16 Inch Tires for my RSR Clone

tom1394racing · 11-21-2004, 03:22 AM

I am having 16X6 Fuchs widened to 16X9 and 16X11 for my RSR clone. The car will be a combo track and street car. The only tires that seem to be available for the rears are the Hoosiers 275/45/16. I plan to run 225/50/16 on the front. I know many of you will say that I should use 17 inch rims to widen my tire selection possibilities. However, I like the vinatge/period look of the 16 inch. I know the original RSR came with 15 inch wheels. I have three questions:

1. Anyone have any experience with the Hoosiers? Can I get them grooved so that they will be managable in the rain?

2. I have heard that there are also some Pirelli european spec racing tires avaialble at 295/40/16 and 245/45/16. Barret Smith is supposedly using these on his RSR clone and Harvey Wiedman says he be getting some. Anyone have any experience with these?

3. Dos anyone have any other ecommmedations for 16 inch tires? What about some of the vintage racing tire sources?

Elombard · 11-21-2004, 04:27 AM

I think the problem with DOT race tires is heat cycling more than any lack of tread. They will probably have plenty of tread for the minimal amount of rain driving you will do. The race tires get harder and harder the more they are heat cycled is my experience. Also they ride very rough on the street - the side walls are incredibly stiff and they flat spot when sitting. I have never used the new radial hoosiers so it may be a different story. Maybe somebody with more experince will chime in.

daloff · 11-21-2004, 05:10 AM

You can get some Goodyear Rains that will fit those wheel sizes. Check the chart at www.bobwoodmantires.com. I would not mess with the Hoosiers for "converting" them to rains. It is like anything else, use the tires for for what they were intended for.

The Hoosiers will not be a good choice for the street. I'd look for something else.

Just a final note on the running in the rain. It is not really worth the white knuckling to run a race in the rain, or even DE for that matter. I run my early RSR in SCCA GT2 and if it is raining, I park it.

Cheers,
David

Jack Olsen · 11-21-2004, 11:04 AM

Hoosiers are definitely a bad idea for street driving. You need to get them up to temperature to make them effective, and every time you do this you heat cycle them. My guess would be you'd get less than a month of good use in a set, and then you'd need new tires.

With a quick look at tirerack.com, I couldn't find any 295-345 tires in 16-inch diameters. Are you sure you want to get your 16-inch wheels widened? Maybe get 17's made and have the lip of the rims painted black to make the diameter look smaller?

tom1394racing · 11-21-2004, 03:01 PM

Well...I am thinking about 17 inch rims. I am building this car to look as close as is practical to a real RSR. The difference between 15 and 17 inch rims is big. However, I want to enjoy driving the car on the street and at the track and may turn it into a pure vintage race car at some point. I did find some vintage race tires on the web at the advice of one of the previous posts. It seems that Goodyear makes some tires that come close in a 16 inch size.

I want to avoid the problem that the tires are too narrow or too large for the flares. I am having fiberglass RSR flares installed. I am using '74-'77 alloy trailing arms with the stock '73 pick-up points for the trailing arms. I want to keep the stock 25.5" tire diameter. The question is...How wide (or narrow) can I go with tire width so that the tires fill out the wheel wells?

Bottom line is that I want tires that will be usaeable for around 500-1000 miles a year on the street but will be safe to learn the car out at the track.

daloff · 11-21-2004, 03:15 PM

If you are thinking of turning it into a Vintage car then 17"s are not a good idea as vintage racing has some wheel size restrictions on. There are more tire chooses in 16"s than 17"s for your application. If you go with something like a BBS three -piece wheel you can change the inner and outer wheel halves to accomodate your width preferences. 245x16 and 275x16 will fill out the wheel wells for 9" front and 11" rear with the right inner and outer rim-half combination.

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

If you plan on streeting this car, stick to 17", or use spacers to fill out the arches rather than widening. There just aren't any street tires available for wide 16" wheels. If you're going to strictly vintage race it, ie trailer it to events, then you can use Hoosiers or Avon slicks, which are not appropriate for the street. If you're dead-set on running the car on the street and occasionally on the track, then use narrower wheels with spacers for the street, and wider wheels with slicks for the track. There's a guy in the classifieds section trying to unload a set of 16" 11's and 9's

Jack Olsen · 11-21-2004, 05:04 PM

I can't understand why someone would go to all the trouble for RSR flares and then only run 275's in back. You could run 275's under ordinary RS flares and not have to give up the drag penalty.

If the car is not limited by a sanctioning body, then you're going to be much happier with more tire under there than the guys who are running RS flares. With RSR flares, you should be able to run 255's or 275's in front, and 315's or 335's in back. I run 255/315. It's made the car significantly faster than my old 245/275 RS setup.

I looked into this pretty extensively when I built my car. 15-inch RSR Fuchs were available, but I would have always had one hand tied behind my back when it came to tires with them. It looks like the situation is the same for wider 16's. And while sanctioning decisions may change, as time passes, it's not likely that tire manufacturers are going to rediscover the smaller rim sizes.

17's made the most sense for me, although I'll acknowledge they're not for everyone. And they still look pretty retro, although your eyes have to adjust a little.

rattlsnak · rattlsnak's Garage

Why arent you going to run 245s in the front? 225s are way to skinny for a widebody.