Lets say I wanted to build a car...

Sure, but Ive got nothing special...


Pulled the dash and started eliminating useless stuff. Most of that HVAC tubing is gone, But I am holding off on tearing out the ac until after a rallycross.


This is what I did today... Cut the carpet in half (didnt have time to remove the seats) and removed the aft half. Underneath the sound deadening was about 5 lbs each and there was 2 sheets in the back. Removed those and now down to the hardest tar ive ever dealt with. I probed it a bit with my screwdriver, and it didnt even make a scratch on it. Not looking foward to attempting to remove that stuff...


Nakey door. Havent gotten to swapping out the electric windows, But I do have a buyer, I think...

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2011 03:01PM by Wannabe.

Nope, havent gone there yet. I wont need to use them till after my next rallycross, so then Im sure ill put up some text or a pic of how that went.

Cheers!

So, Im about to go looking for a pair of snow tires to match the cheap set of 2 I got recently. The 2 that I have are hankook I pike tires... they got some pretty meaty tread blocks and look like that will work ok in the dirt and the coming winter.

My question is what kind of cheap snows do you guys like for dirt use? I was looking at some winterforce tires because they are cheap.

Also, if I got the winterforce tires, which would you put on the fronts, and which on the drive wheels?

Does anyone have any exp with the I pikes?

Winterforce work great in mud, dirt and grass. They are OK in the snow, and suck on ice. I tried some studded Winterforce at a winter rallycross, and lost all the studs on the first couple of runs. Centrifugal force from all the wheel slipping spat them out.

its a shame these folks are not selling tyres any more
http://www.tyremonkey.co.uk/

Wow! those are... uh were... cheap!

Jon, you said the magic words. Im running out of time so thats what im goin with. Thanks!

definitely winterforces IMO.

Winterforces are (for dirt use) best for loose surfaces - gravel, etc. The more ice-treaded tires (IPike, most blizzaks) have a slight advantage on harder packed, cleaner surfaces - but I think the Winterforce is a better all-arounder.

When I ran psuedo-advance-car at Idaho 2010, I had winterforces on a Honda Fit - was quite pleased with the performance.

Never really had a problem on ice or snow with 'em either.

what about the general grabber at2?

Quote
tdrrally
what about the general grabber at2?

What about them? I am looking for info, and know little about snow tires.


Aaron, That, coupled with the price, sounds like the ideal tire for what Im going to use them for. When you had them on the honda, how was the turn-in, braking and accel on dirt? Im trying to figure if they should go on the front or the back of the 240.

Im surprised you say the I pikes are more of a ice tire, they have some pretty gnarly looking treadblocks and I figured that was a snow thing. Either way, $50 for 2 of em and 4 240 rims im happy with them so far

Quote
BobOfTheFuture
Aaron, That, coupled with the price, sounds like the ideal tire for what Im going to use them for. When you had them on the honda, how was the turn-in, braking and accel on dirt? Im trying to figure if they should go on the front or the back of the 240.

they were all around pretty good - unfortunately I was a little preoccupied with the job at hand (Does that spot need a marshal? Are we going to have enough volunteers? Are we going to get the stage scouted, and volunteers distributed, before 000 wants to go?), so I didn't pay terribly close attention to the finer points of how the tires were working. However, I frequently had to remind myself that I was driving my wife's daily that we still owe money on (and slow the hell down).

In terms of grip, the one place that snows really fall short of true rally tires is lateral - They don't have the nice square shoulders of a rally tire, and most don't have many circumferential edges/grooves.

Quote

Im surprised you say the I pikes are more of a ice tire, they have some pretty gnarly looking treadblocks and I figured that was a snow thing. Either way, $50 for 2 of em and 4 240 rims im happy with them so far

I think the IPikes are actually one of the better compromise tires out there - they've got the big, heavily siped tread blocks for ice, but they've also got enough space between the tread blocks for snow grip.

In contrast, a lot of the Blizzaks seem to be pretty heavily biased towards ice (although the MZ-03 tread pattern looks like it could be pretty good in the dirt, but tire rack only lists it in an 18" run-flat...), and the winterforces are more biased towards snow.

I'm debating between another set of iPike 409s or General Altimax Arctics for the Subaru. Got 2.5 good winters out of them (20k miles or so) before they started to "go away."

I'm also debating replacing every worn out rubber bushing in the thing before I waste money on tires that I'll have to flip left to right every 3,000 miles to keep them from cording on the excessive camber. Ahh, the joys of owning a fully depreciated rusty car that still runs pretty well.

the grabber at2 is made in a 205/75-15 as well as a 215/65-16

Okay Aaron, Thanks for the info, It helps.

Andrew, seems to me the nasioc/DI freaks all seem to love the 409's... All i can add is they certianly look like they mean buisness...

Ed, Bummer im running 14s

Super happy fun time Rallycross vid. Skip to 1:46 to expedite.

Tires did good, but I didnt beat anyone that didnt break. I'm ok with this... sure...