The back straight did not cause me to loose a bead. The curb bump before it did.

My lap times are comparable using continental extreme contact force tires.

DAVECS1 said:

My lap times are comparable using continental extreme contact force tires.

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That is surprising and a pretty good endorsement of Continental's tire.

Not to derail the thread but our retired red, somewhat tracked, NSX came with CCW wheels. Too shiny for me so we replaced them with silver Advan Racing wheels.

Love my CCWs too - 18x11 w/315/30s all around

Surprised this old thread popped up but back in the day a bunch of racers had CCWs. I ran them on a couple of my Vipers and there were a ton of others I raced against using them. John Purner used to often show up at many races ( I am sure BS1 knew him well ) but after selling out to Weld Wheel well over a decade ago it seemed many I knew looked elsewhere. Like many other on this site I started purchasing Apex wheels and at present I only have three sets in my garage, ha. I will admit to being quite disappointed they stopped making their flow formed wheels with a knurl on the left edge of the rim, as this helped Hoosiers and sticky 200 TWR tires from slipping as much. I imagine they prefer to sell forged wheels and I have gone that direction on two of my three wheels --- I was lucky to get one of the last sets of knurled edge flow formed wheels.

Wheels can get some major damage on track so getting a solid set is really important. I do like that Apex will let you buy a damaged wheel of theirs for 50% off under their warranty, the only problem is after over 11-12 sets they have all held up fantastically.

Bill it is interesting you bring up WELD as I was talking with WELD when I purchased these. I was asking them if any of their engineers could chat about the SR71 being used for track duty, as I like the look and bead lock. No one wanted to sign off on that so they mentioned the CCW TS12s are what many road course teams like to purchase. I was like ok I guess lets try a set.

Note, proper use of the term "rim"..

Now BS I am talking about the rim of the wheel as the knurl is on the inside of said rim so don't get so excited .....you did notice I said wheel when appropriate, ha!

Bill Pemberton said:

I do like that Apex will let you buy a damaged wheel of theirs for 50% off under their warranty

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Why would anyone want to buy a damaged wheel?

Ha, ha, ha, positive proof old farts should not type while watching TV. Let's rephrase that goofy post of mine to read, "If you damage a wheel Apex will sell you a replacement for only 50% of retail. " Now that does sound better doesn't it Junkyard and thanks for correcting my numbskull speed posting!

Oh, wow, that sounds a lot better and makes me more likely to get some Apex wheels. Sorry, I thought it was maybe like an insurance claim or something where you could get a new wheel under warranty and pay 50% to keep the old one and fix it, which did not seem like a good idea.

Not an Insurance claim, simply an old track rat driving his brain way past the first apex and drifting off track --- missed the guardrail but I might have bumped my head, haha!

That is okay Bill. We know what you meant.

I am thinking about doing a forged apex square setup with the continental 295/40R18 square. I like the fitment of the CCW but a square rotatable setup seems very pocket book friendly. Just have to get over that 25mm spacer

I would not go with a 40 aspect ratio but a square set is the way to go. Many of us have run 18x11s, and with a spacer and some longer ARP style studs a nice set of 315/30/18s will give you a stick like glue feel on track.

Bill Pemberton said:

I would not go with a 40 aspect ratio but a square set is the way to go. Many of us have run 18x11s, and with a spacer and some longer ARP style studs a nice set of 315/30/18s will give you a stick like glue feel on track.

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Look at what is under the strut tower brace. There's *no* tire that's gonna make that car 'stick like glue,' LOL!

So correct, I just can't get wheels without buying new shoes ------ silly assumption on my part, ha! Thanks for your eagle eye , though I was not actually paying any attention to his tires just suggesting what was needed the most to go fast.

The 30 series I have on there now gave me excellent corner grip. The car was extremely predictable. Cold the tires were scary as all get out. My hope is the 40 series, would help with gearing and acceleration. I would like a 27 inch plus diameter. With a 40 series I can get that. My hope is that would be good when accelerating. My street tires are 40 series in the rear and I can get on it pretty hard, but it is also a completely different tire. Nitto NT01s

I always like a little more sidewall to play with. They communicate through the steering better than short sidewalls and are more progessive in their break-away chracteristics. A longer foot-print is a good thing for longitudinal grip. I'm not convinced there's an difference in ultimate performance.

I will politely disagree not because your logic does not seem reasonable but from 45 years of racing/autocrossing and having some sponsorships from various tire companies over the years. Give me a shorter sidewall, less squirm and frankly I appreciate the often better gearing to get me out of tight corners. The difference in ultimate performance may seem small but one has to remember the old rule of thumb that a 1/10th of a second on a two mile road course is one car length. That translates to 10 car lengths per lap if you are running a second faster and that can easily be done by every driver just by getting a high quality tire ( read tested fast ). One thing that is a constant over the years is we as drivers will often spend bucks on headers, tunes, suspension pieces , etc. and when we think we are finished we end up buying a set of mediocre tires. The irony is they are the single best option to go fast and yet it is often the first thing to take a back seat. I have looked like a genius to many of the students I have Instructed by suggesting different tires for them and great rubber has often been my simple weapon to win trophies and Championships. I will comment that going with a set of decades old technology Shittos is definitely not a choice to even consider. Spend as much time reading about the best rubber out there, watch what the really fast guys are using at the track and autocross, and keep in mind you are making the best mod to your Mustang. Good luck and I hope this is helpful as this old man does not win as much as he used to, but there are still some placings and wins and I do run with fast rubber. In fact I don't usually mod my cars much at all other than alignments, camber plates, killer pads, high temp brake fluid, etc. and quick, quality , well tested tires.