Since I have more power, I now have less traction.
What are people doing, if anything to get more grip?

We spend all this money to get going faster, but all we are doing
is spinning our wheels.

Are new tires the only way?

Help me!

 

I have some extra traction that Im not using. 25 bucks and its yours.

--
Cheese

PS - Plus Shipping

 

actually you have the same traction - however your feet find it easier to blow past that 15% slip rule!

Tires, says O wise one; right after you learn how to control your feet!

P.S.
Don't fall for Cheese and his "Traction for sale" antics!

 

>>P.S.
>>Don't fall for Cheese and his "Traction for sale" antics!

Fine. $20 bucks and two gallons of dehydrated water.... but thats the best I can do!

--
Cheese

 

smoke the tires, that will get them nice & sticky

 

Thanks Cheese, I'll pass.

What I don't like is when i'm already rolling in first gear, and punch it, all I do is spin the wheels. I just feel like I am wasting the extra power I put into it because I can't harness it.
I can only imagine how fast I would wear out my tires when I add another 20 hp to it.

I was just curious what others were doing.

 

Hey MiniMac, what mods have you made on your MINI?

 

All kidding aside, you need a limited slip.

--
Cheese

 

... and sticky tires.

 

Mod-u-late...

DREW

 

To allow for better traction-

upgrades-
Quaife Limited slip differential
sticky non runflat tires
rear sway bar/suspension upgrades
-1.5 degrees negative rear camber

Things to turn off-
DSC

Things to do-
throttle up smoothly and gently- don't stomp
steer with minimal effort
take corners with a good line
Drive on smooth clean roads

Go to driving school to learn how to balance your car.
The goal is to allow transfer of your MINI's power to the ground via the wheels and transmission. This is best done by balancing the weight of the car on all four wheels as evenly as possible on each of the corners but also on each tire itself. The more tire contact you have at all times the more easily you can avoid wheel spin and loss of traction assuming that the tires are optimal. Talk to alex@tirerack about tire options. Maybe Bridgestone Potenza S-03 would be good in 40 series.

 

I went from spinning my tires all over the place to not being able to spin them at all. Get some really good sticky tires. I had the Pirelli 17" runflats and could spin my tires in first gear easily. First to second shifts would make a little squeel. I installed Falken Azenis tires and I have plenty of traction now even with the pulley. I would highly recommend the Falken Azenis tires if they fit your wheels great summer tire and I drove it in a Rain Storm on the Highway here in Florida last week without any problems. I was expecting them to be much worse rain tires. They solved my traction problems and this was the interesting part, after I got my Falken tires I knew they had a treadwear rating of 200, but I never checked the Pirelli Run-flats and when I did I found out they had a wear rating of 180. Less than my new sticky falkens. Amazing.

 

Thanks Super Mini.
I have the pully and intake right now...with the ECU and exhaust next month.
I am interested in getting from 0 to 60 as quick as possible.
I am ordering my new wheels and tires in the next few weeks.

Thanks for all the help guys!







_________________

 

Hmm... with intake, 15% pulley, and exhaust I have major straight line one wheel spin issues. Thats with Azenis on the car. Definitely hurts in an autocross launch.

Though I am hoping the Quaife install next week helps out a bit.

 

>>Hmm... with intake, 15% pulley, and exhaust I have major straight line one wheel spin issues. Thats with Azenis on the car. Definitely hurts in an autocross launch.
>>
>>Though I am hoping the Quaife install next week helps out a bit.

Really? Do you have springs/swaybars upgrades installed? Are you dumping the clutch when accelerating? I have to say, I haven't beaten on my car real hard nor had it to the Autox track yet (this weekend I will) but with the Azenis I have way, way better traction than with the Pirelli Run Flats. I can't spin the tires from first to second shift anymore and I've never gotten wheel spin in a straight line with the new tires with it to the floor. I'm sure I could spin them from a launch if I wanted to. I will be very interested to hear how it is with the Quaife. Let us know how it goes, and are you doing any clutch mods at the same time?

Also, I noticed with my Pirelli runflats that Tire preasure made a huge difference in traction. With 24psi I got pretty good traction with 40psi traction was horrible. So if you don't corner real hard all the time you could lower your tire preassure and get better 0-60 times. Even at 24 PSI and doing a skid pad test around an idiot circle 3 times at max lateral acceleration, I didn't roll the tires over onto the sidewalls.


_________________

 

I run 35psi rear, 33 front, to encourage oversteer. And I do not dump the clutch, but rather roll off of it as the accelerator is depressed. I have to feather it a lot for a decent stoplight or autocross launch, otherwise it will spin. 1st to second shift also spins, and things only get worse when you toss any turning into the mix.

The Quaife is mainly for autocross purposes, as I am not a big drag racing guy any longer. I do tend to be an aggressive redlight driver though... so I hope it will help there.

 

Here's the order I followed to get traction:

Azenis
Tire pressures
Rear Sway Bar
Shocks - softer in the front
Quaife LSD

Have fun!