Whammer Posted June 8, 2011 Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 Several months ago I posted on this forum if anyone had tried adding weight to the trunk of their SS. The major complaint from everyone regarding the SS is the fact that it's hard to hook up. It made perfect sense to ME that trying to balance out the car would really help rear wheel traction. We all know the car is nose heavy. So adding weight to the trunk should help get weight over the rear wheels. When I first thought of this I still didn't have the car so I couldn't give it a try. Well the other day I gave it a go. I've got 2, 40lb. weight vests ( you wear these while exercising to make your workout harder). I thought they would work nicely for what I wanted to do. So I put them both in the trunk of my car. I put one on each side of the inside of my trunk. So next it was off to a quiet stretch of road. I'll need to do some more test runs but off of the couple of runs I made I thought there was a fair amount of improvement. I could still easily spin the wheels in 1st, but I think that's always to be expected if you really get on the gas. What I didn't seem to feel was any wheel spin in 2nd. Not having had the car for even a week, I'm still getting use to it. I've been hesitant to put the gas pedal to the floor in 1st and 2nd for fear the car might get out of control. The other day is the first time I put it to the floor in 2nd and like I said I didn't think I got any wheel spin. My shifts to 2nd and 3rd were very quick and I was on the gas hard. While I was able to spin the tires in 1st and lay a pretty good patch of rubber I really felt the car was sitting down on it's rear end more. The rear wheels felt like they dug in more, compared to the lighter feeling wheel spin I thought the car had before. Not sure if this is making sense as I write this, kinda tough to describe a "feel". The lighter wheel spin I'm talking about is the feeling that the tires, even though they are spinning, are not biting down all that hard. 80 lbs. of extra weight in the trunk seems to have improved that. I need to play with this some more though. I probably need to make a pass with the weight and then take the weight out and make another pass. This way I can make a better head to head comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsarkis Posted June 8, 2011 Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 Try putting a little more weight on the passenger side for better results. You the driver will counter that extra weight on the other side, where it's really needed. If you still have the 20s it goes with out saying it's nearly impossible to hook up in 1st with that little of sidewall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Posted June 9, 2011 Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 Try putting a little more weight on the passenger side for better results. You the driver will counter that extra weight on the other side, where it's really needed. If you still have the 20s it goes with out saying it's nearly impossible to hook up in 1st with that little of sidewall. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^If this is true, this is the exact reason I ask, Why did Ford SVT or Ford Racing Group, the people who have all of the research and testing equip. at their disposal, put 20's on the rear of the 2011 GT500 top performer, optioned with the SVTPP??? A person would think that the top performance option would be of a top performance level and the lesser optioned cars would get the "eye candy" 20's if in fact this is true?? Why not a matching/wider 19" on the rear? So what have the SVT/Ford Racing engineers found to be true about 20's? especially on the rear where the traction is a determining factor in a win or loss against the competition? Just asking? R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsarkis Posted June 9, 2011 Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^If this is true, this is the exact reason I ask, Why did Ford SVT or Ford Racing Group, the people who have all of the research and testing equip. at their disposal, put 20's on the rear of the 2011 GT500 top performer, optioned with the SVTPP??? A person would think that the top performance option would be of a top performance level and the lesser optioned cars would get the "eye candy" 20's if in fact this is true?? Why not a matching/wider 19" on the rear? So what have the SVT/Ford Racing engineers found to be true about 20's? especially on the rear where the traction is a determining factor in a win or loss against the competition? Just asking? R Maybe because they made the 2011 SVT GT500 for handling on a road course vs hooking from a stop light or the 1/4 mile? Look at the suspension, the sidewall is needed from a dig, hurts you on the road course. I didn't think this was rocket science. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Posted June 9, 2011 Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 Maybe because they made the 2011 SVT GT500 for handling on a road course vs hooking from a stop light or the 1/4 mile? Look at the suspension, the sidewall is needed from a dig, hurts you on the road course. I didn't think this was rocket science. The road course guys say the 20"s suck on the road course?..................but when you ask them what 20" tire/wheel combination they have tried and found to not work, they say they have not used 20's? I came across a side by side today, again, three upper end cars including the SVTPP, all 20's on the rear? I can say for sure that the lack of 20" options has limited their use across the board and especially in drag racing, but it looks as if the people who have the test facilities and have researched 20's feel that at the least the 20's on the rear are the best choice for a performance vehicle that can multitask, street, strip, turns......... I'm still suprised that 20's do anything at all, the KR's were "supposedly" equipped with 18's because 20's were eye candy only, and don't handle. If a person desires a purpose built straight line car, I agree that more sidewall may help, but I would also like to see some 20" drag tires come