Stock Pirelli P7s on Track

[SouthFL_Mk7.5]

Agreed. 17’s are your best bet. If you’re getting new wheels keep them light. Just bite the bullet and get the extra wheel tire set and do it right with a 200tw tire. Keep the factory wheels and tires for daily and winter.
Tire Rack. Delivery mounted and balanced to your house. Put ‘em on yourself.

 

[19birel]

Since my gut tells me you are going to catch the track bug, just keep in mind a few things about wheels choice.
1) You will want the lightest, strongest, most track-focused wheel you can afford.
2) If you get hooked and start doing more than 2 or 3 PDE's a season, you will want bigger brakes. So caliper clearance is pretty important.
3) Tire size matters. 17s are generally cheaper than 18s, and 18s tend to be cheaper than 19s (GENERALLY). Some tires only last 3-4 track days, and some can last a lot longer.

Those Fifteen52s are a damn good-looking retro-style wheel (IMO), but they weigh 31# each. That's pretty portly for a track-focused wheel. Really lightweight 18s are ~17-18#, 19" Pretoria is ~22# I believe. Adding all that unsprung weight will make a difference in how the car feels on track.

Throwing better tires on your stock wheels is probably a good move if nothing is accessible right now, but remember that you can't drive a set of 200 treadwear tires in the Pittsburgh winters (JIC that is your VIR plan). Well, you can I guess

Agreed. 17’s are your best bet. If you’re getting new wheels keep them light. Just bite the bullet and get the extra wheel tire set and do it right with a 200tw tire. Keep the factory wheels and tires for daily and winter.
Tire Rack. Delivery mounted and balanced to your house. Put ‘em on yourself.

You guys are making a lot of sense, the child in me wanted a set of "hotboi wheels" as it were, but having a set of boat anchors on all 4 corners doesn't really align with my plans for the car. And as sean said if I put the new rubber on my OEM wheels I might not make it very far haha.

I found some budget friendly rubber, Nexen Nfera Sur4, 200TW and $400-450/set depending on size. There seems to be positive feedback on them; I don't expect them to grip like a PSS, but I've already over spent so I have to draw the line somewhere haha. In terms of wheels, ECS has nice discounts right now on Alzors, the models I'm looking at are 20-25lbs/wheel depending on size and are ~$600. I have some friends that have had alzors and they seem pretty solid

If I go 18" I can go 8.5"wide the 17s only come 7.5" wide, so I think I'm going to go with the 18s so I can run a wider tyre.

 

[MonkeyMD]

Go 17x9 or 18x9.

Cheaper tires, 17
Option to run 265, 18

 

[SouthFL_Mk7.5]

I even use a “skinny” setup of 17x7.5 Sparco Assetto Gara with 225 wide RT660 . Plenty of grip!

 

[19birel]

Well I caved, theres only 3 Alzor wheel styles available in 17" and I wasn't crazy about how they looked and wanted something wider. Apex is running a sale on their 17x8.5 wheels (~$300 off) so I bit the bullet and ordered a set in Graphite. Tyres are 245/40/17 Nexen NFERA SUR4 coming from discount tire.

Hopefully it all shows up in time I have ~2weeks!

 

[reverend_sean]

I look forward to hearing how the tires work out for you! The Apex were a great choice!

 

[19birel]

I look forward to hearing how the tires work out for you! The Apex were a great choice!

I definitely rolled the dice on the the tyres but for $400 I was willing to give them a go.

And thanks! Really stoked about the Apex SM-10s, they were my top choice for a motorsport oriented wheel and I think worth the extra spend. The only thing I was torn on was the color, between the Graphite I got and the matte black. The graphite won me over because my Pretorias are already black and I figured it would be cool to have something a little different...and they were $100 cheaper

 

[reverend_sean]

$100 cheaper would have pushed me in that direction too! I have the graphite ones

 

[19birel]

Update on the tyre front, DiscountTireDirect emailed me shortly after I placed my order with instructions to call them. When I did I was informed that the Nexens are actually discontinued, I guess $400 track tyres were too good to be true haha. DiscountTire came in clutch though, they offered me some more expensive 400TW Kumhos for the same price as the Nexens. I explained to the guy that I needed something 200TW for my application and offered me a set of Toyo Proxes Sport which are 240TW. I didn't have time at work to dive in beyond his recommendations, but I ended up with the Toyos, which they sell for $640/set for just $480.

Was excited to try out the Nexens but I think these will be decent, certainly far better than the Pirellis would be haha. I'm also very pleased with how DiscountTire took care of me, they had no obligation to hook me up with that deal, they could have just offered me a similarly priced tire or invited me to spend way more. Tires should ship today and arrive in 5 days or so!

 

[MonkeyMD]

Toyo Prices Sport Tire rack test

https://m.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=248

 

[19birel]

Toyo Prices Sport Tire rack test

https://m.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=248

Not surprised by this, still happy with my choice all things considered.

The Michelins they're being compared to are $1k/set and the Yokohamas are $735, if I paid the $640 list price for the Toyos I'd wish I had spent more to at least get the Yokos, but for $480 I don't think I'll be disappointed.

This time around my options were to either splurge on tyres or splurge on wheels. If I bought cheap wheels, unless they got damaged I'd have no justification for replacement other than wanting something nicer. When the Toyos are cooked and I don't need to budget for a set of wheels like this time, I can upgrade to something better. First event in a new car at a new track, I won't be setting any track records anyways, but I should be able to have some fun!

 

[MonkeyMD]

Agree. I think that'll be a perfect set to learn the car before you go with something that has more grip

 

[DerHase]

Yeah dude don't sweat your choice at all. Some of the most fun I've ever had was on some bobo-ass Ironman all seasons. Made a 97whp clown car a lot of fun to throw around

Definitely the right call getting better wheels since the tires will be gone soon enough.

 

[SouthFL_Mk7.5]

I was surprised to see how well a Mustang I drove at the track performed on

BFGoodrich g-Force COMP-2 A/S+​

Was shocked to see them on the wheels when I stepped out of the car. 400tw

Interesting. Was able to confirm this is the tire used on the Roush Mustangs which Skip Barber provides during their one day Roush Racing school. Just snapped this pic at Daytona today.

 

[tigeo]

They are grand touring all seasons...expect very little. Even a UHP all season like a PS4AS can do ok but just not for long. With that said, you can track any tire really as long as your driving/expectations are within that limit.