As the original poster already wrote, changing the rear sway bar isn't legal in A Stock.

I'm not aware of anyone ever doing well at a national-level event on Michelins. A quick scan of this year's National Tour and Pro results show that the front runners are all running Toyos, Bridgestones, Hankooks, or Dunlops. Anyone on street tires is going to get murdered by a similarly skilled driver on R-compounds, though.

 

utkinpol,

I hate to keep piling on with PedalFaster, but really you appear to be giving advice about something you know little about, SCCA Solo competition. Your advice may be appropriate for PCA Driver's Ed events or for the lighter competition of a local PCA autocross but not for the rules-bound, populace confines of SCCA National level Solo competition. When one regularly competes against 60 others in his class, one better not bring a knife to a gun fight. And that's just the advice you are giving.

 

Unfortunately I know that I am bringing a knife to a gun fight if I don't go with R compounds. I just want to see what the biggest, sharpest knife I can use. I do want to stay within stock rules.

My region is very low key with about 60 drivers total showing up for any event. I may not have the greatest competition but we usually get lots of runs (6-8 runs). Some of our best have done very well at the national level. I am not there nor do I have the time to get to that level. Although I love autocrossing, I will be fortunate if I make it to the minimum 6 events that our region requires to be elgible to get year end trophies.

 

Where is Falls, PA?

 

Yep, just to clarify my earlier comment -- I just meant that a good way to select the fastest tire is to look at what the ultra-serious national-level guys are running.

 

yes, OP question was what street legal tires to use and you recommended hoosiers a6.

there is a googable link to street class auto-x tires reviews, there is nothing new there yet. PS2, RE11, hankooks, yokos, nitto invos. None of them are overly great. some folks think RE11 are better than PS2, I think properly heated PS2 are not that bad. this season Michelin will introduce something named PS3 - who knows what that will be.

 

00r101, Falls is in Wyoming county about 15 miles northwest of Scranton. I have been autocrossing with the NEPA region. We occassionally get a few of the Susq. Region guys at are events. Do you autocross with the Susq. region?

 

As for the original question about tires, I know there are a lot of street tire reviews online. I was just looking to see if there was an overwhelming opinion as I don't necessarily believe that the best tires for one car are the best tires for another car. Especially since the 996 setup (rear engine) is different from most cars tested. It looks like there are a few suggestions but not an overwhelming opinion.

 

I think you're confused -- you're the first person on this thread to mention A6s. Although it's worth noting that A6s are technically street legal.

PS2s "aren't bad", but they're not in the same class as the latest crop of street tires, which blur the line between regular tires and R-compounds.

 

IMHO, that tire for you is Dunlop Star Spec. Any of the top tier tires (RE11, Ecsta XS, AD08, RS3, R1R) will be great for Autocross and faster than Michelin PS2s; they all have pros and cons, but performance is, overall, very similar. I say Star Spec for you since you're in PA and I think you'd be happier with them than the Kuhmo or Yokos, which like it a little hotter. (Star Specs grip very well cold, even on the first run out.) They're a lot cheaper than the RE11 for comparable performance and are good all-around wet/dry summer tires. I've driven mine even when it drops a bit below freezing (grip drops off, but IMHO it's still grippier than a typical all-season), but you're not really supposed to, and don't even THINK about driving any of these tires in the snow- you're better off walking.

I'd also recommend you put the widest front tires you can fit on your rims to dial out some of the understeer Porsche loves to use to keep trophy wives out of ditches.

Either that, or suck it up and get some Hoosier A6s

 

The one thing to be aware of is that the Dunlops are a bit noisy on the street. Also, like any of the other tires listed they are summer tires only and should not be driven on when temps fall below 40 degrees.

I have the Dunlops on my Boxster and I like them a lot.

 

Just out of curiosity, what are your current alignment settings?

Do you have 8x18s up front? If so, I would look for a 245 for the front. My non-S boxster came with 225/265s as well, but on 7.5x18s up front. I ended up running RA-1s and ran 225/275 which created too much push/understeer imho.

