Mods
- A052’s 265/35/18 Front and 295/35/18 Rear on Apex EC-7R
- M Performance Coilovers on track settings
- Camber Plates with -2.8° camber in Front, -1.8° Rear
- 0.04° Toe-in Front and 0.27° Toe-in Rear
- V-Style Front Lip
- CS Style Spoiler
Weather
70°-80° overcast – mostly ash from the ongoing fires
Impressions
This was my first time running the A052’s and I was very impressed. Compared to my Pilot Sport 4S’s, I could corner at much higher speeds and the tires did not get very greasy towards the end of a session. I did notice that I usually posted the best times around lap 3-4 of each session, so in the future I will aim to setup my best runs around those laps. In the video above, there were many corners that I could have taken at much higher speeds – some of which I did do in later laps.
Tire Wear
Interestingly, the center edges (specifically the right edge as Laguna Seca has many left turns) have worn the most. I think this is perhaps an indication of slightly too high pressures – I was targeting 35 PSI hot, so I will experiment with bringing that down to 33-34 PSI. Outer wear looks good so the camber plates are doing their job at -2.8°.
Future
I believe the one thing keeping me from taking corners as fast as I could have was that the front felt so grippy compared to the rear. I felt the back stepping out a few times – although thanks to the amazing tires it was very easy to catch – but that created a mental block preventing me from really going 9.5/10ths. I was not able to get the car to understeer the entire day without the back stepping out (especially in the fast sweeping corners). My next mod will be a M4 GTS style wing to provide some measure of downforce to keep the rear settled and increase my confidence to take corners much quicker.