autocross wheel/tire recommendations

[oregonduckman]

I am in need of an extra set of autocross wheels/tires and would like to spend the least amount possible (safety first looks 2nd). I know nothing about wheels or tires and am looking for some intel/recommendations on the subject.

My car currently has 18" Cayman S wheels and Michelin Pilots. Should I stay with the same size wheel? Go smaller/larger thinner/wider, I am clueless on the subject.

Does anyone know of some reading material on the subject?

[martinreinhardt]

First I would get the car aligned by a shop which works on Porsche race cars like: Mirage, Dieters, Black Forest,... Tell them that you want an alignment for Autocross.

As for the wheels, get a cheap set of Factory 996 or order new CCW 17" wheels (if the offset fits the Cayman). The reason for the smaller 17" is: better tire choice and a better price.

I don't know which Street Stock class tire is the best these days, but I use to like the Kumho MX (way faster than the Michelin and half the price)

To go faster, the DOT race tire of choice for many of us is the Toyo R/A1's or the newer Toyo R888's.

Welcome on the slippery slope

[993Panzer]

Here's my $0.02 on the question.

EuroTech Luxury Wheels has a Wheel they say fits the Cayman. I have a set and they fit my 993. They are here in SD and you can go pickup a set of these wheels out the door $749. They are lighter than stock wheels but heavier than BBS or Kinesis wheels. These are 8.5 and 10.0 x 18 inch wheels. The front offset is 50 mm and the rears are 58 mm. Check them out here.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/18-Porsche-Boxster-Cayman-997-911-993-996-wheels-rims_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742Q2em153Q2el1262QQcategoryZ43958QQihZ022QQitemZ350031225367QQtcZphoto

I have run them at a Time Trial and they worked fine.

For tires I'd recommend Toyo R888's. 235 to 245 fronts and 275 to 285 rears. They fit fine on these wheels and may fit your Cayman.

Check to make sure the offsets of the wheels are correct for your car. If they'll work put the Toyo's on them and have fun.

Those in the know please correct me where I'm wrong.

[Irksome]

Wow, I wish I had asked here before I bought, that's a great deal on wheels! I just picked up some used hollow spoke turbo twists, very light and about the same price, but I like the size of those wheels better. Darnit!

My '03 996 is running the exact same tires as your car, I've been buying 997/Cayman take off tires. Until recently I've been running the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2, which is what you have, and I got tired of buying new sets after I damaged them with autocrossing. I find the PS2s to be great, but very susceptible to damage when you push them hard. I've destroyed 5 tires (3 front, 2 rear) in 1 year!

If you want to stay in street stock, you can't go with the R888s. I asked this same question recently on Rennlist, you can see the thread here:
http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/s ... p?t=409872

I chose Falken Azenis, which seem to have a very good rep for autocrossing, and are very well priced. A full set cost me $724 delivered (225 front, 265 rear). DiscountTireDirect.com (which is different than DiscountTire.com!!!). I've had the wheels and tires on the car for 1 day, and have not yet tracked it, but so far the tires have impressed the hell out of me. And they are 200 treadwear, so they are fine for street stock. I'm considering putting on a set for daily driving!

I saw an ad for local pickup of some OEM turbo twists for $500 recently. You can definitely get a set of OEM wheels for under $1000 (I paid $850 for my hollow spoke turbo twists) if you take your time and look around. The wheels Dave just mentioned look very good, and I might have gone that way if I have known about it sooner. To keep it simple, I would just look around for any OEM wheel that has the same size as what you have on now (18x8, 18x10, and match your current offsets +/- 10ish). If you are unsure, you can always post a question here or at Rennlist about whether a particular wheel would fit, and you'll usually get an answer in an hour or less.

Here are the places I look at for used stuff:
http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/f ... .php?f=136
http://ad2ad.com/?portalid=1001103
http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/foru ... y.php?f=67
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/forumdisplay.php?f=17

Irksome, aka Tom, aka 1414

[pdy]

"In need of..."

Well, you might reconsider the NEED. If your Michelins still have life left on them, hey - just run them to death and get more driving experience on tires that are a write-off anyhow.
If you are thinking of preserving the existing tires by getting another set, I'd still vote for using them up before deciding.

