I would like to be somewhat competitive this coming season which starts in late January. I also want to have a dedicated set of wheels/tires for the car. Being new to rallyX I don’t know much about rallyX wheel needs. I know it is not like road racing.
The car is a 2000 S’cort ZX2 S/R. The stock wheels are 15”x6” with a 4x100 bolt pattern, 45 offset. SCCA’s Stock rules allow me to go up to 16”x6.5”. The OEM tire size was 205/55x15.
Additionally, the car is very heavily sprung via the S/R package’s Eibach springs. On the rallyX course it feels very hard going over ruts etc. There’s not much travel and a very harsh ride that almost feels like it is bouncing. It has made one of my strut tower bushings show notable cracks. I will be addressing the springs and bushings hopefully soon.
Budget-wise I am most likely limited to OEM aluminum wheels that I could source at wrecking yards or maybe ebay or ???
The surface here is a flat parking area with some kind of pea sized gravel over fairly hard packed dirt. It is rutted and usually gets “raked” during the noon break.
First question . . . is going up to a 16 inch wheel something I should do? I presume doing that would be for clearance – correct? The ZX2 S/R is about 1” lower than the regular ZX2. I imagine there may be a wider selection of 16” tires vs. 15” now days.
Re wheels: I’ve done some research and found . . .
16x6.5 or 6 seems to be limited to Mini Coopers.
15x6.5 looks to be nearly nonexistent.
15x6 looks to be the most widely available option. Mostly Cobalt, Honda/Acura (years?), Miata (years?). I’m leaning toward Miata wheels for some reason but there aren’t many Miatas (Miati?) here in northern AZ. I also don’t know what they weigh.
Re tires: I will likely end up running snow tires. Would I be better off using a 195/60 or 195/65 or 205/60 or 205/65 or 205/55 (if I can get them)? Or put a different way – what is more important/useful tire width or height?
Your input would be appreciated. Thank you
Miata wheels tend to be fairly light (Table of Wheel Weights (miata.net)) and should fit the Ford Esc0rt. I believe it has a 54mm center hub like Miatas. Some 15" MINI wheels are relatively light, too. The 16" MINI wheels are pretty common, at least around here, but weigh a bit more. I'll leave tire recommendations to others because I have never rallycrossed.
dps214
SuperDork
12/21/23 3:54 p.m.
Kind of tangential, but "not much travel and a very harsh ride that almost feels like it is bouncing" is if anything a sign of not enough spring rate (and not enough travel as you mentioned). Or bump stops and/or dampers that are dead. I'm not sure how you could "address the springs and bushings" in a meaningful way and stay in stock class, so the wheel restrictions are irrelevant.
That all said, there's enough options that it's hard to give advice, at least not without being familiar with the car. Taller tires are good for ground clearance but not great for fender clearance and I have no idea what the gearing impact is. For rallycross wider is generally not helpful, but it sounds like you're on a somewhat grippy surface so ther emight be some balance to be struck there. Basically you're going to have to either pick something and go with it or do a lot of testing. For someone new to rallycross I'd recommend just picking something and going with it. Learn to drive the car, and if you picked wrong it'll probably become apparent. Trying to do vehicle development and driver development at the same time usually doesn't pan out well.
In reply to dps214 :
Re: taller tires; I could easily go with a 205/ 60 or 65 with the current stiffness of the suspension.
Re: the springs; definitely not under sprung. I guess the word bounce is not the right term. A friend drove it recently and said it felt very heavily spring. It is similar to my H-Production car’s feel.
I know I’m very limited in stock class so I’m not sure how I will approach it at this point. I would be OK with moving up to Prepared but they do not offer that here in AZ.
DeadSkunk (Warren) said:
Miata wheels tend to be fairly light (Table of Wheel Weights (miata.net)) and should fit the Ford Esc0rt. I believe it has a 54mm center hub like Miatas. Some 15" MINI wheels are relatively light, too. The 16" MINI wheels are pretty common, at least around here, but weigh a bit more. I'll leave tire recommendations to others because I have never rallycrossed.
Thank you that is very helpful
The S/R is not very heavily sprung... on a car like that I would run stock Ford Econobox springs in the rear and 225-250lb springs in the front, with a sway bar. Stock is around 120 and I think the S/R was around 150-170.
A decent rule of thumb for front spring rate is to take the weight of the car, divide by ten, and that is your front rate in lb-in.
