drive. For the 19" RE71Rs, its best at 28psi. I ran our last local event with the AO52s with only 32 F&R because I didn't feel like going back to the paddock to grab my compressor and I was all over the place. You'll see in the video, especially in the return crossover, the rear just never really hooks up and the rear is super squirrelly.

See attached pic (cone levitation!), I was never "straight" and drove the drift through the turnaround.

[Wisco M3]

FYI - an OG M2 won SCCA Nationals in BS yesterday.

[CSBM5]

Originally Posted by Wisco M3

FYI - an OG M2 won SCCA Nationals in BS yesterday.

Awesome! BSL winner was an M2 also.

Here's a link to summary of winners yesterday.

Looking at the times, it looks like the very first run on the first day, he nailed a super time that following runs couldn't match -- so goes the competition at Nationals and only three runs. Superb first run -- I love it when that happens, but it's pretty rare for me in recent years (uh, decades )

[CSBM5]

On a side note for those of us with E9x M3s too, STU 2nd place was an 2011 M3 behind first by total of only 0.061 seconds over the two courses. Yet again, another typical and amazing Nationals competition outcome (well amazing to me anyway), and the consistency the driver displayed over 3 runs on each course is astounding.

[JustAWhisper]

I was happy to see the OG M2 showed that it's still got it in BS. I was afraid the Supra with it's similar power and lighter weight would dominate, but that did not happen. I was talking with some of the competitors (I attended, but did not do well), and there's a growing consensus that the Supra is not the overdog some thought it would be, and may actually be a hair slower in practice, despite its advantages on paper. There certainly wasn't a stampede to switch, as few showed up. M2 vs M2 Comp seems to be a toss up and driver/course dependent. I think the OG is still more popular mostly due to price.

The more interesting debates were on tires and the proposed SST class. Yokohama's still seem to be the favorite, but a surprising number of people ran Falkens in BS (at least on the front) and did well. Yokohama's also seem to struggle after multiple runs (especially with two drivers) in hot weather, which is part of why you see a lot of people standing on first or second runs. There were a few competitors in some classes who brought multiple sets of Yokos and were changing tires between runs, and rumblings to ban the Yoko have flared up again on Facebook and The Sandbox.

There was some interest in switching to the new SST, but I didn't hear anyone who seemed to feel strongly about it. There are concerns that the M2's won't be able to compete with the C5Z, which is what the new class will be benchmarked on. I think the originally proposed idea of putting the OG in STU with a tire limitation was probably a better fit, but that doesn't help Comp owners, which will make too much power in ST trim for STU, but won't be able to fit enough tire for SST.

For myself, I enjoyed going to the event, even if I struggled due to lack of preparedness on several fronts (it was only my second time going to Nationals, and the first time I brought my own car). The East course was possibly the best course I have ever run in my 8 years of autocross. I hope to go next year and do better.

[CLH]

Originally Posted by Wisco M3

FYI - an OG M2 won SCCA Nationals in BS yesterday.

Good to see an '18 can get it done

Anyone have info on the setup, specifically tire sizes?

[CSBM5]

Originally Posted by CLH

Good to see an '18 can get it done

Anyone have info on the setup, specifically tire sizes?

Some info in this post and other posts starting at #1337 onward in our many years ongoing E9x M3 autocross thread. Looks like the winning M2 was running 265/35-18s all around.

[JustAWhisper]

He was probably running 265's all around because 295's were unobtanium for most of the summer.

All in all, it's a good example of showing that tire width is not everything, but I was running the 275 in the rear since I also couldn't get a 295 in time, and felt a slight (but noticeable) decrease in the ability to put power down, so it's not a non-issue, either.