DontDoHonda

Were slowy piecing together a fun little 91' Civic CX to run SMF around the local auto-X events. We are working on turning it in to a trailer queen, but at the moment we do drive it to events (but just to events, otherwise it sits).

We took it out last week for the first time and things felt tight, but when we checked the tires after the event we noticed the outsides were really worn, the insides not so much.

We are looking in to camber kits for front and rear. And then where to align them at.

I need to write down the list of parts thats are on it. It's not my vehicle, I've just jumped in to the amateur build recently.

90_EX_Civic

that's usually okay, if you're running stock height. what size rim, what type of tire, and what size tire you guys running?

DontDoHonda

Thanks for the reply.

Its not stock height, but I'm not positive on the exact drop. We are running on a set of KYB AGX with some type of coilover sleeve (I forget exactly, and I didnt buy or install them), 15x7 rota's wrapped with 205-50-15 Kuhmo Ecsta XS.

90_EX_Civic

for some odd reason i've heard and seen some weird stuff about those XS. it seems to me that the side walls on those are kinda soft, and they do tend to roll over more easily. they are horrible when it's cold (butt puckering in the turn) and even worse when it's wet.

don't get me wrong, when it's hot out, they are pretty good tire. only thing i can think of is running a little bit more air to help prevent it from rolling over.

Shinny

Yeah a lot of people in my region run XS's I bought some but haven't gotten to run on them yet. I've heard 42/36 is a good starting point.

DontDoHonda

We ran around 38-36psi most the day (it was mid-high 90's and the course is mainly tarmac). They felt awesome the first run's, misted them down after the 1 and 2 runs, and after the first driver's 3rd run. Then we figured we let them warm up to see how things worked, very poorly. Although it may have been my poor driving, I ended up losing the whole car on my final run- In my defense I was pushing it hard, and it started out fast... just ended slow.

Tire roll seemed minimal.

I thought these tires were handling well in the wet? Maybe I'm thinking of the Toyo R1R's.

Shinny

Sounds like overdriving. The fastest way around an autox course is to maintain the highest average speed. Not the highest speed at any given time. When walking course focus on how the sections flow together. You often have to give up speed, in places that on their own would be fast, to gain speed somewhere else and therefore get a faster average speed.
I don't know exactly how high of a temp is good for XS's but I wouldn't think they'd give after a few runs. I use 912's and have to spray them after every run but most the other guys in ST don't spray at all.
As far as wet driving goes your own ability to handle the car is more important than the tire brand. Most "Extreme Summer" tires have around the same patch area, so keeping the car pointed in the right direction is up to you.

DontDoHonda

^ No doubt I was over driving the final run.

Shinny

Yeah I did that a lot before, but the last event the course was simple enough that it finally clicked about being smooth. With the longer courses its hard to figure out where you are losing time and so I'd just go pedal down until I had to brake. But slow is fast lol

solorex

Question has to be asked: why are you running street tires if you are in SMF? Should be running R-comps. Depending on what tire you choose will dictate what alignment settings to run.

DontDoHonda

This regions courses are a long shaky run, down and back a old navy runway.
Slower for faster times is so difficult to implement.

We are not building the car to dominate SMF, it's just were it fell at the moment. The first time we had it out. The tires were a steal, they will be on it for the for-see-able future. We do not have 1k or whatever a set of Rcomps are.

Shinny

That's how some of our courses are, and unless its just straight slaloms down and back it does still apply its just harder to spot. If it is mainly slaloms always turn ahead of the cone. If your throwing the wheel to turn right before or as you pass your next cone its messing up the flow and upsetting the car more than needed. If you try this and find the car is coming back too quickly and you almost overrun a cone it means you can carry more speed as long as you turn the wheel at that point. It's sometimes hard to find the balance, but practice makes perfect.

JBrettHowell

You also need to check your pressures with a pyrometer, then figure out what sort of camber changes are in order.