I will also say that there is an adjustment time when learning a new platform. Despite years of AX experience, when I made the swtich from my 911SC to the Boxster, I had to loose some bad habits (like relying on being able to lift and rotate the car) and learn to drive the car I was in (the boxster tended to just slow when lifting.. but not rotate) and not drive it like the car I used to own.

 

I actually have no idea what my alignment settings are. I have only had the car since January and have not had a need for an alignment. I might do a manual check one of these nights. The car has 8x18s up front with 225s and 10x18s in the rear with 265s.

There are a lot of great suggestions but I am not going to go out and immediately spend a bunch to do everything that would get me the best theoretical time. I think I want to do a few more autocrosses with the current setup and tires and see what happens. I know there is a lot that I need to learn even though I have been autoxing for about 9 years. And mostly I need to learn how to drive this car differently than my previous cars. Since this car doesn't rotate as well I think I am going to focus on trailbraking next time.

 

If you haven't checked your front alignment, I can almost guarantee you it's wrong for autocross. If you want to DIY it, just loosen the strut bolts and move them inboard as far as they'll go in the slot. It'll only be good for maybe -1 degree camber and will increase your toe by a very slight amount due to the geometry, but should increase front grip and help dial out some of that understeer.

 

if alignment was never adjusted it has to be done in the shop. moving front struts as described is possible but it is critical to get it done in proper shop as toe in stock form is off at each corner and most likely camber too, make sure they use sand bags of your own weight then tell them to get max negative camber in front - it may vary from -0.8 to -1.2 degrees, front toe set to 0, caster is not adjustable in stock, then based on front camber set rear camber to front-0.5 (so if front is -1 then rear should be -1.5) rear toe to 0.10.

that will improve things a whole lot - it will be best spent $200 of all you have spent on your car after you got it.
it will dramatically reduce rear tire wear, you front will 'feel' less solid at highway but will improve steering a lot. stock front caster will be in area of 7.5 something. you can ask to set front toe to 0.02 instead of 0 but I would go with 0. 0.02 will feel a little bit more stable on a highway, with 0 you must never let steering wheel loose.

if you intend to seriously track your car in addition to auto-x then I would say - forget stock. Minimum of what you got to do is to put 996 GT3 front LCAs to get -3 degrees of camber, rear GT3 sway bar set on stiffest position with tarett droplinks (as stock ones may bend) and tarett adjustable toe arms as stock parts may loose toe settings under maximum stress plus you will be limited to --1.9 camber in rear with 0.10 toe with stock arm. After all that you can do -2.5 front camber with -2.2 rear if you still drive car on a street or go to -3 front -2.7 rear. front caster will get to 8.5 or so.

If compliance with SCCA is critical then probably it would be a better idea to buy GT3 car to begin with as neither C2 nor C2S is not really ready to extreme sport in stock form. A lot of people find it fun enough to compete in strict stock class but having rebuilding my own car I can say from my own perception and experience - difference between stock C2 and GT3 suspension is like day and night. Understeer is mostly gone, steering is light and amazingly precise, it feels simply amazing.

For tires - you cannot run hoosiers on stock camber, they need more. you can get kumho v710 - they are OK on stock camber. those sliks will be good for auto-x. do not drive on those sliks to the site if you did not adjust you toe to what I specified above or you will eat them up. if you want more streetable tires - look at toyo ra1 and then at toyo r888.
toyo RA1 are very sticky, very durable and they exist for 18" rims so it would be your best option actually as it is a 'do it all' tire - you can drive on street on them and run auto-x too. they are not hoosiers a6 but still sticky enough.
look for them at frisbys - they have em on sale from time to time:
http://www.frisbyracetire.com/index.php

Tires selection will start playing its role when you`ll find yourself within at least 4-5 sec difference from best lap times. if best lap time was 75 sec and your time is 90sec - just run on whatever tires you got - PS2, nittos, who cares, and work on your vision and proper line. But, still, get alignment done first.