How much stress it placed on the REAR wheels when auto-xing a FWD car? I have a PAIR of waste-able tires that I can use to auto-x, btu cannot afford another 2. I COULD auto-x with my current street rears, but I don't want to burn them up.

I am thinking that this is a bad idea, but I just want to be sure...

 

I don't think I've ever noticed my rears wearing at all. I would pressure them up kinda high though, that way they won't squirm and possibly actually wear down.

As much as the fronts get cooked the rears comparably might as well not be on the car.

 

Interesting...

 

wear on rears is negligible, especially if you run high pressures...

 

i notice some wear on my rears but not nearly as much as the fronts, but many FWD cars run junk tires on the back to help the car rotate, try it, it could be a lot of fun with the rear end skidding around

 

Yeah, I was thinking, don't the rears just drag? So if you could shift weights well, would it be faster sliding the rear around an auto-x?

At a Mazda drive event w/the Mazda 3, the pro driver suggested sliding the rear around the turns since they don't have RSB. He hinted that if you can lift the inside rear wheel, there's less friction in the back so you can get around a turn faster. Sounds pretty subtle tho.

Jae

 

there's still a lot of weight on that other rear wheel that's on the ground. you can only move a certain percentage of weight around while you're on an auto X course. and as soon as you let off the brakes, all the weight shifted to the fronts is going right back to the rears.

but running junk tires on the back is a good way to slide around a track. some people are faster that way, others are not. try it and see.

 

You won't burn up your streets on the rear unless you spin on concrete or grippy asphault or something wacky like that.

I've run different fronts & rears for years because the beam (95-03) in back really makes the rears stick hard no matter what. Be careful mixing tire types though as the back can come around in slaloms much differently than overloading the front. I prefer relatively sticky tires in back but just narrower than fronts as it's more predictable (especially rain); I based most of my thinking on Jeff Cashmore's ES MR2 setup; and just reversing.