In the endless battle to gain performance, weight is always the vital key to any type enhancement. As i am curretly looking for new shoes for my 2002MCS, i started to look at the tire weights, seems most performance tires @ 225's are about 25lbs. till i looked at a less then performance tire of the same size. a Goodyear assurance something . this tire weight was at 20 LBS! its more a passenger tire.

now will this 20 lbs unsprung weight savings make my MCS faster? or slow it down do to the lose in traction?



MY cars usage is weekend street warrior. weekday sits in a garage.

 

Mechanical grip of tire compound trumps unsprung weight for most autox, time trial, and road racing application. At 225/45-15 the Hankook RS-3 is one of the best sticky street tire. Should really consider light weight rims over light tires. All in all it is a balanced compromise of size, compound and weight.

I would be willing to wager a Six Dollar Burger that a 205 Dunlop Star Spec would out grip a 225 Goodyear Assurance despite it size disadvantage, all due to its stickier compound.

 

+1 on the Hankook R-S3, especially if you're turning. Your speed-to-speed acceleration may be marginally slower, but you'll be leaving the corner a few mph faster.

 

If we're talking drag racing cars, you want the stickier compound. If we're talking road/rally racing, you want the stickier compound. Popular Mechanics actually did tests to see if a lighter tire actually helped in road racing and the answer was ... no. Ok, the test was on a Mustang Boss, but hey, I race both the Mini's and Challengers.

Mini's (along with most BMW's) are considered a "momentum" race car You want as much cornering traction as you can get so you can maintain the higher turn speed. Well, same goes with the Challenger on curves, but it sits at a disadvantage being 2x the Mini's weight so it has to make up lost speed in sheer horsepower on the straights.

The Goodyear Assurance is an A traction and a B temperature. Meaning the tire isn't the best in curves and can't handle heat dissipation well. Daily driver yes, weekend warrior, no.

 

I went with SSR wheels W/Conti tires because the combo was 60lbs lighter than stock S-Lites W/Dunlops. 60lb weight reduction in sprung/rotating mass seemed to make it a little quicker.

 

Good info!

 

The Hankook Ventus R-S3 weights in at 22 lbs. $129 not bad, only 8 lbs increase.
with this in mind i found the following tires:

Kumho Ecsta XS at 21 lbs. $124

Continental ContiSportContact 3 at 19lbs. $122

gets more interesting with( deep breath)... The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Uniform Tire Quality Grade Standards (UTQG)... pewh.

Hankook UTQG: Treadwear: 140
Traction: A
Temperature: A

Kumho UTQG: Treadwear: 180
Traction: AA
Temperature: A

Continental Treadwear: 280
Traction: AA
Temperature: A

what ya think? yes, i need to look at wheels too. find what 17inch is good.

 

First of all the the easiest way to lose unsprung weight is to go smaller in wheel size, of course diameter not width, like 15x6.5, 15x7, 15x7.5 or even 15x8. It also improves gearing, which improves acceleration and smaller tires obviously means lighter tire as well. The 15 inch size also means a cost savings on rims and tires purchased compared to 17 inch.

Also, the Continental ContiSportContact 3 you have listed up there are completely out of their league when it come to ultimate dry grip. A more competent tire to run against the RS-3 and XS is the Dunlop Star Spec.

 

But 17's look good, also i cant afford both at once, and i already have 17's.

the O.Z. Alleggerita HLT look rather light at 14.2 lbs , better then my bbs r90's.

 

There's also the 14.6lbs Enkei RPF1 and the 15lbs Kosei K1 TS both much cheaper than the OZ wheel. I forgot the the other two components of the formula: aesthetics (looks) and price. It's a balanced compromise of size, compound, price, looks and weight. I love the looks of the BBS R90s despite their weight, I would just wrap 215/40-17 Dunlop Star Specs around them babies and call it a day.

PS: You mentioned using 225 tires, I assumed you meant on a 15" wheel, not 17". Because that tire generally only comes in 225/45-17 that size did not fit my JCW R53. That's why I recommended the 215/40-17 size.

 

i read posts about 235's fitting with trimming. then i found r56 have more room. so maybe was wrong car posts.

but 215 being lighter i think i changed my mine to go smaller, even thou i wasn't even sure if the 225 fit or not.

car already sticks to the road as is. only need it to go faster.

 

235/40-17 does fit with some spacers, wheel well and fender trim modifications, but 225/45-17 is a little tougher for the R53 prolly cause of taller overall diameter.

 

any info on this, wheel well and fender trim modifications?