Maybe you want to go faster and move to NS from NSS. I would still suggest using up the Michelins if they aren't already gone. If they are already shot, then you might consider
keeping your existing 8x18 and 9x18 wheels, and getting replacement tires that keep you in NSS. The choices would be Michelin Pilot Sports like you have (most expensive, but good),
or Yokohama Advan (probably just as good and cheaper). Other options are the Kumho MX or Hankook Z212 in 265/35-18 which are cheaper still, and definitely faster.

If you REALLY want to move to NS, then I STILL would keep the existing 8s and 9s and explore the Yokohama A048 or Michelin Pilot Sport CUP (265/35-18 for the rear), or Hoosier R-6
(in 275/35-18 rear). Any of these will cost about the same as replacing the Michelin Pilot that you have now, but will last about 1/3 to 1/2 as long, go faster, and put you in NS.
There also is the Hoosier A-6 - same size and price as the R-6. this is way faster than the R-6 but might only last a total of 30-50 laps!

Other than the Hoosier A-6, you can run these tires in the dry on the street if you aren't putting that many miles on the car (8000 per year). I ran the Yoko 048 on my "street"
Porsche all the time, even though I only autocrossed it 4 of 5 times per year. The only reason I would recommend a second (or more) set of wheels is if you are really serious about
this, AND you are driving your car a lot on the street, and running purpose built tires (class NS) for autocross.

The performance/autocross alignment makes sense if you don't drive too much other than autocross. It can wear the tires unevenly and make the Cayman darty on the street.

Finally, I would recommend you talk to many of the Boxster S autocross drivers to see what they do. they have very similar cars, and probably more experience with this sort of thing.

[avidtest]

Another great tire for AX is the Kumho V710 R-compound tire which is faster (slightly) than the RA-1's (but wears much faster) and is on par or just behind the Hoosiers. And there is also the Nitto NT-01.

If I'm not mistaken, the Toyo RA-1's are being phased out and being replaced with the R-888's. The R-888's are still quite expensive, at least the prices I've seen.

I haven't seen many folks run the Nitto NT-01's, but I've heard elsewhere that they are a very good AX tire and are on par w/ the Toyo RA-1 and R-888. Apparently they use the same tire compound as the aforementioned. I'm thinking about going with a set for TT practice and then switching to the V710's or Hoosiers for timed runs.

BTW, I personally would not recommend the Michelin Pilot Sport Cups for AX. They take a bit to warm up before they start to work well, which can be hard to do in AX, especially during timed runs when you only get one practice lap. I had a set a while back and did not like them. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to run them on a big track with continuous lapping, which is where I've heard they really come alive. Also, the are pricey.

As for wheels, there are tons of choices. I'm not familiar with the ones referenced by 993Panzer, but the price is definitely right. The CCW (Complete Custom Wheel) Classics that were mentioned, are also a great bang for the buck and are a well-known wheel. They are 3-piece, so if you bend one, it's cheap to fix. I just bought the CCW C14 1-piece wheels and am very happy with them. They cost more than the Classics though. Other wheels in this class include those from BBS, Kinesis, Forgeline, Volk and some more I'm forgetting about. Most of these are even more $$ though (except for the Volks if you can find them off the shelf in the correct offset). And then of course you can just get another set of Porsche factory wheels in various flavors, and if previously used, probably at a good price.

[Mark Garriott]

I have been running NT-01s on my 914 for about a year. Although it is said the NT-01 is a re-branded RA-1 / R-888, I believe the sidewall is a bit stiffer. There have been concerns that since the 914 is much lighter than the Boxsters and Caymans, the car might not generate enough heat into the tire. Recommended pressures are apparently in the high 30s (good luck finding this info from Nitto tech), I have found that 29 PSI works well for me at autocross.

Guys at the Cayman club forum (let me find the link), have also found that higher pressures are needed for road courses, but dropping pressures to the low 30s works better for autocrossing.

[LUCKY DAVE]

I'm looking at toyo R1R's in 225/60-15 (treadwear 140) for the kids new G/SS 944 to use after the Michelin Pilot XGT (treadwear about 3,000...station wagon tires) are gone.
Has anyone tried them? Opinions?