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3 sets of wheels, budget, and tires. What I think is an interesting question.

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So here I am in late November needing tires for my daily driven 2015 Mustang. I'm going to have to be at work no matter the weather outside. I live in Atlanta, GA, and the car is parked outside. I will be leaving for work in very cold temps over the next couple months. I have always used all season Michelins. I've never had such an amazing handling car as I do now, so they've been an economical choice. Most of my suspension were given to me as a gift, MCS 1wnr, caster camber plates...etc. EC7 18x10 also a gift...I have an amazing boss, enough said. I am in the "one day" I'll get on the track mode. I know the recommendation is seat time/driver mod over car mods. However as most of it was a gift it all came faster than my budget would have ever allowed. My budget has been blown on supporting upgrades, new hubs w/ext studs, spacers, installs, alignments, etc etc. I am sure y'all know the expenses beyond the parts costs. I am 100% dedicated to track and/or autocross time next year, as well as some mountain time in the remaining nice weather days.

I have a set of Konig in 18x9 that came on the car when I bought it used. I have Apex Ec7 18x10, and SVE 19x11 Tire size choices, being 255/45/18, 275-285/35-40/18, 305/30/19 respectively.
I have saved but not planned to use the Konig's until looking again at tire prices. Ec7 is my favorite for looks and size, plus the advantage of having more sidewall over the 19. The SVE was on sale and easy cheap way to put fat rubber on the car, so I bought them but dont care when I put them on the car. With 600lb front and 750lb rear springs daily driving on the 19's may be too harsh, although I have never done it so that is just a thought.

Being able to run Re-71r's or rival 1.5 in 305/30/19 come spring would be an ultimate goal, so what's the cheapest safest way to get there from here? I could run Conti ECS/ or Mich 4S on the Apex, then also Michelin A/S 3 or similar on the Konig for 2 months just to keep from destroying the summer tires and being a touch safer come cold cold days? Is that a waste of $ to go for something like that for 2 months, or a good use of $ to protect the summer tires and be safer on the street? The 19x11's are not a priority for me at all really. I just don't want to spend on summer tires in November to trash them over winter. I don't want to put All Seasons on the Apex wheels again either though. Any thoughts or ideas from y'all would be helpful thank you.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
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Put the street tires on the 18x9s and keep the bigger rims for more aggressive , track rubber.

I would get a tire that is reasonable and All Season makes sense even in the Atlanta area. Your sticky stuff can be on the other rims, and if you get Rivals later , get the 1.5 S model. imho.
 
If. You can run a set, track only, a set of take offs is economical once you learn your car. Until then, stick with street tires. Can you change wheels and tires at the track?
Yeah I have found some takeoffs on a few websites like Kohr Motorsports, etc. That's for the somewhat distant future. I don't see why I wouldn't be able to change tires, when the need arises. I do have tools ;-)
 
Put the street tires on the 18x9s and keep the bigger rims for more aggressive , track rubber.

I would get a tire that is reasonable and All Season makes sense even in the Atlanta area. Your sticky stuff can be on the other rims, and if you get Rivals later , get the 1.5 S model. imho.

Yeah, it does make sense unfortunately even for a short time period. The 255/45/18 all seasons being around $700 (as opposed to $1100 of all seasons in 285/40/18 that I won't enjoy come March) is what really peaked my interest in putting the Konigs back on for the worst months of winter. Not to mention safety, but I'd hate have a ruined set of Summer tires come the end of February I went ahead and got a set of Conti ECS's for the Apex wheels, and will get some tires on the 18x9 konigs next month. Then come March I'll be super happy again on the Continentals daily. Just gonna keep the 19x11's on the shelf until needed. Thanks for the input, I just wanted to know if it was a ridiculous waste of $700.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,423
8,349
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Not sure why you are getting a bunch of tires now , as you really only need one set for the Winter? You want your track rubber as wide as possible , so the 18x9s should be used for street tires and frankly before spending a bunch on a set of take offs from a company that uses them for racing, I would just get a new set of Apex rims for about the same or a little more. Rims are no different than other parts of your car and heavy use degrades them, let alone knowing if a used set of heavily raced rims have been offroad, repaired, damaged, or what the level of simple metal fatigue is. Sounds like you have something for late Fall and Winter, so hang loose till Spring to get your other tires, so you get fresh batches , plus you might find out there are some new hot tickets coming out ( I know of one, that I have promised not to discuss at the present time ).
 
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Not sure why you are getting a bunch of tires now , as you really only need one set for the Winter? You want your track rubber as wide as possible , so the 18x9s should be used for that and frankly before I would spend a bunch on a set of take offs from a company that uses them for racing, I would just get a new set of Apex rims for about the same or a little more. Rims are no different than other parts of your car and heavy use degrades them, let alone knowing if a used set of heavily raced rims have been offroad, repaired, damaged, or what the level of simple metal fatigue is. Sounds like you have something for late Fall and Winter, so hang loose till Spring to get your other tires, so you get fresh batches , plus you might find out there are some new hot tickets coming out ( I know of one, that I have promised not to discuss at the present time ).
Your completely correct. I didn't re-read my reply so I'm not sure if there was miscommunication. I am not even close to considering racing tire takeoffs. I was just mentioning that I had seen them and one day it could be fun to try. I know it is silly (sort of) buying summer tires in late November, but we still have quite a few 60 deg days (I hope) in our future. Definitely taking you advice on putting some all seasons on the 18x9's for Jan-Feb. Probably the wiser financial decision would of been to go straight to All season on the 18x9's....but I love driving my car.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,423
8,349
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Sorry, I was typing too fast as the 18x9s should be your street rubber and use the 10s and 11s for track rubber -- width helps my friend. Corrected above , since what I stated was confusing. My comments were a bit disjointed and I meant to recommend the skinniest rims for running on the street - sorry.
 

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