Check out the race section, this issue has been covered many times. I am ordering Toyo RA-1's for this year. Not the best track tire, but it wears well for an R compound and is DOT legal to drive to the track on.
Sorry to burst your bubble but the OEM wheels are NOT "super light" nor strong enough to support racing speed side loads.
I recommend a lighter and stronger set of race wheels such as CCW's or Kodiaks.
For track rubber I would look at either Hoosier or Kuhmo and Goodyear.
Note that the DOT Kuhmo V710 are good
Hoosier is coming out with an new DOT A3SO5 and R3SO5, hopefully before April 30, 2005. Many were dissatisfied with the wear endurance and higher pressures needed to run the A3S04's & R3S04's but improvements have been made.
Goodyear has a nice selection of DOT tires and also has their full race R tires, G-19 Sports Car Specials available.
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Williams GT Engineering @ www.WilliamsGTEng.us
F1 Technology, Parts and Preparation for Competition Corvettes AMSOIL Online Store
Brian,
While I agree with DJ that there are better track wheels available, if you do decide to stick with stock, Goodyear makes a DE tire in OEM sizes specifically for the Corvette. It is the Goodyear F1 GS-CS. Same rubber as the DOT Goodyear GS-CS I've been told. I first learned of this tire when I saw John Heinricy with a set at a race in late 2003.
DJ... you're always spouting gloom and doom for the stock wheels. I have a 2001 so my wheels are forged. I also have a set of CCWs for street use and they're heavier than my Z06ers... yes they're a hair bigger (18's up fronts and 18x11 rears) but still heavier.
Not all of us have an extra $2k just to throw down on a 3rd set of wheels when I allready have two and the Z06ers will be fine.
Make sure you get CCW's track wheels, not their street wheels, obviously. If you call John and tell him what you want, he will build you a set to order that do exactly what you want. If you want extra-light, he can go with the forged alloy hubs, etc. They give good service.
My point in not recommending the OEM wheels is that I have personally witnessed center hub failure on both the '01 forged and the +'02 and up spun cast with not only wheel damage but car damage as well. The resultant repair bill is much more than a set of CCW or Kodiak race wheels.
In addition I have seen quite a few expensive OEM wheels ruined by fairly mundane off track excursions and even just a flat tire at racing speeds.
Neither the OEM forged or spun cast were engineered to handle the side loads generated in high speed track or AutoX.
Besides CCW and Kodiaks being lighter and stronger (safer) and offering a performance advantage by allowing larger tires by virtue of running optimum wheel sizes and offsets; they are much cheaper to repair being a 3 piece wheel.
A new wheel set runs around $1700 and a used set around $1400. That's not a bad investment when you can recover 3/4's of your cost later.
Go with the CCW track wheels and you will never be sorry, as for tires I will through in the Michelin Sport Cups, Good grip, work well when hot (180+) and cycle well, also you can drive to and from events on them. They will be a little more expensive Page Ranking set, but will last 2 to 1 or better, Not as sticky as other R compound , but will give most DE drivers the same predictable handling from start to finish.
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2001 Torch Red, SCCA Solo ll Specs.
02 Audi Allroads 2.7TT RS4spec. 03 Range Rover
86 K100RS Carmra Moto. 05 R1200GS been to Alaska
My point in not recommending the OEM wheels is that I have personally witnessed center hub failure on both the '01 forged and the +'02 and up spun cast with not only wheel damage but car damage as well. The resultant repair bill is much more than a set of CCW or Kodiak race wheels.
In addition I have seen quite a few expensive OEM wheels ruined by fairly mundane off track excursions and even just a flat tire at racing speeds.
Neither the OEM forged or spun cast were engineered to handle the side loads generated in high speed track or AutoX.
Besides CCW and Kodiaks being lighter and stronger (safer) and offering a performance advantage by allowing larger tires by virtue of running optimum wheel sizes and offsets; they are much cheaper to repair being a 3 piece wheel.
A new wheel set runs around $1700 and a used set around $1400. That's not a bad investment when you can recover 3/4's of your cost later.
I've seen the center cracking on CCW's too, but does that mean you should not run them at races/DE's? No. Everything can fail, but acting like MANY OEM rims fail is simply an overstatement. The percentage of failures vs. non-failures is so far apart that there is really no need to worry. The key is protecting yourself. The majority of rim failures are not catastrophic unless there is an impact. Most of the failures out there began as mere stress cracks, something that can be caught in pre race/DE inspections. Most people I know who do DE's NEVER clean their wheels, they just pop them on and off during events. Clean up those rims, inspect them and protect yourself no matter what make and model rim and you'll likely NEVER have to worry about this situation.
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#86 SCCA NE Division T1 Over1G Racing - AMSOIL Independent Dealer (Forum Vendor)
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