[omelet1978]

Took my 06 330i to the autocross in Vegas yesterday and it was a blast. Never raced before, but the car corners really well.

One thing I noticed is that the car is so contained that when I first started racing it did not feel too different than normal just with everything going by a lot faster and sharper turns. My friend let me ride with him in his Dodge Viper and it was a night and day difference with the loud engine and feeling every bump in the track. He beat me btw. However, I did post better times than a corvette!

I know very little about tires, but it seems the runflats suck for racing? I did 8 runs and they were squealing around every corner whether I took it fast, slow, wide, or narrow. Am I right?

[SlicktopTTZ]

Originally Posted by omelet1978

Took my 06 330i to the autocross in Vegas yesterday and it was a blast. Never raced before, but the car corners really well.

One thing I noticed is that the car is so contained that when I first started racing it did not feel too different than normal just with everything going by a lot faster and sharper turns. My friend let me ride with him in his Dodge Viper and it was a night and day difference with the loud engine and feeling every bump in the track. He beat me btw. However, I did post better times than a corvette!

I know very little about tires, but it seems the runflats suck for racing? I did 8 runs and they were squealing around every corner whether I took it fast, slow, wide, or narrow. Am I right?

Get Hoosier A6s and your times will drop 4 or more seconds, night and day difference even switching from PS2s to A6s. They only last a few weekends though, and you need put them on/take them off at the track.

[omelet1978]

Originally Posted by SlicktopTTZ

Get Hoosier A6s and your times will drop 4 or more seconds, night and day difference even switching from PS2s to A6s. They only last a few weekends though, and you need put them on/take them off at the track.

So roughly how much would those cost?

[vwong]

Are you new in autox? If so, I wouldn't worry about getting the Hoosiers. Get more seat time, and improve your driving skills first. Then improve the car one thing at a time to see the difference.

[Michael Schott]

What were your tire pressures? For autocross I'd guess they should be at least 40 PSI.

Thanks, Mike.

[jopa489]

Originally Posted by vwong

Are you new in autox? If so, I wouldn't worry about getting the Hoosiers. Get more seat time, and improve your driving skills first. Then improve the car one thing at a time to see the difference.

Big +1 to this. Don't go spending money quite yet, even if the RFTs are less than stellar for AutoX.

Glad you had fun and got to really experience your car though. Get some more experience and see where it takes you. It's addicting, be warned.

[chaz58]

Originally Posted by omelet1978

I know very little about tires, but it seems the runflats suck for racing? I did 8 runs and they were squealing around every corner whether I took it fast, slow, wide, or narrow. Am I right?

I don't mean any disrespect, but at this point it is more the driver than the tires. They are decent tires. Squeling isn't bad, but you need some lap time to learn how to drive the car, then you can think about upgrading tires.

(high pitched squeal = good)
(low pitched squeal = bad)

Glad you had fun - keep up the good work!!!

[noro]

It might be your 1st reaction as a novice to look for ways you can improve your car to go faster... guess what needs most improvement?

[jrougeux]

Originally Posted by omelet1978

However, I did post better times than a corvette!

It's crazy what good driving skills can do!

My little bro has an '84 E28 and posted better times than guys in E46 M3s because they didn't know how to drive (or were afraid to push their expensive cars too hard).

[omelet1978]

There is another event that is being held in Vegas on the 18th, so I'm definitely going to go. I'm not going to spend a lot of money on mods to my car for a while though. Probably just get my tires to 40psi this time.

Two of my friends that went with me told me that the 3 series looked extremely stable on the track too compared with other cars out there. Good to know.

[blipblip]

Originally Posted by omelet1978

There is another event that is being held in Vegas on the 18th, so I'm definitely going to go. I'm not going to spend a lot of money on mods to my car for a while though. Probably just get my tires to 40psi this time.

Two of my friends that went with me told me that the 3 series looked extremely stable on the track too compared with other cars out there. Good to know.

Its a good idea not to mod the car first. As a reference, I only autocross my 335i for three times (I use other cars to autox/track). At the first event, when the tires are still in good shape, I got 3rd in class, losing to a 135i with Kumho XS by 0.05 second, and a Mini Cooper JCW with Dunlop StarSpec by 0.02 second.

As the thread wears off, it became slower and slower. At the last event that I used this car, I am almost 0.7 seconds slower from first in class (the tires were up to wear bars).

These tires are really not that bad. It is really weird in the transitional response though...

If you want to do this often, get a set of wheels and tires, but start with street tires first. Kosei K1 and Dunlop StartSpecs is a good combo to start with.

[JoosyJoos]

I'm relatively new to autox. I've done maybe 4 or 5 in the past and also a few driving schools. I don't consider myself an expert by any means but you definitely want to gain experience more than anything. It's actually cheaper than spending money on tires right away and yields the most improvement.

That being said... tires help A LOT once you get the basic feel for the car and how to wriggle it through all those cones. I run Kumho MX's. I think a square set up is prefered (235/40/18's all around). I run my Volks with the Mx's on the street though so I run 235's up front and 265 rears. Its definitely an improvement over the Bridgestone RFT's.

If I was looking for tires I'd look into the Dunlop Starspecs mentioned above and the Bridgeston RE-11s. Hankook is supposed to have a good tire out now too that heats well for our heavier cars. There was just a review on it in Roundel I believe (it could be Bimmer though). Try to pick up a copy if you can... its got a whole shoot out for performance tires.

[eltoshan]

I recommend the best mod you can do to our cars: steering wheel spacer, the one that goes between the steering wheel and the seat.

Honestly, I would put off modding the car for a while. Give it a whole season / 50 to 100 runs before you decide to mod your car. Once you get r-comps like A6s and 710s you won't ever want to race on street tires again.

[Kbueno]

Originally Posted by chaz58

I don't mean any disrespect, but at this point it is more the driver than the tires. They are decent tires. Squeling isn't bad, but you need some lap time to learn how to drive the car, then you can think about upgrading tires.

(high pitched squeal = good)
(low pitched squeal = bad)

Glad you had fun - keep up the good work!!!

Well, while I agree that it is more driver when first starting, the difference I felt between the runflats and Hoosiers was startling. The runflats were screaming loud and the rear end was all over the place. Wound up cording the outer edge (although I figured as such since they were pretty worn). Tried playing with pressures to no avail.
The Hoosiers, by contrast, were silent, provided crazy good feedback, and made the rear end much more stable...enough to increase speeds through Turn 1 at Cal speedway dropping time immensely.

[JoosyJoos]

Its amazing how much the runflats howl when you're flogging them. Its like they are crying out for mercy as the sidewalls are shreaded... my kumhos are pretty much silent in comparison even when theres a complete loss of grip.

[chaz58]

The runflats are fine for average autocrossing. No street tire is going to compare to an R compound tire. Apples and oranges. Going to a race tire too fast is not a good idea - it is going to mask your mistakes when you need to be learning.

I like to keep last year's tires around on a spare set of rims, so I have a "free" set of tires for autocrossing. I do better the more broken in a tire is, because there is less tread squirm.

[z3papa]

Autocross is only the beginning of the slippery slope of becoming addicted. I have been autocrossing for the past four years in a 02 Z3 3.0. After two events, the modifying began. Biggest issue with any BMW is presence of substantial understeer designed into the setup. Short of removing the alignment pin for a little negative camber up front, you will be stuck with this issue until some serious changes are made. Just have fun and remember the adage of slow in, fast out.