I am preparing to do my first autocross event, and i also need to replace my tires. In keeping with the stock rims on my 95 civic ex, I would like to upgrade to an r compound tire (but havnt heard of any with good reviews) or get the azenis. the asenis come in 195-60-14, but my stock tire is 185-60-14, will there be any sidewall rubbing, rollover problems by fitting this tire on? or should I go with a "r" compound tire. Any suggestions would be a great help.


Modified by jmautner320 at 9:43 AM 5/22/2004

 

DO NOT buy an R-compound tire if you've never autocrossed.

1) if you are using those tires on the street they will wear out in no time, and

2) you have no auto-x experience, at the level you are at there is no benefit to running R-compounds and it may even hinder your competitiveness. I've seen people (including several co-drivers I had in my MR2 last year) hop into a car with R-comps and immediately get up to speed, but they pretty much knew what they were doing beforehand. One of my regrets is not having enough events under my belt before switching to Victoracers because I was still developing as a driver while my tires were being worn down. By the time I became competitive, the tires already had 40-50 runs and I don't know if I'll be able to make them last the year.

Azenis in 14" are cheap enough that I can't see why you wouldn't run them, but I don't know about clearance issues as it relates to your car.

 

Just buy cheap tires and give 'em hell

 

i doubt you'll run into any rubbing issues on stock wheels.. you'll probably like the azenis.. they have 3 ply sidewalls vs. 1 ply of most other tires.. so they're pretty stiff and hold off rolling over than most..

as the others have said, i would definately recommend that you do not buy r-compounds for quite some time.. improving on street tires is key so when you upgrade, you'll be a lot more competitive..

 

Thank you guys for all your help, im a little nervous to go out my first time, but hell even if i go slow, its better than not going at all! thanks

 

Don't be nervous. No one is paying attention to your times other than you. We were all new once and we all thought we were great drivers and would really impress the experienced people out there. We were all wrong. You will suck. We all sucked. this sport is really about experience and seat time. A good driver in a Kia will beat a bad driver in a Corvette!

Just have fun. That's the main thing. Don't worry about prepping your car (other than removing loose items and making sure you have at least 40 psi in your tires) It's all about you, the driver.

 

exactly... dont worry much about it. Youre out ther eto have fun and learn.

Just as an example... check out these results... a Honda Insight.. yes.. an INSIGHT... beat out half the participants in HS!

http://solo.wdcr-scca.org/results/20040418.php


Modified by magnetic1 at 2:28 PM 5/24/2004

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jmautner320 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I am preparing to do my first autocross event, and i also need to replace my tires. In keeping with the stock rims on my 95 civic ex, I would like to upgrade to an r compound tire (but havnt heard of any with good reviews) or get the azenis. the asenis come in 195-60-14, but my stock tire is 185-60-14, will there be any sidewall rubbing, rollover problems by fitting this tire on? or should I go with a "r" compound tire. Any suggestions would be a great help.
Modified by jmautner320 at 9:43 AM 5/22/2004</TD></TR></TABLE>

Preparing: You're doing the right thing by asking questions. This should help settle your nerves as you learn what to expect. The first time doing anything causes excitement. If you have any other questions feel free to post them in this thread or IM any one of the folks that responded so far... I'm sure anyone of us can help.

Tires: How badly do you need them? Are they corded yet? If not run em, beat em up... might as well burn up tires that are already shot then spend money and flat spot a brandy-new set. Besides having crappy tires forces you to drive smoother, and this is what most autocrossers stive for anyway. Plus having tires that squeel at you, or "break away early" allows you to learn control at a lower speed... I could go on.

In fact I will... at one autocross school I was teaching a young driver how to take a slow turn. Unfortunately he, like many others were too slow in the fast parts and too fast in the slow parts. The only thing the R-compounds did was hide this fact to this new driver... and thusly my instruction fell on def ears.

OK enough about the benefits of street tires starting off...
Azenis: I drove a CRX with the same stock dimension tires that you list, 185/60/14, and yes in 14's the Azenis only come in 195/60/14. It's a slight difference, but not enough not to buy them. I had no rubbing issues even with a lowered car. They were mounted on stock Si Rims 14x5.5.

R-compounds. I would wait a year, or at least 20 or so autocrosses before buying "pure" DOT legal race tires. Obviously some folks are quicker at learn then others, but waiting allows you to worry first about your driving and not the car/tire set-up. When finally purchasing, I would recommend buying a wheel and tire combination from someplace like TireRack, that will mount and balance the tires and ship them to you ready to go... it is more economical in my opinion. Also some place like this can also shave and/or heat cycle them for you.

One other thing: when finally switching to R-compounds, you'll need a good, light jack, a torque wrech, and a breaker bar. You'll also want to wake up even earlier to get to the autocross to get your tire change done so you can still walk the course the 4+ times.

Preparing: Here's a checklist I wrote up a few years ago, that I still use today for not only autocrossing, but also track days/hpdes.
http://www.nerdsracing.com/Xlist.htm

Tip: Go with a good attitude, ready to learn and have fun.
Announce that you are new when you get there, and if you can arrive early, help set up... you might find the organizers even more willing to help you in return.

 

Auto Crossing is fun as hell man!!! When it comes to tires though, I would suggest to go with the Falken Azenis. I have used them for about 4 years now and they are awesome. The stick like no other. Don't be nervous bout your first time.... everyone is really nice @ the events. You will have fun... no doubt. I can't get enough of it now!!!

 

Thank you so much, I feel the only experience I have is ripping around the corners of the jughandle everyday trying to make the light lol... even then, I know my car feels like its about to break loose, but i still have some fear that i could possibly roll. But i trust it will hold up. Anyways, I really apprecaite the help, and Im just about to look for a race for next sunday since I have off(6/6).

As far as needing my tires replaced, a). Im not clear on what cording is, and b) I dont think they are, they are just balding in the inside. I had taken my car to some place to repair a leak and I was told that i needed new axles (which I bought and had installed) and that it had seemed that my wheels had excessive negative camber, causing the insides of the tires to wear like they had. So until I have the replacement tires installed, the tires have been rotated to the rear.
Thanks again! hope to see some of you out there someday...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by magnetic1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">exactly... dont worry much about it. Youre out ther eto have fun and learn.

Just as an example... check out these results... a Honda Insight.. yes.. an INSIGHT... beat out half the participants in HS!

http://solo.wdcr-scca.org/results/20040418.php


Modified by magnetic1 at 2:28 PM 5/24/2004</TD></TR></TABLE>

That is just too cool! Go hybrids!!!!!

As for autocrossing, just relax, have fun and most importantly, keep your head up eyes far ahead