tweeter81

I posted this in the road racing section of this website but I figured I would post a link to that thread here as well to let all the V lovers check out my track day who normally wouldn't go into the road racing section. These cars are so fun on the track (properly setup), they really surprise alot of guys.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/road-raci...orts-park.html

jerrad

iTrader: (5)

Love the PC'd/tinted front end. Looks sinister. Plus the emblem looks like a diamond in the ring box. lol

tweeter81

Thanks, man.

504ctsV

Yea car is definately sexy. How much are u lowered on the coilovers? Do the tires rub at all?

tweeter81

Thanks. I am about 1" lower in front about and 3/4" in back. I know that is a pretty conservative drop, but as you can see I am running wider-than-stock wheels and tires. The setup as you see it in the pix does not rub on the street under any circumstances, but during this track day I was getting a decent amount of rubbing on high G turns from the rear 295s. The rubbing was just annoying though, since it was not enough to slice the tires or hurt them in any way (or negatively affect handling). I also have the front and rear fenders rolled so that the little metal lip inside the fender doesn't stick into the tire, but straight up, providing more room. I am very happy with the setup.

SilveradoSS500

R888s? Your V looks sick bro.

-Adam

tweeter81

Thanks, sir. Yeah, I decided to be crazy and take a chance on running the Toyo R888s on the street (with the occasional track day, knowing that they are most likely going to last only 6000 miles) and it has been a trade-off on comfort vs. performance, but they handle amazingly. I previously had been running the Toyo T1-Rs and I thought they were a badass tire, but once I got the r-compounds on, there obviously was no comparison.

These tires are perfect on the track. They have an extremely stiff sidewall so they don't roll over, which is a good thing on the heavy Vs. Turn-in is perfect, and they seem to know what I am doing before I do it. They are that awesome. See pix below:

Connor B

First of all, that is one seriously badass V. I'm curious as to how the stock V brakes hold up under track use. What I want to know is, with some high temp brake fluid, do these cars experience any brake fade? When you tracked your car, was braking ever an issue?

I actually own an E39 M5, and I am looking into some different options for upgrading my brakes. The stock brakes on the M5 are not up for track duty. Most people upgrade to stoptech or Brembo kits, but the brakes on the V caught my eye. They are 4 pot, fit 14" calipers, and of course are made by Brembo. So, would it be worth the effort to fit these to my car? Or am I just going to see fade anyway?

I didn't want to start a new thread, hope this works well for you all

Thanks!

raven154

iTrader: (14)

How stiff are the 600/650 springs on the street? I'm wanting to go 650/700 but afraid it may be a bit bouncy on the street.

Big Bu Bu

iTrader: (4)

Nice pics Tweet,
Tell me how do those wider tires handle out back on the track. Do they push alot (understeer) or have you changed the alignment in the front to help with turn in at all. I like your set up. You have got some stones running those R triple 8's on the street. That look like they mean business.

Thanks
Big Bu Bu
AKA crankedupforit

tweeter81

Cool, you guys brought this thread back to life...I love talking about CTS-V stuff...

I have run the car with completely stock brakes once on a psuedo-road course (Golden, CO State Patrol Driving Track) and it seemed to hold up fine.

The next time I was on the track was at PMP a few years ago and the only difference in the brakes was that I was running Performance Friction Z-Rated Brake Fluid. Again the brakes were amazing, no fade, no problems, and at that time I had not heated up the calipers enough to get that gold color.

The most recent time was from the pix above and I am currently running Hawk HP+ pads in front, HP pads in rear, UUC Stainless steel brake lines, Drilled and Slotted rotors, and the Perf. Friction fluid. The brakes were frickin' awesome on the track, they stopped the car so hard it was crazy. I did beat on the brakes enough to make the front calipers golden (and it was 91° outside that day).

I would say that the V has some of the best overall brakes from the factory of any car, ever (under $150K). The two most important things you should do to upgrade the brakes are stainless steel lines and better fluid, which are both really cheap fixes and then you have supercar braking capabilities.

The only other thing that I am going to do with my brakes is order some titanium brake pad shims and also need to switch back to stock (blank) Brembo rotors because the Drilled & Slotted ones I have on the car now will for sure not hold up to future track day abuse.

tweeter81

The springs aren't too bad I guess. I would say that they are probably 35% stiffer than stock, but you get used to them. They aren't bouncy at all. I guess on this car it really also comes down to what shock you match to the springs. I think that with the stock FE4s, you would have a bouncy ride with 600/650 springs, but if you step up to an aftermarket shock or go with FG2s, then the spring/shock combo matches up perfectly.

