Drifting in the 8 is fun, but I'm betting it's a LOT better with stiffer suspension. I've got so much body roll on the track it's ridiculous! I'm working on a good suspension setup over the winter so in the Spring I can get down to business. K-Sport coilovers, sway bars, strut tower bars, and sway bar endlinks hopefully. I've gotta get my transmission done first though cause my clutch is almost gone. I'm going Stage 1 Exedy, Fidanza Lightweight Flywheel, and SS Clutch Lines probably next month. That should get the car to kick out more easily and stay sideways without killing too much clutch. Plus the flywheel has replacable surface plates I'm told, so rather than machining it or replacing it regularly from the abuse, I can just replace teh $60-ish surface plate. Good times!

According to Rich from Toy Box Auto (AZ350z.com and AZDrift.com), I'm the only one in AZ drifting an RX-8 at all. I'm just starting out though so I have a LOT of work to do since I'm a pioneer in this state!

 

AWESOME being the only one to drift and 8 in AZ!

 

i know a guy who is into drifting his 8...he always tells me to try it but tires are way too expensive for 19's for me to be drifting. hah.

heres a really short video of him. i have more but i need to upload them...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JfA6pHqwbc

 

Well, at least he's smart enough to use his OEM rims and maybe OEM tires on his rear to do some drifting

 

Thanks, but I've got a long way to go to be worthy.

I'm also working on a set of wheels so I can use my OEMs to drift on. I want 19s since 18" tires are cheaper, but I'm also looking at possibly running 17s to drift on since those tires are even cheaper. Ideally, I'd like a set of beat up 17s to drift on, and a nice set of Racing Hart 19s to look sexy on LOL

 

and a few other vids of him...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6kjkDYPP6M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9LfOR3sZ8s

 

wow...he's got some ***** driftin around that corner with the rails. i'm not that good yet. i stick to open area's. but i had to put my drift training on hold for now...i have to wait to get new tires. but i still play around every now and then. he's pretty good though

 

Its better to use 16's or 17's when drifting the 8.

 

Could you explain why? I've been debating between a nice set of 17s and a nice set of 19s for my 8, but I haven't really seen a benefit either way. Maybe you can sway me

 

Just look into JDM-Option they did a test with some top tuners out there on like 4-5 cars and what works best for drifting them

 

Well, the smaller the circumference (in this case the wheel) , the less distance it has to travel to make a full rotation. Which basically means, it'll spin faster... also, there's less surface area to touch the ground on smaller wheels hence less traction although this have been in debate for years.... Not to mention that in most cases, it's lighter

 

I can get side ways with my 16"s not with my 18"s

 

I searched, but all I could find were articles on how to get more smoke from my tires via more air pressure. Link?

I did find this interesting article however:

http://www.jdm-option.com/eng/feature/06_04/tuned.html

Seems like this would be helpful for drifting too. When I was doing HPDE1 in September, I was telling my instructor about how I was more used to drifting, so course driving seemed odd. He said, "Oh you're a drifter! That makes this 10x easier for you then because your'e used to feeling the car go in and out of traction. All you have to do is drive right at the limit between grip and drift and you'll do PERFECT!" I finished HPDE1 with 77 out of 80 points (I lost 2 points for "Smooth Inputs" because my clutch is going out, so my engagement grinds and won't lock into gear when I try to rev match and slow down coming into corners).

My point is if those cars in the article are tuned for road course handling, and you'd drive the road course at the line between grip and drift, stepping over that line and going sideways with the same grip setup (but probably different tires) would probably be a MUCH better experience. I plan to try it as soon as my car is drift-ready again.

 

This one.

http://www.jdm-option.com/eng/feature/05_09/report.html

 

Thanks Dom! No wonder I couldn't find it. I was searching for "tires" as the subject! LOL

Good points Renesis!

Question though: even with a smaller rim, the rolling diameter would be the same no? In other words, with the 16/17" rim, I'd have more tire and less rim whereas with the 18"+ rim, I'd have more rim and less tire. Unless I ran with smaller rims AND tires, would I really be affected by it all that much?

Also, wouldn't smaller rims and bigger tires make for softer sidewalls? Seems like it would balance out in every way except weight (since we know the rim is gonna weigh more than the tire). I can't really see those few pounds from 18" rims requiring a whole lot more torque to spin, at least not a NOTICABLE amount. Maybe a more aggressive clutch kick/weight transfer combo or upgraded clutch/flywheel would be in order with bigger wheels?

I'm not tring to dispute at all. I'm merely trying to make sense of all that I've learned thus far.

 

This was two saturday's ago at willow springs:

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...willow+springs

three 8's there, only one drifting though.

 

are you talking about on your 8?

 

With the proper weight transfer you can do it with any car. Thing is can you maintain it. I have found that with oem 16"s the tire side wall is to soft and the return kick/bounce back is to aggressive.

 

That's what I was thinking too Dom. smaller wheels = more sidewall to flex, and that would make it a LOT harder to link on the course. A bigger wheel with a smaller tire (35-45) would have a smaller, more stiff sidewall, so it'd be ideal for transitions, but you'd have to stay in a higher RPM range and be on the gas more to keep it spinning. With the 8s low torque numbers, we need all the help we can get to keep the wheels loose on the course.

I can't wait to get my car ready and try this out!

 

o ok. my 8 loves gettin sideways...but its time for some new rubber. it would be alot easier on 16's. thats for sure.

 

so who is going to be the genious to figure out to use lower profile tires on smaller wheels?

 

idk, maybe that genious figured that low profile tires on smaller di wheels will affect the overall diameter of the wheel/tire combo. or maybe that genious thought of getting r compound tires with stiffer sidewalls instead. idk, just maybe...

 

You can also look into that new tiew that has CF in it

 

CF Goodyears (FYI...):
http://www.goodyear.com/media/pr/23267ti.html

I thought about that too Mac11. Dropping the tire size AND the rim size seems optimal, but it if I did that, I'd have to keep my stock 18s as daily wheels, and then my girlfriend would win the "you don't need new rimz on the 8" arguement. Then I'd have to go out and buy new wheels anyway, and that starts a whole new arguement. LOL

Aren't 16" wheels a little harder to get now that most manufacturers are putting 17s+ on as stockers from the factory? While I'm learning, I'm going to tire shops and buying their used tires to burn through at the track, and they seem to have mostly 15s, 17s, and 18s rather than 16s.

 

YO DAWG GOTS TO GET ME SUM OF DAT CF!



BTW, 16" rims will not fit on the MT - the brakes are too big... Even with 17s it's a rcapshoot. Smaller rims AND smaller tires will change the diameter of the wheel and will affect suspention geometry... as long as you make up for that you'll be good.