Hi Finnegan. So, I could have showed up with snow tires and would have ended up with similar traction to the Contis probably. Why did Conti even make this tire, and why did BMW choose to stick it on an M car? I knew it wasn't the best tire, but didn't realize it would this bad...
Anyway, some observations about the car:
1. It didn't live up to my expectations in stock form. Fun agile car, but the stock suspension does not seem to be enough for an M car.
2. More understeer than I expected. It really plows. I went into it knowing it will understeer obviously in stock trim and alignment, but not this much.
3. Pads were literally smoking after the 3rd session, and the pedal got soft toward the end of the 4th when I started to push it as hard as the tires would let me. I flushed with Motul600, and used Carbotech XP10 pads, which should be about right for this car. Sounds like SS lines would help, and forced cooling and/or higher thermal mass is necessary?
4. I couldn't really see how the car would fare against other cars since my group was crowded by race cars. There was no race session for the day, so all the racers showed up in the red group. Not an even match. I mean the car is not going to measure up to race prepped GT3Rs and WRXs and EVOs, etc in stock form on street rubber in any way. R-compounds would have helped. However, it did hold up against an older 5 liter Mustang race car with huge rubber and a new STI on r-compounds. My impression is that my previous E92 M3 would beat this car stock vs stock in handling (not talking about power). This car is easier to rotate and throw into the corner than the M3, but it doesn't have the traction stock vs stock. I suspect that is more than just PS2 vs contisportcontact.
I don't know. Maybe I am a bit thrown off because I haven't tracked a street car in a year, and am too used to my track car setup when it comes to body roll and stuff. I just don't think that I am going to invest it in to make it a real performer on the track, so I'll probably never find out. Still happy with it though. It sure does put on a smile on my face in the mornings...
