after being beat by my cousins 07 LS with just a catback, i feel like crap. i think these 17s are slowing me down. i still have my 15' steelies(no tires) in my garage. should i sell these 17s and just put some nice tires on the 15s? my car will definately not look as good.

i do not have money to buy 16's + tires, unless its a package deal at discount tires, and even then they probably wont be good looking. i dont know what to do

 

really performance wise all you have left is spray

 

I don't know how much you're expecting from wheels??????? But I highly doubt that your current wheels are "really" holding you back. It's not so much about size as it is weight. If your 15s and your 17s weigh the same, then there'll be no difference.

 

well then can someone explain to me the other causes of why my friends 07 LS with 15 steelies and a catback as the only mod can easily pull on my 06 LS with 17s and catback/header/intake

 

Didn't you say you have an exhaust leak near the header? That will hurt you a little bit. What catbacks specifically are we talking about? He may have a less restrictive muffler. How much does your body kit weigh vs stock? Weight will make a difference. On that same line, where do you guys stand power vs manual locks/mirrors? Do you have a sunroof? Does he?

Play detective and find out what it is that makes him faster:

Theory 1: RIMS
Take his rims, put them on your car. Take your rims, put them on his car. See what the outcome is.

Theory 2: DRIVER
He may just have a somewhat better technique or simply more experience than you. So swap cars. You drive his, he drives yours.

 

you beat me to the punch line.. alot of it has to do with driver.. i pull ahead of my friend in a modded RSX-S quickly untill he cracks VTEC than its by by cobalt... off the line i smoke him and pull like 4 car lenths on him.. i am just a much better driver than him... you are essentially in the same car so him getting a better launch than you can be the difference in a win or a loss, i raced a stock 07 ls one time, i didnt know we were racing untill i herd him chirp second. it took me a long time to catch back up to him and i have intake dp exaust.. i did beat him, its just he pulled about 4 lengths on my because i was not paying attention

 

the 07 does have a 10hp increase over the 05-06

 

i have the better experience, i have been driving a standard for about a year now, he has been for about a month, or a little more. i totally dominate him at launches. i have some really good tires.

oh and i will swap wheels with him when i get the chance.

we both have manual locks, manual windows, no cruise, completely base. he has no spoiler however. i have the ss spoiler, SS/SC exhaust (2.5), vs his 2.25 crush bent exhaust with flowmaster. i cleaned my air filter the other day, but just with water because i couldnt find anything about the gmpp filters. i will end up just replacing the filter however. it didnt clean it much. he weighs about 150ish, i weigh 180. i have the gm lip on the front which weighs very little, and i'm sure the side skirts and rear lip do not weigh much either. i have the pacesetter header which if i remember weighs a little less than the stock header, however i am waiting the LSJ manifold to come in the mail, and i have the SS/SC dp sitting on my bed. hopefully that will change things.

 

how close is the race? Honestly the things your talking about would be lucky to get you a noticeable gain, except for the DP

 

SS/SC exhaust is 2.25 as well.

Um, well, good news and bad news about the filter.

Good news: In re: to your other thread......the dealership probably didn't FUBAR your car. Cleaning your filter with just water probably FUBAR'd your car. More than likely, the GM filter is an oil filter. So it NEEDS to be oiled. If it was a dry-flow filter, I don't know, don't know what to do with those. So yeah, replace that filter ASAP.

 

yeah its a dry filter. says on the top "synthetic filter - DO NOT OIL"

 

off topic, who lied to you?

 

The stock 15's for an LS weight 16 lbs for the wheel and 18 lbs for the tire. Your Riax Seca's are about 16 lbs and your BFG's are 21 lbs each. So compaired to stock you're bout 12 lbs heavier for all 4 wheel/tires? I wouldnt point at the wheels and tires. I'd figure the traction advantage would offset the weight for launch

 

Dude, you're slow cause you have a 2.5" exhaust system...

 

really? i heard that 2.5 was the best, also the highest you should go. i've never heard anything bad about it

 

you lose some torque with a bigger exhaust which probably caused you to lose.

also try racing him from a roll, you should have more hp than him because of your bigger exhaust so you will probably have the advantage, just a guess.

 

...not for your setup.

It would shift his powerband upwards...so his max HP that he could reach is probably beyond his limiter.

People need to understand the importance of exhaust velocity.

 

well do you think the SS dp would hurt me more? or would it help me if i also changed my catback to 2.25 instead? most of the SS exhaust i have is just the long resonator. its only from the flange up to the axle then it goes back to 2.25.

 

Why are you switching from a pacesetter header to an LSJ Mani?

 

I would atleast go to a 2 1/4"

 

the pacesetter has been a pain in my ass. it has a leak that i just cannot fix. i dont like the setup anyways, and its welded to my stock DP and i wanted to switch out downpipes anyways, so might as well get something that i can quickly unbolt. nothing that takes insane modification.

 

Just curious, did you get the ceramic coated one?

 

Give me your pacesetter, lol
I would have traded you straight up for an LSJ mani

 

Quit hustling!

That's why the cops are always on yo ass, nukka!

 

no i got the painted black one(which btw the paint peeled off in 5 minutes lol) from some guy in town, had one brand new in the box and sold it to me for like 100something. the only reason i got it.

if you want to **** with this header you can. i'm tired of it. i dont have the gasket for it however. it got bent trying to take it off(long story) so i'm using the stock gasket. which wont be a problem with the LSJ