Here is an awesome article out of the July 2012 C&D where a Nissan Leaf was treated to different tires in the 205-55-16 size and the effect on the skidpad. they started with the stock bridgestones at 0.79g and ended up at 0.96g with the race tires. Nothing but the tires were changed - all tires were on the same exact set of wheels.

Enjoy!

 

Cool....and I work at a Nissan dealer!

 

Great, but not news. You can try that on any car. Start with a car that can pull 0.95g on street radials, then put race treads on that. Then you have something. Not just any car can be made to do 0.95g on street radials, ours can, so focus on improving the g number without switching tires.

 

^ This.

 

While you are correct, you must miss the 100 posts a day where people are installing all kinds of gee whiz suspension parts on these cars then slapping a set of cooper cobras on their wheels.

Clearly the point Paul is trying to make is that tires make the biggest difference in vehicle performance. That fact is often forgotten around here. And hopefully some proof will convince people their first mod should be top notch tires.

 

Exactly my point!

So they took a econo box and added 0.10g just by going from stock all seasons to an aggressive Yokohama street radial in the stock size, just by changing the tires. So in reality the handling went from a stock Nissan Altima to an IROC with just a change in rubber. Imagine if they put a 245 wide tire on it what the handling would be, or if they did suspension work too...

Check out this old article I put on the third gen blog a while ago:

http://thirdgenfbody.wordpress.com/2...aft-july-1990/

They took a Trans Am, changed suspension parts, added grippy tires, and ended up pulling 0.996g on 245-50-16 tires; probably half of the increase was due to the aggressive rubber. Put a 275-40-17 sized tire in the same pattern and the car will pull 1.04g...

And yes, going hog wild on your suspension and using everyday tires is not going to give optimal results...

 

same thing goes for people adding tons of suspension parts like SFC or LCA's and brackets, thicker bars, poly bushings, a strut tower bar.. and skimping out on the main component of the suspension... the shocks..

i get a good laugh when i see people do this, then ask "are KYB-GR2 shocks OK to use with sportlines"? ahahhaha..

 

For looks and acceptable ride, nothing wrong with sportlines & KYBs - just don't expect to pull 1g with that setup.