Catching up on some old Digests:
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Rex Tener said:
Autocross in general is open invitation to spend lots of money. :-)
Not disagreeing there!!
Tire costs are the largest expense for probably 80% of autocrossers.
Well, maybe you mean in Stock class? I'm not counting the Konis as I had them
on the car for many years before I began 'crossing it. When I got serious I
had to drop for the R-Kumhos to run Stock with any competitiveness at all.
Kumhos in my relatively large size were ~$400. A season of registration is 13
or more registrations @ $25, plus a $70 or so membership, so just "belonging"
to SFR is more than the tires! Then even without towing, call it 1000 miles
to attend a majority of events. FWIW the Kumhos aren't burnt yet, could
probably get another 1/2 season out of them depending..
Next I moved to STS. We're talking a kilobuck+ for the various strut braces,
bushings, sway bars, alignment. Maybe you're assuming that everyone does all
of their own work? Then I needed the tire du jour Falken Azenis. Again,
cheap at ~$480 for a set, the wheels needed to hold 'em were more than that,
because they aren't available in 225 size in under 17" diameter. Plus
springs.... Another season of dues.... Tires will probably last two
seasons.
Maybe I need to run this setup for several more seasons to "amortize it"? OK,
if I were buying a couple of sets of Hoosiers a year THEN tires would be _one_
of the bigger expenses.
Overall, I'd say that I respectfully disagree!
PaulT
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