Wide Track Wheels Mounted - 18x10, 18x11 - Matte Black F14's on AW

[Merked M3]

I finally mounted my track setup!!!

Forgestar F14's in Matte Black with Toyo Proxy RA-1
Front: 18x10 et25 (21.8lbs) on 275/35/18
Rear: 18x11 et32 (23.0lbs) on 305/35/18

The traction on the car is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! You can feel it instantly; there is a lot of rolling resistance. I used to be able to chirp the tires under hard acceleration shifting into 2nd and 3rd (stock wheels) and I cannot do that anymore!!! They handle much higher extremes and are very predictable. It is also much harder to oversteer and corrections reel it back in easily.

I would say that the fitment on the wheels is definately extreme, it is pushed as far on both sides as I think it could go. I have not heard any rubbing yet and have been checking the sidewalls for extra wear but they look good for now. Honestly with the large tire sizes, I was expecting to have a little rub especially with 2 passengers, but nothing yet! There is about a mm or 2 clearance on the inside strut side and the tires are flush with the fenders.

Unfortunately they will not see track use until next season as Laguna Seca only has one event the day before Thanksgiving, so they will be tested on autocross this Sunday and the rest of the season. The huge sizes bump me to ASP!

A few of my friends did a quick photoshoot with me in Pebble Beach on an overcast day and here are the first take, moderately touched up pics: (I also installed a Macht Schnell 75mm stud kit.) The pic I am missing is something showing how wide it is in the rear. Professional pics to come!!

















Shout outs - Calvin @ Sonic Motorsport for the wheels and stud kit
My girlfriend Christian for actually help me install everything
Tatum and Kevin for shooting the photos

[Martin_D]

where did you find the 305 ra1?

[///M Ryder]

Originally Posted by Merked M3

I finally mounted my track setup!!!

Forgestar F14's in Matte Black with Toyo Proxy RA-1
Front: 18x10 et25 (21.8lbs) on 275/35/18
Rear: 18x11 et32 (23.0lbs) on 305/35/18

The traction on the car is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! You can feel it instantly; there is a lot of rolling resistance. I used to be able to chirp the tires under hard acceleration shifting into 2nd and 3rd (stock wheels) and I cannot do that anymore!!! They handle much higher extremes and are very predictable. It is also much harder to oversteer and corrections reel it back in easily.

I would say that the fitment on the wheels is definately extreme, it is pushed as far on both sides as I think it could go. I have not heard any rubbing yet and have been checking the sidewalls for extra wear but they look good for now. Honestly with the large tire sizes, I was expecting to have a little rub especially with 2 passengers, but nothing yet! There is about a mm or 2 clearance on the inside strut side and the tires are flush with the fenders.

Unfortunately they will not see track use until next season as Laguna Seca only has one event the day before Thanksgiving, so they will be tested on autocross this Sunday and the rest of the season. The huge sizes bump me to ASP!

A few of my friends did a quick photoshoot with me in Pebble Beach on an overcast day and here are the first take, moderately touched up pics: (I also installed a Macht Schnell 75mm stud kit.) The pic I am missing is something showing how wide it is in the rear. Professional pics to come!!

Set up looks good. Do you have competition package?.......Phil

[Merked M3]

Originally Posted by ///M Ryder

Set up looks good. Do you have competition package?.......Phil

No competition package. Look at the fender gap in the front!

Originally Posted by Martin_D

where did you find the 305 ra1?

Yeah they are on nationwide backorder! They are the perfect sizes and I had my heart set on them, so I picked up a few sets used from Corvette forums. Next set will have to be Toyo R888 if no one comes out with 305 sizing.

[tightie]

i think i might be picking up a set of these also!

[jonasaurus]

Love the 'chunky' look

[paradocs98]

Your car is from Pace in Mamaroneck. Did you drive cross country just for the sweet Monterey photo shoot?

[karussell]

i think the rear size is too wide. stock with a 1" difference in wheel width the car tends to understeer quite a bit. i think running 10's all around would work better especially since you will be auto crossing the car. second, you need to get a pyrometer to verify this but I'm guessing you will have trouble getting the rear tire to heat up at the same rate as the front. I like RA1's because they last longer than the R888's but unshaved versus unshaved the R888's are faster. autox especially in ASP class you should be running one of two tires, V710 or Hoosier A6.

you say it clears without rubbing but it looks like you are on stock suspension. i think if you do change the suspension you will get some issues on the back especially if you are on a track with a big compression.

it does look good on the car though. 305/18 is very popular for GT3 rear size so they are usually hard to come by.

[stefan]

Looks really good! Keep us posted on rubbing.. I'm looking at a similar setup for street.

On that note.. is there a reason you didn't run square for a dedicated track set? And why 19s instead of say, 18s?

[Merked M3]

Originally Posted by paradocs98

Your car is from Pace in Mamaroneck. Did you drive cross country just for the sweet Monterey photo shoot?

Haha, I purchased the car from Pace BMW and had it shipped here and I think the dealer plates look better than Cali ones. So I am going to sport these as long as I can (yes, the car is registered!)

