17" Euromeisters may be my next step. They are a very good price and have correct offsets. I was concerned that I would lose some acceleration by switching to tires that were ~25" dia. instead of the current 23". The wife might think I am a little bit nuts as I already have two sets of wheels. Actually, she is already certain.

 

Ask your wife how many pairs of shoes she needs

I have 4 sets myself. You need to have the right tread for each occasion.

 

I've wanted to try 205/225 on the oe 15" wheels, but I can't convince myself giving up 100mm of tire and 4" of wheel width total is worth it.

 

For the last two years I have been running Nitto NT-01 for A/X. 205/50-15 front and 225/45-15 rear. They were on 15x7 Cookie Cutters. This setup worked really well. I won my class in PCA intra-regional competition. This year I need to transition to street tires. I'm trying (soon as the snow melts) 225/45-15 BFG Rivals on 15x7 and 15x8 Fuchs. With the 23" diameter and ET 23.3 in front there is plenty of room for that size. I'm expecting a little less grip and probably a little more oversteer.

I'm calculating that a 225/45-15 Rival delivers an 8% lower gearing than using 255/40-17 ZII. I don't know if your car has a 915 trans. or a G50 like mine and what the gearing for 1st and 2nd would be.

Come down to Ohio and we can swap wheels at an event.

 

We've totally threadjacked the OP here. Awesome.

There's fantastic gear charts here, near the bottom of the page.

Using this, on my '84 with a Steve Wong 6750rpm redline, I run out of 2nd at 72 (!) mph on the 255/40-17. 25.03" diameter. On 225/50-15 that only drops down to 69mph. 23.9" diameter.

More telling is where you are in the rev range at about 35mph, as AX is a lot of pulls from there:
255s - 3238rpm
225s - 3397rpm

Do you travel to any NWOR-SCCA events? I run with them quite often.

 

Hijack? What? It IS still about tires for A/X. Is the OP still involved?

Thanks for gear chart link. I have Dl'd it. That's a nice toy. Looks like my car will be at 3632 rpm at 35 mph. Rev limited at about 65 mph in 2nd. 255/40/17 tires would be 3333 rpm at 35 mph and top-end at 71 mph. My 2nd is very slightly shorter than yours.

Frankly, the 225/45-15 tires look small on my car. If you are going for looks then they are not a good choice. They do lower the car which is not a bad thing for A/X. I have to be careful with the front end and usually lower the front a bit after arriving at an event. I will probably put some taller tires on some sort of wheels for driving on public roads.

I have mostly run with PCA clubs in Ohio and W. Pa. I have been to Owens CC in Toledo a couple of times. I have only done one SCCA event with http://neohio-scca.org/. It was well run and I plan do more with SCCA this year. Understanding the rules is a challenge. I was in CS at SCCA event. I was 9th in PAX out of 53 entrants. Got beat by a Miata and a 350Z in my class.

Which venue is best for NWOR? Owens, Toledo Express?

 

Tolerant, yes, but ZIIs like it warm, not hot; they don't really get greasy, but they give peak grip at lower temps. I spray mine liberally with icewater after every run in all but the coldest weather.

 

Toledo Express. It's a huge slab of perfectly flat airport concrete.

 

I bought AD08s for my Cayman R last year. They come in a really wide range of sizes and have worked out well.

 

This thread has not been hijacked. I'm enjoying the chat and taking notes. Thanks to all.