on the scene so that actual numbers can be quoted/compared. I remember a time when 15" was the largest wheel diameter, then I remember when 16's started to appear 1984 or so, the mindset was still 15's. Then I remember when 17's started to hit the streets, 15's and some 16's still seemed to be the sizes of choice. Then 18's came out, everyone talked about them like they do 20's and after the tire selection increased and more people experienced 18's the mindset changed, Now 19's and 20's are on the scene and the mindset is still stuck on 18's and there is a full selection of tires for all uses in 18 so it is an easy choice. I think there needs to be more tire selections for 20's as well as extensive real world testing with all types of 20's before they can be totally dismissed from "some" types of competition. R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsarkis Posted June 9, 2011 Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 I agree Robert. I think the 18s get you the compromise of comfort, sidewall and not to small for cornering. It seems once you get into the 19s and 20s the tires are made for more road course type driving with the limited sidewall. Personally I don't mind a 40 series sidewall for a good compromise to both straight and twisties. The tricky part is finding a tire with a stiff sidewall in a 40 series so you can handle the twisties good or lower the pressure and get better bite off the line. It's actually smart of Ford to base the modern mustang from the factory for road racing vs 1/4 mile racing. When you hook with 500+ hp/tq, things tend to break. Not good for a Mfg holding the warranty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Posted June 10, 2011 Report Share Posted June 10, 2011 I agree Robert. I think the 18s get you the compromise of comfort, sidewall and not to small for cornering. It seems once you get into the 19s and 20s the tires are made for more road course type driving with the limited sidewall. Personally I don't mind a 40 series sidewall for a good compromise to both straight and twisties. The tricky part is finding a tire with a stiff sidewall in a 40 series so you can handle the twisties good or lower the pressure and get better bite off the line. It's actually smart of Ford to base the modern mustang from the factory for road racing vs 1/4 mile racing. When you hook with 500+ hp/tq, things tend to break. Not good for a Mfg holding the warranty. I also have a theory on why, at least for now, the mfg. shy away from 20's on the front....................Many of these cars will be driven often, some as daily drivers. There would be a large backlash of customers if they are not able to from time to time by mistake hit a pothole only to find a damaged front rim. I believe that this may also be a reason why the KR backed off to 18's. The warranty issues alone could be very costly. 18's are much more forgiving, 19's are getting close depending upon sidewall. It just see like there was, and in some cases still is a lot of 20" trashing from the opinion standpoint with no facts or real world experiences with 20's to back up the statements. This 20's discussion was not directly pointed at you and I am sorry if it came across that way. It is just interesting that Ford chose 20's at the traction/business end of the SVTPP, and then I see them at the back on some of these other powerful cars also. R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacks1071 Posted June 11, 2011 Report Share Posted June 11, 2011 I also have a theory on why, at least for now, the mfg. shy away from 20's on the front....................Many of these cars will be driven often, some as daily drivers. There would be a large backlash of customers if they are not able to from time to time by mistake hit a pothole only to find a damaged front rim. I believe that this may also be a reason why the KR backed off to 18's. The warranty issues alone could be very costly. 18's are much more forgiving, 19's are getting close depending upon sidewall. It just see like there was, and in some cases still is a lot of 20" trashing from the opinion standpoint with no facts or real world experiences with 20's to back up the statements. This 20's discussion was not directly pointed at you and I am sorry if it came across that way. It is just interesting that Ford chose 20's at the traction/business end of the SVTPP, and then I see them at the back on some of these other powerful cars also. R 20" wheels are about two things, 1. being able to fit huge brakes under them and 2. looks. No serious race car runs 20" wheels - you can't even buy decent r-spec or slick rubber for super snake sized 20" wheels... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Posted June 11, 2011 Report Share Posted June 11, 2011 20" wheels are about two things, 1. being able to fit huge brakes under them and 2. looks. No serious race car runs 20" wheels - you can't even buy decent r-spec or slick rubber for super snake sized 20" wheels... Exactly, and I'm sure this was the case when 17's first came out, and then 18's. The issue is not that 20's can't perform, the issue is that the tire market, so far, has not caught up to 20's. If/when the tire choices that are available for the 18's become available for 20's, then we can truely document how 20's perform. When the 1995 Cobra R came out with its unique 17x9 Cobra R wheel and 255/45ZR17 BFG Comp T/A's, no serious racer used that tire/wheel combo, 16's were used instead because of the many more tire choices, plus if I remember correctly, SCCA and IMSA wouldn't even allow 17's at that time..............Competition tire choices have changed since 1995...... One of the owners on this forum bolted his original 2007-2009 GT500 wheels on his Super Snake. These OEM wheels cleared the Baer 6 pistons on the front, and I don't believe he had the 6 piston rear, but my guess is that if the OEM wheels cleared the front, they would also clear the rear with the brake upgrade. Huge brakes are nice in a competition setting, and yes the 20's do look good. R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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