JimmyT

So I did my first DE (DT) and liked it enough to know I'm going to plan on going to 2-3 weekends per season going forward. These will be at Brainerd Int'l, which is a pretty fast track, but the back half is pretty turny. It was damp off and on, but the front tires outer shoulders look like they'll take a beating. I have a base 987, and was thinking about getting wheels/tires for the track to save my street tires, and swapping to track wheels and brake pads for DE weekends. It's an occasional daily driver, so I was htinking I can maximize the life of tires with a dedicated set. Is this smart, or is it overkill? I'm wondering how common this is.

Thanks

jpk

I have 4 sets of wheels for my 968... 3 sets have track tires on them.

Gary R.

Jimmy - It it were me I would take my car to a reputable race prep shop and have them set the camber and alignment up more aggressively. If your tires aren't directional have them flipped on the rims. New wheels will just give you another set of quickly chewed up tires, spend the money on safety.

Coochas

Hi Jimmy,
Welcome to Rennlist and the slippery slope of high performance driving. I myself plummeted down the slope and am hopelessly addicted. I mean hopelessly.
I think most people would advise improving your driving on STREET tires and then move to R-compound tires. This is what I did. Many PCA regions also require you to graduate to higher run groups before being allowed to use R-compound tires.
Eventually, if you think that you are going to stick with this and do several weekends a year then I think it is a great idea to get separate wheels and rubber. You should look at tires like Toyo R888s or maybe RA-1 which can be driven to the track if you are careful when it rains.
Mglobe has a 10-step progression somewhere and I believe dedicated track rubber is about #2.

JimmyT

Fair advice on the R compounds. I wasn't necessarily thinking of R coompounds straight away, but even a really extreme summer tire like B'stone RE11, or the like with larger outer shoulder blocks, or something non directional that I could reverse, could work to save my street tires. My directional street tires could then stay decent in the rain and last longer. Otherwise I fear burning through a set per year, even though I only drive about 5K miles.

I was planning to maximize my front camber regardless of what I do, so if that will make the most difference, and I could/should go a while without track wheels, that would certainly be the cheaper way to go.

Thanks, guys.

Jim

techno99

If you can get a second set cheap enough, I like the idea of one set with lots of tread for daily driving in the rain (or snow for you) and another set for track driving that you can take close to the cords. Both sets are street tires until you have plenty of experience and the tires become the limiting factor.

Z-man

Stick with one set of wheels with street tires for now. A second set of the same tires doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. The outer edge chunking you get from driving your car on the track won't effect your street driving much, if at all. As stated above, a good alignment should help with the chunking as well. Don't go too aggressive with the camber, though, since too much negative camber will cause the inside edges of your tire to wear too quickly, especially if you drive your car on the street.

IMHO, upgrade to stickier rubber when you've been signed off to run in the Solo run groups.

Oh, and start saving your $$ now for when you really hit that slippery slope!

-Z-man.

JimmyT

My understanding is with stock lower arms and the front strut towers, the most camber I can get up front is ~ -1.0 give or take. Not sure what mine is now, but asume half that? If I go max on the upper bolts to that -1.0 range, that's not too much for street if there are some track days in there to balance things out is it?

Gary R.

I would be surprised if you can't get 1.5 negative but I know 0 about stock Boxsters. I would say go max if it is only -1.5 and it will help and not be bad on the street. Again, ask a good shop well versed in preparing Boxsters or maybe even ask the question on the Boxster Forum for more input.

Sanjeevan

It doesn't make much sense to keep two sets of street tires, and at this stage you should continue using the one set you have for DE as well. There will be of plenty of other things you would want soon

Sean F

Jimmy, we've all seen this movie before. Skip the boring middle part and just fast forward to the end where you buy a race car, trailer and tow vehicle.

Gary R.

May as well buy my whole setup, car trailer and truck for $65K

RonCT

It makes perfect sense to have a 2nd set of wheels with summer tires like the RE11. Keeps your stock wheels and tires in top condition and puts wear-and-tear, rock chips, rolled tire shoulders, etc. onto the dedicated track set. Check the TireRack site for the OZ Aleggerita - I think they are about $1500 for a set of 4 and you can get whatever tire you like with free mounting and balancing. So for $2500 you get a good product for the track and extend the life and condition of your street set.

One way or another you are going to pay for rubber, so get a track set and when those are used up you'll probably be a couple of years in and be ready for R-comps. As others have said, get the best alignment you can to reduce understeer and "shoulder rolling". When the time comes, you'll want to upgrade your brake fluid (Motul or Castrol SRF) and pads.

333pg333

Crazy if you don't. Wheels / Tyres are so cheap in the US and the performance gains are well worth it.

Gary R.

The guy is tearing up his tires, do you really think it's the tires and not the alignment thats' causing the issues? Throw a new set of wheels with a $1200 set of R6's on there, why would anyone think they won't wear badly also? Maybe i'm nuts, please enlighten me how spending a few thousand on new wheels and R rated tires will be a solution for this newbie and his Boxster.