Originally Posted by stefan

Looks really good! Keep us posted on rubbing.. I'm looking at a similar setup for street.

On that note.. is there a reason you didn't run square for a dedicated track set? And why 19s instead of say, 18s?

They are 18's!
And I am running staggered to dial out oversteer (obviously you can also do this with throttle control) but I prefer more traction in the back on RWD. More on this, in the post below.

[Merked M3]

Originally Posted by karussell

i think the rear size is too wide. stock with a 1" difference in wheel width the car tends to understeer quite a bit. i think running 10's all around would work better especially since you will be auto crossing the car. second, you need to get a pyrometer to verify this but I'm guessing you will have trouble getting the rear tire to heat up at the same rate as the front. I like RA1's because they last longer than the R888's but unshaved versus unshaved the R888's are faster. autox especially in ASP class you should be running one of two tires, V710 or Hoosier A6.

you say it clears without rubbing but it looks like you are on stock suspension. i think if you do change the suspension you will get some issues on the back especially if you are on a track with a big compression.

it does look good on the car though. 305/18 is very popular for GT3 rear size so they are usually hard to come by.

Karussell, I do know what you are talking about and thought about most of these issues before ordering them. This setup's main purpose is track stability, with autocross coming in second. I am using auto-X as my practice to get used to this exact setup. Ideally I would have gotten another set of 18x10 wheels to run square for autoX (and gone to STU) and keep the 18x11 for trackdays.

In regards to "too much in the rear" I know so many people that run TE-37s w/ 18x10.5 with 285 or 295 tires, I just wanted that little bit more to max out everything. I don't feel that 0.5 of an inch will degrade handling. I will mainly be running this car at Laguna Seca with Infineon coming in a distant second. When going with this setup I was thinking specifically about turn 9 at Laguna Seca and a little about turn 12; if you have driven the course, I think you will know what I mean. And obviously you can also dial out oversteer with a little trottle modulation (I run with "power" fully off) I would just prefer to have both; more traction and being careful on the throttle.

Do you agree somewhat?

[S54dan]

Originally Posted by Merked M3

Karussell, I do know what you are talking about and thought about most of these issues before ordering them. This setup's main purpose is track stability, with autocross coming in second. I am using auto-X as my practice to get used to this exact setup. Ideally I would have gotten another set of 18x10 wheels to run square for autoX (and gone to STU) and keep the 18x11 for trackdays.

In regards to "too much in the rear" I know so many people that run TE-37s w/ 18x10.5 with 285 or 295 tires, I just wanted that little bit more to max out everything. I don't feel that 0.5 of an inch will degrade handling. I will mainly be running this car at Laguna Seca with Infineon coming in a distant second. When going with this setup I was thinking specifically about turn 9 at Laguna Seca and a little about turn 12; if you have driven the course, I think you will know what I mean. And obviously you can also dial out oversteer with a little trottle modulation (I run with "power" fully off) I would just prefer to have both; more traction and being careful on the throttle.

Do you agree somewhat?

First of all, the car looks phenomenal.

For a track set up, I'd have to agree square will benefit you more to help reduce understeer. However, I think that is also based on how much off camber the track has to upset the natural balance of the car.

You're going to love the RA1's !!!

[Cal@Sonic MS]

Car's looking great! Thanks for your support and I'm glad you're happy with the end result

[FVM3]

make it slammed

[mkPOTO]

wow crazy, looks sick!

[wwjd15]

Thanks for sharing!! I might go with these set up after I burn all my street tires.

[catch]

very bulky and mean setup

[Sean@PYSpeed.com]

Car looks good!

[stefan]

Originally Posted by Merked M3

They are 18's!
And I am running staggered to dial out oversteer (obviously you can also do this with throttle control) but I prefer more traction in the back on RWD. More on this, in the post below.

Very cool, well thought out. Thanks for the information (I read the rest of your posts)!

And yeah oops! No idea what I was thinking when I said 19s. Hadn't had my coffee yet apparently.

[Merked M3]

Thanks to everyone who likes my setup!!!! I definately need a clear picture of the back so you can see how fat these things really are!!!!!

Originally Posted by wwjd15

Thanks for sharing!! I might go with these set up after I burn all my street tires.

I would recommend shaving a mm or two off of the offset if you are going to get as fat of tires as I have. There is more space on the fender side so I think 18x11 et30 would be perfect. Then again, if you dont put 305's on there and go with 295 or less, then it would be no worries.

I am loving the setup; the traction is unreal and I will get to really test its limits shortly!!!!

[turb0mik3]

LOVE it!!!

[wwjd15]

Originally Posted by Merked M3

I would recommend shaving a mm or two off of the offset if you are going to get as fat of tires as I have. There is more space on the fender side so I think 18x11 et30 would be perfect. Then again, if you dont put 305's on there and go with 295 or less, then it would be no worries.

I am loving the setup; the traction is unreal and I will get to really test its limits shortly!!!!

Thank you very much!! I will eventually run R888 275/305 set up if I end up these offsets. But I will try R888 275/35/18 square first since I'm not sure if my suspension has wide enough adjustment for the 275/305 set up.