Buying a wheel-tire setup for track days

[I want an atom]

Oooh. Now this gets interesting. I could grab his set of used 15x11 Keizers for the rears and run 295s. I could order up a pair of 15x8 Enkeis for the front and run 245s? That could work, no? Then there is just the matter of the fenders. I looked closely at them last night. For sure, they won't clear anything bigger than stock. Also, I see that it looks like you have to unbolt the whole damn suspension arm to get them off.

So lets presume I have the wheel/tire thing figured out. That leaves only fender-related questions.
1) First off, if I remove the factory fender brackets, which requires unbolting the damn suspension, does that screw up any alignment-related things? Forgive me if that is a dumb question.
2) If I buy the skunkwurx stuff, it looks like it can be bolted on/off at will. Isn't that a much better setup anyways? Maybe I could buy two sets of their brackets, and run their wide ones for the track, and then mount my factory fenders to another set of skunkwurx brackets so I can just swap back and forth?

[cvjoint]

By the way, let me say I appreciate your insights on the Atom. I feel like you've helped me out a couple of times already. If you ever get stuck in Miami let me know and drinks are on me.

So assuming I was to stay under 295 in the back, in theory I COULD just get those skunkwurx fenders and call it a day, right? I understand I'd have to epoxy them to the uprights that they sell. I am capable of anything, but it always takes me 6x as long as people claim, for me.

I saw that Eddie fella on here selling his Keizer wheels awhile back, and he was apparently running 225 in front and 23.0x9.5R15 in the rear (which from what I can gather online is about 240mm wide). Not nearly as wide as what you are talking- where is the happy medium here? What started all of this was the one track weekend I've done so far, grip was far and away the limiter. I mean, the brakes are infallible, the motor is plenty strong. Its grip- and with more of it I could get on the power a lot sooner out of 3 turns at Homestead (and brake much later). I mean, no matter what going to A7s from the R888s will be a huge swing regardless of final width, so I don't want to make myself miserable. I want to make a fast, solid plan and do it in the next 2 weeks so I'm ready for the track end of this month. There are a bunch of Sebring opportunities in April and I'm getting the chubbs just thinking about it lol.

Tell me what to do!!! In the meantime I'll email the organizations to see if they require fenders at all, but seeing as how I was to run with all of them I'm sure I'll have problems with at least 1 or 2...

EDIT- wow I missed your email- you are running 10s and 11s?!! Damn, now I get it. 355s!!!

I will say this. Atom's hot shoe set a benchmark time of 1:42.4 at his local race track (Sonoma) after many years of practice and Atom modifications. I just beat that last season by 0.7 seconds on 245/355 tires. I'd say that's proof that wide works on Atom. I did that on heavily heat-cycled and Ebay tires and had to pass some cars during the lap to boot. I got the tires to temp and therefore peak grip on a 65* day. I don't care if all Atom owners are unison that wide tires don't work on an Atom, whether that is geometry or heat, I am 100% in love with the 355 rears and stand by them.

That said there is an optimal tire for every condition and no overall winner. I have a set of H20s on the stock wheels for 45* days and rainy days. Then I run 245/295 for time trials for non-performance reasons and during some really cold days as that's when they're faster than the wider set. But my all time favorite is the 245/355 set and I run that as many times as I can in HPDE and is often the optimal choice for me.

Up for drinks, will let you know if I ever head that way.

Yes, you are correct that the brakes are perfectly capable. Grip is first and foremost about compound on the Atom. Get the A7 as it hits peak grip somewhere around 110* to 130* and there are many sizes available. That's the trick really. The width should go up with skill level, power level, and ambient temperatures. I would start at 205/255, it will be very easy to find wheels and fenders with this setup as well.

@I want an atom-

I have a set of basically brand new/barely used (<8 sessions) Keizer 15x11 rears with aluminum (not the weak magnesium) centers that I purchased for $1062 in July (of '19) for my SRA. They are all black.

I used Hoosier 275-width A7s on them with no issues, just decided to go with narrower A7s to reduce tire cost.

If interested I will sell for $700 delivered. Shoot me a PM if interested!

If no one picks them up by the end of the year I might get them off your hands. Wider tires last much longer imo, and enough to sidestep the cost difference, but you must be willing to put up with heatcycles. I take mine to 55 heat cycles.

Oooh. Now this gets interesting. I could grab his set of used 15x11 Keizers for the rears and run 295s. I could order up a pair of 15x8 Enkeis for the front and run 245s? That could work, no? Then there is just the matter of the fenders. I looked closely at them last night. For sure, they won't clear anything bigger than stock. Also, I see that it looks like you have to unbolt the whole damn suspension arm to get them off.

