Lol I'll need a new front. I found a 295/35/18 I'd like to try square.

What width are your fronts? I'm running mine on 10" wide wheels up front.

get some better tires and im pretty sure you wont be saying "i hit my max in this car".

my first track day at buttonwillow i ran conti extreme dw and was sliding all over the place. next track day i had some RE11's put on (RS3 cannot be used as a DD tire and i DD my car). the RE11's gripped so well, my times are getting faster with every lap

9.5. I'll be slightly over 20% with a 295 but I think the tire I'm picking will have a stiff sidewall and be ok.

Well that's what I've come to the conclusion on. I did hit a max of 0.46 seconds and was just sliding every corner. So I hit the max for my car as it stands. Who says you can't DD a DD RS-3 tire?

me. the RS3 is a great tire, dont get me wrong. better than the RE11, but not for DD because...

1. its LOUD
2. needs time to heat up
3. near useless in rain

maybe if i lived in southern california where theres hardly ever any rain or below 60 degree temps i could run it as a DD tire. but we get 30-40 degree mornings up here for half of the year

well d/t budget looks like i have to go with them in a 285/35/18 sqaure. the RE-11 sizes suck and only a NT-05 is made in a 295/35/18 but costs over $200 more. my cars loud enough so its whatever on #1.

IMHO if you're going to toss out RS3 as not being streetable enough, NT-05 is in the same basic boat. If you're going to hit track events regularly, though, you'll eventually want to be on a tire at least at the RS3/NT-05 kind of level (or R888, NT-01, or starting hitting some kind of slicks). Then again in TX weather I'd drive the RS3 on the street, unless we were in the few weeks of the year where we hit sub-freezing overnight. They don't wear as fast as the treadlife would seem to indicate if you don't drive like a maniac on the road, and they're not horrible (but not ideal, either) in the wet.

The second half of this set of clips is all on RS3's in the wet on a track that's not got the best pavement quality to begin with, showing slip+recover moments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjEETzk7Pes#t=61

Also, while I'll agree with chops that the Conti DW isn't even in the same class as other tires discussed... it's decent, at least in the ballpark of e.g. the old Michelin PS2 street tires from a decade ago, and it has an incredible tread life even on-track. When I reached a certain point in my driving I ended up over-driving those tires and not wanting them on the car, but it it took a while, and the experience of finding the limitations of that tire and driving around them for a while was instructive along the way. Upside is they're definitely a streetable tire, even in cold/wet weather, but not snow/ice (which would be the DWS model, but I've never tried it and it's probably not as good for track use).

You could get a second set of wheels just for track tires too, so you don't have to compromise most of the time.

I'm not tossing out the RS-3, it's my only option. I've had the DW and DWS. DW got slick kinda fast and the DWS wasnt great in the snow vs a real snow so I ditched them on my WRX. I think I'll be happy with the RS-3, DE just needs to have four left :tup:

Found some pics online

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...psc9a5497c.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...pse76818ad.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...ps7ebdb480.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...ps777bec11.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...ps9cb00443.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...ps84b88f57.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...ps6548118f.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...ps43f247da.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...ps08f29c88.jpg

Wouldn't worry about placement on first time out homie. It really is a matter of seat time. Now you know what you like about the car and don't. I think the alignment is pretty solid for starts-Although I question your spring rates :P. It's not something you figure out in one month much less a year or two. Just keep wanting "to go fast" haha. Don't make any drastic changes, change one minor thing and see if you like it. Tear it up Ohio!

it's a waste of time to tune suspension with bad tires

i could care less. actually i came in 3 out 4 though :happydance:. autox is just fun/something to do. i do watch my times though and compare to other similar cars even though scca says my cars more advanced. you can tell whos good so if im only a second or 2 off i know im doing good even though i see their car is more set up with tires etc.

again the springs are setup for the future so i didnt have to buy twice. i know i need aero, tires, etc etc. RS-3's are on the way now and the splitter will be done this weekend and once coils are paid off ill have a aeromotive R2. ill see how the RS-3's do but the rates were picked for slicks in mind.

ill see how the tires do and then ill play with the compression and rebound a click at a time. still not 100% what im looking for though besides a click here and there did what to my times?

i agree. thats why i didnt chalk them, let air out, touch my compression/rebound etc. just drove till i couldnt drop anymore time.

If your XP why not run race slicks? Or A6? Or Nitto DOTR ? Ax is far less about car set up and way more about driving, power to weight and tires you have on your car . For ax nothing less than 295 out back and 285 up front. I used 295 front and 315 on stock fenders. If I felt like drifting at ax I'd show up on 285 r 275f Nitto nto5.