Quote:
Originally Posted by dknv
I suppose it depends what kind of tires you are talking about. 2 top-level BS drivers at SD were on 285/30-18 hoosiers on 18x8 SSR's, one of them placed 2nd in class. Another back east is running 285/30-18 kumho's on 18x8 SSR's, he took 1st at the Dixie NT. We tried the 285 hoosiers last year, they look weird when mounted but they launched great. I did not think they handled transitions well, but I may just needed to have learned to handle them differently, or the car setup may needed to have been adjusted for them.
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I don't know about r-compounds, but I know when I'm running 255's vs. 235's (Street Tires) on 8" wide rims, the 235's feel much better. I may have more overall grip (especially in a straight line or steady-state cornering) on the wider tires, but the transitional feeling is worse.
On a course with fewer transitions, or on a car with a very smooth driver, the wider tire may in fact be the faster tire, but I would think that the sidewall flex issues of such big tires on narrow wheels would make it much harder for a non-expert driver to get as close to the limit as properly sized tires especially if there are a lot of slaloms or other elements that require spending a long time on dynamic tire loads.
When my current set of 255 615's are worn out, I'll either be going back to 235/40's (or 245/40's if I can find 'em) or going to wider rims and new 255's, depending on budget and closeness of competition. In the meantime, I'm going to do my best to drive smoothly to minimize the sidewall bounce from the big tires.