suburbanrobot

Hello all,
I am a new member and the owner of a new 06 SS SC in the chicago area. I took the balt auto xing yesterday and did well, although I did have huge traction issues which kept me from placing further up in the standings. My car is stock right now and I am seeking advice fron others who have X'ed there SS SC w/o the G-85 pkg.

thanks sub

LittleStealthSS

My advice is mess with your tire pressure and find where it gives you the best grip, but you are still going to spin a bit with the car.

Depending on your region, you might be able to run r-comps and still remain in D-stock. Here we can at certain places due to traction issues.

I'm running street tires and also running in our "street tire shootout" class. I run against many different cars, but it's all pretty competitive.

Traction is a big issue with any sport where these cars are concerned. Good luck and keep us informed on how you do.

suburbanrobot

thanks for the quick response lil stealth SS.... are you still on the stock Pirelli's? and if so, how many miles are on them? (wondering how worn down they are). Where are you setting your pressure? I set mine at 40 psi front and rear as a baseline starting point. I did not roll over to the sidewalls (which is good). Car was pretty neutral as I was able to get a bit of rotation in the tight corners.
Here we get 6 runs with the group I am competing with. I am just trying to learn the car's traits before I start adjusting. I only have 2K miles on the car... 1st run I laid a smoke screen that Batman would have been proud of and turned a 60.58. 2nd & 3rd run I dialed it back a bit and still got some tire smoke but lost 1 second on those runs. 4th, 5th and 6th runs it seems the tires generated more grip as I consistently ran in the 60's from 60.8 to 60.13 to 59.8 w/ much less wheelspin.
I have another event in a month and am contemplating the Ingalls dampner.... but, I don't want to just buy it w/o the research.

LittleStealthSS

Well,

THe 1st thing you need to decide on is WHERE you want to be...

D-Stock

STS

STX

SM

Then look into what is allowable. I dount you can add the Ingalls brace and stay in DS. I know that you cannot add the strut tower braces and still remain in DS.


Ok.. onto what I have been doing......

I Ran my 1 Auto-X on the stock Pirellis. At the time they had 24K on them, and they didn't do TOO bad, but it could've been better. They surface was a decent traction area, so I did ok. I was within 2 secs of the fastest DS-WRX.

I have been experimenting and basically your 1st run is where you decide what to set the PSI at. Every course and every location is different. You'll have to set it based on your walkthru and say " I need this" and then adjust from there.

Example: I set mine to what i thought they should be ( 42 PSI F / 40 Rear ) and after the 1st 3 runs, I decided I was skating to much ... the tires weren't rolling over, but they were sliding alot.. so I dropped them to 39F / 37R... 2nd 3 runs went alot smoother.

I'm running Khumo ECSTA SPT's in the stock sizes. I have done nothign else to the car, and won't this season. I'm staying in DS / Street tire for now, and if I feel comfy with it, next eyar move into STS once the car gets some stuff done.

I will also be buying more autocross freiendly street tires and such for the car.

Hope this helps at least let you know what other's in your class are doing.

suburbanrobot

from past experience, I have found that STOCK class will make me most competitive for the $$$$. modified classes usually mean the person w/ the most $$$ invested (and driving skill) will win. I do commute w/ my car and want to try to keep the warranty intact for as long as possible. I ran a NEON R/T (all stock except urethane bushings) last season and was very competitive with it placing about 2/3rds of the way back of the STI/EVO cars.
So, stock class is my preference from a $$$ standpoint.

24K on the Pirelli's is probably much different than my 2K of wear.... so if I understand you correctly, worn or better tires will get me more grip (as I know). I had the SPT's on the NEON and they were great.... are you happy w/ them on the SS/SC? Are they better than the Pirelli's in your opinion? They seem to be the bang for the buck tire fitment for our stock 18" wheels.

Tire pressure.... hmmm, I hate to mess with that stuff but I guess I have no choice if I want to be competitive. I will try running less in the rear (as I did in the NEON.. I ran 40 front and 35 rear).

My thought is to get 17" for the winter and next spring run a super sticky street compound for events in the warmer months. Hence, I'll have commuting tires on the stock rims, and
winters and stickys on the 17's.

I guess I need to do my homework and figure which club I want to compete with and look at the rules.

I really, really appreciate all your input.

thanks
SUB

LittleStealthSS

That's pretty much where I'm at as well.... I'm on a budget, and that's the way to go for me...

I LOVE the ECSTAs.... great in the wet and dry. I've not had them in the cold yet, but we'll see. I will most likely get steelies and blizzaks for it

shiftingloco310

i auto-x my advice would be to get better tires... if you like auto-x and you think you're gonna go alot invest in falken azenis rt615's....best auto x tire on the market and they are pretty cheap too. As tire pressure for auto x i would put the tires to 35-36 as they heat up they'll expand to about 40-41 lbs... if you want put like 38 lbs in the rear so you can over steer. tractions gonna be a issue cuz we dont have lsd...just gonna have to feather the trottle and wait till you straightend out before you floor it otherwise you'll spinn that inside tire. hope this helped.