So lets presume I have the wheel/tire thing figured out. That leaves only fender-related questions.
1) First off, if I remove the factory fender brackets, which requires unbolting the damn suspension, does that screw up any alignment-related things? Forgive me if that is a dumb question.
2) If I buy the skunkwurx stuff, it looks like it can be bolted on/off at will. Isn't that a much better setup anyways? Maybe I could buy two sets of their brackets, and run their wide ones for the track, and then mount my factory fenders to another set of skunkwurx brackets so I can just swap back and forth?

1) Just don't turn the rod ends, unbolt and bolt.
2) My set got loose every session and due to the design I was afraid would fly off into someone's windshield. I actually modified the Skunk set to OEM like design for safety reasons and prevent loosening.

[I want an atom]

I just shot a message off to skunkwurx asking for installation instructions for the fender brackets. For the life of me, I can't understand how they could get loose if you are bolting them in. You aren't the only person I've heard say they get loose, so I'm just baffled. Do the mounting bolts loosen that easily? Would a little locktite help? Couldn't you also use some of those bolts with the little hole through them that you can put some safety wire through to allay concerns about it flying off? I know that in karting they use those all over the place.

[cvjoint]

I just shot a message off to skunkwurx asking for installation instructions for the fender brackets. For the life of me, I can't understand how they could get loose if you are bolting them in. You aren't the only person I've heard say they get loose, so I'm just baffled. Do the mounting bolts loosen that easily? Would a little locktite help? Couldn't you also use some of those bolts with the little hole through them that you can put some safety wire through to allay concerns about it flying off? I know that in karting they use those all over the place.

Everything in the wheel gets loose, even the bolts with Nordlocks. Safety wire won't keep a bolt from falling off but it obviously helps. You have to mark and tighten everything all the time like an old F1 car.

[texevora]

If no one picks them up by the end of the year I might get them off your hands. Wider tires last much longer imo, and enough to sidestep the cost difference, but you must be willing to put up with heatcycles. I take mine to 55 heat cycles.

I copied your specs on the wheels when I ordered them from Keizer!

You get 55 cycles??? That's incredible. I got 18 on my 1st set of A7s, and only 13 on my 2nd set of before they corded the outer edge of my 245 rears. Still experimenting with camber/toe/pressures though.

Swapping out the QA1s for Motion Controls as well, so hoping they help improve tire wear, although that's probably unlikely.

[cvjoint]

I copied your specs on the wheels when I ordered them from Keizer!

You get 55 cycles??? That's incredible. I got 18 on my 1st set of A7s, and only 13 on my 2nd set of before they corded the outer edge of my 245 rears. Still experimenting with camber/toe/pressures though.

Swapping out the QA1s for Motion Controls as well, so hoping they help improve tire wear, although that's probably unlikely.

Normal. 245 section rears in soft compound will only last 10 to 15 sessions. This is true of the A7s and any of the soft Hoosier slick compounds as well. 295 and up and you won't wear them until 50+ heatcycles. They do get noticeably slower though. Fronts always last forever.

No doubt alignment plays a big role but my 245 section rears wore out in the middle and I ran very low psi (18 cold, 21 hot). I don't think you can get better than 15 heatcycles by aligning but you can surely get less by screwing it up! Doubt the shocks will impact tire wear to a noticeable degree.

I look at shocks and brakes as areas I don't have to touch and can save money on, so stock they stay. I win all my pads and rotors last a very long time. Shocks never leak, too light of a car to run them hard.

EDIT: forgot to mention I ran 0 toe but 3 degrees of camber when I got over 50+ heatcycles. I now run some toe and 2.5 degrees camber, however wear is still very slow and think I can hit 50+ HC again.

[I want an atom]

OK things just got better- the first org reached out to said they don't care about the fenders!! So I might reach out to our man TEx here for his wheels, but I'd still need to order up fronts. Any good reason not to just get enkeis? If so, what specs should I be using for those?

[I want an atom]

@i want an atom-

i have a set of basically brand new/barely used (<8 sessions) keizer 15x11 rears with aluminum (not the weak magnesium) centers that i purchased for $1062 in july (of '19) for my sra. They are all black.

I used hoosier 275-width a7s on them with no issues, just decided to go with narrower a7s to reduce tire cost.

If interested i will sell for $700 delivered. Shoot me a pm if interested!

you have pm!