If I do that to these tires autocrossing Greg, I've got larger problems than just tires... LOL...
Put about 50 miles on her today, got the brake pads bedded in and shook everything down. Man...this car rides and drives NICE now...that's all I have to say about it.
Very happy with the fit, finish and form factor of the wheel tire combination. No rubs anywhere and it just flat sticks in high speed spirited corners.
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Lance
1985 Monte Carlo SS Street Car
So we now have 3 autocross events under our belt this season plus a test n tune session. That equals right at 30 runs so far on the new setup. Everything has gone pretty well with all of the off season upgrades. The power steering cooler seems to have worked as there are no growling noises coming from under the hood even after back to back runs. The body seems to be still sitting squarely on the chassis and overall everything feels a bit stiffer and more predictable on course. The brakes feel fantastic...just love how they just grip better and better the hotter they get. They don't dust up that much anymore once they were broke in which is just an added bonus. And the tires...I can't say enough about the tires. I believe even given apples to apples the car would be faster on these Falkens than it was on the Hoosier A6s. The car is just so much easier and more predictable to drive on them, not to mention being able to drive to the course, drop the air pressure a bit...then drive home. No more trailering... Love Love Love the tires....
Now for the bad...I noticed Saturday as I was backing the car out of the garage to get it ready...a puddle of rear end gear oil coming off of the right rear tire once again. I had put a seal in the axle housing end and it kept everything dry for a bit over a month and 25 autocross runs...but the leak is back. This also had an effect on my runs yesterday as I'm certain the brake pads on that wheel are oil soaked as well which would render them useless.
I also notice a bit of a shudder under a load on trips home from the track. It's like something in the rear end doesn't play nice when it's been subjected to the severe duty for a while. If I had to guess, it's an axle bearing getting hot.
I've also drove through the clutch a couple of times yesterday, slipping after shifting into second gear after the starts. It doesn't slip anymore on the track and hasn't shown any signs of slipping on the road, but it was the original clutch that came with the T56 supposedly out of a 1999 LT1 camaro with 59,000 miles on it...so a disc replacement may be in my future.
My next project is to pull the axles and do a crucial exam of everything rear end related and see if I need to replace any parts and try like hell to figure out a way to seal that rear axle up once and for all.
Here are some pictures from yesterday's event. Had a ball out there...
And here are the videos of the 5 runs from yesterday.
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Lance
1985 Monte Carlo SS Street Car
So I refreshened the whole 9", new bearings and seals throughout and once I was certain the leaks were stopped I replaced the rear brake pads with EBC Yellowstuffs. Yesterday was my first autocross since the changes.
So, how much does an aluminum rim flex when pushed real hard with sticky tires on it?
About this far...
Thought I had enough room so I left the 1/8" spacers out when I put it all back together this last time, apparently I was wrong.
No major damage though, I was checking it after each run and it wasn't until the 4th run that it burned through the shine seal on the rim...that stuff is TOUGH.
Here's the video, not for the squeamish if you don't like the sound of metal on metal...
Pretty typical finish for me as of late. Had I not hit those 2 cones I would have finished 29th I think, right in between two BMW M3s. I was working on a few things as a driver and really helped the car handle better but at the cost of taking out a few innocent cones along the way.
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Lance
1985 Monte Carlo SS Street Car
Lance -- I don't know much about suspension and handling --- and there's guys on here that do.. but it looks to me like you are experiencing quite a bit of body roll... and that's probably not a light car... so by the time you put some side loads on there -- and then add the weight of the car (looks like lots of daylight between the top of the tire and the fender lip in a big turn)... it's got to be pounding the wheels -- the tire sidewall - the axle flange - and your seals and bearings.
Not sure what can be done to level that out... whether that's stiffer springs - or more anti roll bar or a combination of those parts.
Trust me Greg, Ron Sutton and I have been all over getting the car to roll less. Car weighs 3511 pounds and is rolling a LOT less than it used to before we added Ron's magic to it, but it still needs a much stiffer front sway bar, and that is money I'm just not able to throw at it right now.
Working on getting some solid endlinks to the front sway bar soon, every little bit helps. Not sure if you've ever ridden in an autocross car that really handles but it delivers an incredible amount of force on every part of the car, rolling over or not. I'm not surprised the wheels are flexing, I was just a bit surprised they flexed that far. Nothing a little work with a grinder won't fix.
The spacers I had in there forever worked to make room for everything but they were the cause of a slight vibration at highway speeds I was chasing down. Taking them out fixed that, but caused this issue. I'll get it fixed up soon.
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Lance
1985 Monte Carlo SS Street Car
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
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