Got a set of these things for failry cheap. I have no experiance with R compound tires, and I'd like to maximize my setup without too much wasted time 'tuning' in events.
So experianced people, plz throw in your advice!

My Setup-
255/40/17 A032R Soft on 17x9 Wheels all around
Tein Flex with 6kg Front & 5kg Rear
ST sways (front bar has two settings, currently on soft)
camber is totally adjustable
2900lbs with driver

I currently run 1 degree camber in back, somewhere around 2.5 in front, and zero toe all around. Whats a good starting point for pressure, and will these tires need less camber? i dont have a pyrometer, or any real suspension tuning experiance.

Also, do these need to be heat cycled at first? I've heard they don't have a whole lot of cycles in them before they get hard, so I dunno if cycling them before i reace will extend their life or just take some miles off. They will only be drivin to and from autox's (about 15 miles)

 

I do not have any direct experience w/ the A032R-S, but I was also looking at those as they are sooo cheap.

What I learned was that European racers have some experience with them and they usually run low pressures as the tires have a very stiff sidewall and tend to wear the CENTER of the tread quickly due to the unsupported tread design in the center.

You will still want to heat cycle them by gently heating them driving on freeway for 1/2hr or so and then taking them off or putting car on jackstands so they don't have localized cooling and let them sit for at least 24 hrs.

15 miles to Auto-x is just one more of their few heatcyles unfortunately. The soft compound won't heat cycle out long before the tread is gone like the harder A032R compounds we got here as they wear rapidly.

On the brightside, in SCCA forum a search turned up the fact that a set of A032r softs at least won on a nationals car in 2005.

As for camber, I couldn't imagine having to run LESS than that up front , but I am on 7/5 springs and stock sway bars .

Now, take some weight out of your car- jeesh!

 

Doh! Sorry, I didn't see you had a V-8 in there when I made the weight comment. Please disregard

 

yah my car has full interior and everything, and 2900 is with me in it.
its 2750lbs according to a truck scale, which reads in 50lbs incriments. thats about average for an FC.

 

I thought the series 4 cars were a couple hundred pounds lighter. Mine read 2720 at a truck scale.

 

who knows how accurate the scale was, it measures 50k lbs trucks.
aanyway back on topic plz :-)
pressure/camber? initial heat cycle? just trying to get the most out of these
thanx

 

I have a SM2 TII that is missing everything except for the interior and was at 2700 almost on the dot at the ProSolo in July.

Also, they will probably work better with alot more front camber. If you have plates, push em inwards.

edit: as someone who recently switched to r-comps, its gonna take you a bit to get used to them. They are SOOOOOOOO sticky it will blow your mind. I've got about 40 or 50 runs in on my V710s and I'm only beginning to be able to consistently push them to the limit on every corner. Its kinda like learning to drive all over again.

 

alright so they do like tons of camber then?
heat cycling- should i just mount them and go drive on the highway for half an hour? i know you're supposed to do figure 8's till theyre nice and hot, but i dont know anywhere i could get away with that.
pressure is my biggest one- autox only has a few runs per course, and theyre fairly short, so playing with pressure really doesnt tell me anything, as conditions keep changing. also every tire has a different ideal pressure...
do A032R's like high 20s, low 30s, high 30s, etc?
my BFG KD's do a lot better at 34psi than 40, which is what everyone keeps preaching for street tires.

 

Camber settings are going to depend on the rest of your setup. On my car, the ride height is very low and I have strong swaybars. As a result, there is almost no detectable body roll even in the hardest corners. Since there is no roll, there is no camber change in the corners. Put all of that together and it means that I don't need to run very much camber at all.

When I first put race rubber on, I ran too much camber and corded the inside edge of the tires (which were nearly worn out anyway). Once I reduced the camber, they wore just fine. To do it right, you really do need to take the time to temp the tires.

As far as pressures go, one of the simplest methods is to chalk the sidewalls. This allows you to see how far the tire is rolling over. If you are rolling over onto the sidewalls, then increase the pressure. But again, temperatures will tell you much more.


.

 

At least from my experience (road racing) my FC likes nearly as much camber as I can give it in the front then adjust via temperatures. Last time out I was running -3.6* front and about -1.8* rear using V710's which are probably similar.

I run no rear bar and a big front bar.

 

I bought a set of A032Rs for the FD, and I kept the pressures near the mid 30's. Those tires are known for lasting much longer than the top dogs (such as the V710 and A6) and still be faster than streets.

I did not heat cycle these. If you try not to kill them on the first few runs, they'll break-in just fine.

They can be driven on the street (Used to be my street tire when I got the V710s). Unless you have some crazy camber/toe settings, they won't wear out quickly.