Some Auto-x pics and review on E30S50's performance...

[buhnah7]

props, car is still in good shape, and 2nd is not bad from the looks of things most of the cars look new in the last picture

[xLibelle]

mudulate your gas pedal more, sounds like you just punch it. slow down and you'll pick up time. concentrate on line, not momentum. like you said, you have power. now you need to learn how to lay it down efficiently.

[mazur]

Yeah as far as having more tire, especially for autocross there is no such thing as "too much". 245s will require some cutting to get them to fit. Also the rear swaybar needs to be gone, kills your traction and if you have reasonable rear spring rates its completely not needed.

I have 450/750 springs, so yah, rear sway is already gone.

Cutting? I highly doubt it with my offset. Just going to need to flare them out.

Doesn't turn in suffer with such wide tires?

I highly doubt it. Steering will get stiffer, which I'm looking for, and understeer will be totally eliminated, though I barely have any now...at least compared to an E36 :)

And like I said, it's not as much as how good/bad my handling is (I personally think its great) but the problem of putting power down. It just sucks when you're out-handling others on the track, but as you exit the corner you have to wait till you're almost perfectly straight to get fully on it.

you spent money on swapping that engine, but don't wanna spend money on some good tires? What I would do is save some money over time and buy some track wheels/tires.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=96196&highlight=e36+e30

I will get dedicated tires/wheels eventually, but being a student doesn't help in saving money.:sad: I'm unable to afford buying $175+ per tire tires right now.

[PУCCKAЯ_e30ka]

you spent money on swapping that engine, but don't wanna spend money on some good tires? What I would do is save some money over time and buy some track wheels/tires.

[rsafier]

No turn in does not suffer, you just have insane amounts of grip. Now there isn't a ton more then a 245 but its much more stable, and better wear as you are stressing the tire less. The cars we have with 245s seem like they are about to flip over every corner. The 285s you only lift a inch or so off the ground in a corner and rarely get on 2 wheels unless you hit a bump.
Now what you do need to get use to is how much wider the track width of the car is. Also your turning radius does get larger, but the right foot can modify that or just changing your line some. If your running national style courses the turning radius will never be an issue.

[Jean]

Doesn't turn in suffer with such wide tires? I can compare to my previous car I autocrossed for a full season with 13" front brakes and Carbotech p+ pads with motul 600 fluid, and I have no issues with brakes with 325 rotors front/back and street pads :)

V710 or bust ;) 225s will be plenty.

[rsafier]

Yeah as far as having more tire, especially for autocross there is no such thing as "too much". 245s will require some cutting to get them to fit. Also the rear swaybar needs to be gone, kills your traction and if you have reasonable rear spring rates its completely not needed. The plus to 245s is you will get full steering travel. 285s I can get a little over 1 turn before I slam into the inner fenderwells. Sounds bad, but once you drive it a couple times you learn to manage that. Just annoying in paddock, lots of 3 point turns.

On the brakes, honestly with more aggressive pads and sticky rubber you cannot get any better performance going to a larger caliper/rotor setup at least for autocross and light track duty. Your stopping times are not going to improve. With Panther+ I can still get into ABS if I really try hard on 285 V710s. I have driven car with better brakes, and stock the E30 is decent for its age, but pretty aggressive pads are required for good performance. I have never been impressed with the Hawk HP+ line, I thought they were quite weak.

[mazur]

That was the only XP car.

For rubber I have 225/45/16 Hankook Z212. I know they aren't the best, but they're cheap and very similar to Azenis in lateral grip (I've owned both)

I have Hawk HP+ in front and Mintex (lol) pads in rear and good fluid. Anyone who says E30 brakes are good havn't driven in a car that has decent brakes. I'm going to try a slightly more aggressive pad for front/rear.

Stickier rubber needed? Of course. The thing is I only run street tires because I don't want to spends money on comp. tires.

I had 245's on my E36 M and loved them. I can only assume they'll be great on my E30 as well.

Plus, I was looking at other cars and every Miata had 225 slicks, and that's in a sub 2000# car with very little power. I'm sure 245's won't be excessive on my car.:p

[Jean]

What kind of tires were you on ? What pads are you using ?

I doubt you need that wide of a tire, maybe just a STICKY tire and some good pads / fluid ?

[rsafier]

The biggest issue with the E30 is lack of ability to fit rubber. Even if you go nuts like myself 285s are the most you can cram under the car and it requires pretty much destroying the car in the looks department.

As far as brakes the E30 really isn't that bad, you just need better pads. Carbotech Panther+ or similiar very aggressive pad and obviously tires that can actually hold decent (without tires that have some grip you never will brake)
I'm amazed you had 5 XP cars. Other then national events we only have 1 car (a LSx powered RX7) and our region has 100-150 people per event generally.

[rennegade]

wow howd that elise do? looks like it would have a lot of downforce.

[mazur]

My friend Andre and I learned an important thing today...225 tires + S50 + E30 + auto-x = madness.

Absolutley no way to put the power at any given moment. 245 street tires should be a minimum on my setup...

It was just annoying that while a really powerful Firebird can go WOT in a high g-force turn with slicks and not even have a hint of slippage 8O , I'm fucking drifting whole sections of the course just to keep my momentum and my line...lol.

E30 brakes suck a lot as well. But that's something I'm going to have to live with for a while

Even though we had traction issues, the car handled very well off power. I was able to get 2nd out of 5 in my class and 4th out of 23 in my group (RAW time).

Here are some pics.