Although, I think that for the street the 600/650 might the cutoff for driveability. I actually got a used set of 800/850 lb Eibach springs that I am going to install this spring and try those out on the track to keep my car from having any body roll at all and to avoid any rubbing of the rear 295s, but I am sure that if I have do much street driving I will go back to the 600/650 setup.

GTOSE

iTrader: (1)

I've heard it's very difficult to install the coil overs on these cars, can you attest to this? And how much of a difference did the coil overs make from stock? I know stock V suspension is hard to beat.

tweeter81

Thanks, brother. The wider rear tires handle great. I can really put down the power now with very minimal oversteer. I know there was some question from some guys on the other forum when I was talking about going to a narrower front tire, but the 235 r-comps are only 0.2" narrower than the stock 245s, so basically the same width but a much more sticky compound and a better sidewall design. But, as for understeer, I feel like I had almost none, which is hard to believe, but the car seemed very grounded and go-cart-like. Take that assessment with a grain of salt as I have never driven any other fast cars on the track to compare to, but I was running right next to modified WRXs and STIs.

I do have the aggressive street alignment that is located on the cadillacfaq. I run -2.2° camber in front and -2.0° camber in rear. Basically I had my alignment shop use the printout from the faq and it has worked wonderfully.

I really like this setup as well, and honestly I think I just got lucky (no pun intended ) with the choices I have made. I know nothing about setting up a track car except for what I have read on this forum and cadillacforums. The R888s turn-in instantaneously and they are super-linear on their break-away so I don't ever feel like the car will lose traction and get away from me. Part of the reason they are such a great performing tire is the sidewalls are basically as stiff as a run-flat which really is needed on our heavy pig cars. I don't have that slightly floaty feeling like I had with the previous Toyo T1-Rs that I ran on the track (which are also a great tire and I will run them on the street again when these R888s are gone).

Lastly, (sorry for the novel here) I would not recommend running the R888s on the street because of the stiff and narrow sidewalls and the need to be heated up to achieve grip. I go back and forth with wanting to get another set of these tires for the street (they just look so badass and give me the exact stance/sidewall height that I want), but I think my more practical side is just going to have to win out and stick with street tires because of the downsides of running the r-comps on the street. Then I will be going to full BF Goodrich slicks on my stock 18" wheels (or even better, the Team Dynamics 18s) for track duty.

Big Bu Bu

iTrader: (4)

I have the FAQ alignment as well. Love the turn in. Makes a big difference. Also, I ran the shims on the track with the UUC 2 piece rotors. Never got them to turn gold even after bashing them quite a bit. Maybe I wasn't pushing them hard enough.

hXc95SLS

How did you stuff those 295s on the *** of that car?

tweeter81

It is an art, not a science, j/k.

Rolled inner fender lips giving somewhere between 1/8" - 1/4" more clearance in the wheel well and expertly made CCW SP600 wheels (10" rear width).

hXc95SLS

Question: How do you roll the fenders up? I have an extra set on stockers sitting in my garage you and happen to have the exact setup I want for my spair wheels. 245 fronts and 295 rear with the same Toyo tires. The only thing is I have to have the rears widened and then all four blacked out. Car looks good tweet. Thanks for the info!

lubelizard

iTrader: (5)

There's a tool that is supposed to roll fenders without causing as much paint damage as the baseball bat trick.

I'd like to know if tweet rolled his fenders without suffering much paint damage.

tweeter81

I actually had two different body shops do the work. I had the front fenders rolled about 4 years ago and I am not sure how that shop did it. Then I had the rear fenders rolled last spring and I believe the shop used the tool that mounts onto your hub via the lug bolts and they just roll it along the inner fender. In both cases I made sure to ask the guys doing the work to use a heat gun on the paint to make sure it was warmed up and resistant to cracking. I have not had any problems with the paint in those areas, they all seemed to do a great job. I would recommend having a pro body shop do this so that it gets done right.

Anyone looking to fit some wider meat on this car should consider this inexpensive mod. I would think that it wouldn't cost more than $100-$150 to have a shop do all four corners.