I had a practice autoX day and got about 21 runs in

tires: Hankook Ventus R214's: 275/40/17 on all 4 wheels

I had previsously taken the tires through a heat cycle to properly break them in (ppl say it helps to extend life and overall performance), and this was the first day that I got to try them out...I wanted at least 1 practice day to get a feel for them before the season starts

the morning was fairly cold w/ some light precipitation, but overall it was a dry day; these tires were soooo much fun! it was a really tight course (created by a miata driver ), so I didn't get to open her up much, but lots of turns.

I've run street tires (BFG KDW's) and Toyo RA-1's for autoX before...the Toyo's were far suppieor to the BFG's, and I had thought the Hankook's would be a tad bit better-->but the Hankook's felt much much more sticky. The tires broke traction in a linear way and it felt predictable and easy to control when the rear end got loose (I had gone drifting the weekend before...guess some of those tendacies carried over )

*outside of my feeling of how the tires performed, just looking at the amount of rocks/gravel they picked up, they had about 10X more than the Toyo's.

here's a pic of the tires (Hankook's are the 2 top ones in plastic bags, and Toyos on the bottom):




here's also a few pics of all 4 tires in the car ...this is for those who haven't tried this out yet...it's not the easiest to make right turns (the tires block the passenger mirror)...I'll be making a trailer/hitch in about a month:
*2 tires on the passenger seat, 1 tire wedge between the rear strut and 2 front seats, 1 in the spare tire area.
**it's important to secure these wheels...in the case of an accident, you don't want them flying around.







*the only other car that was faster than me was a Lotus Exige on R-comps (it was a miata course ...he's also competing in SCCA nationals ); there was about 45 ppl running (lots of STI's and miata's)

overall I'm very happy with these...can't wait for the season to start!


-Peter

 

Nice job fitting all four in there!

 

yeah really! nice one.

 

Nice. Fitment is the #1 reason I don't run R compounds. The Z's aren't trailer friendly either.

 

I know a handful of ppl that have trailers for the Z; one of them reinforced the bumped by welding the sides (since the bumper was made to take impact loads [compression] and not towing [tension])...his has held up well and has had no issues.

One of the main reasons I'm planning to do the trailer is that I won't have to spend all of the time to load/unload for each event...I can just push the trailer into my garage and be done with it.

-Peter

 

well i mean.....the sticker on the hatch says "how to fit two golf bags" ....4 tires is close enough i guess

 

He has four - one is in the spare tire area. He stated that on his original post.

 

I've gotten 4 unmounted (!) 285s in the Z, its an even tighter fit, but they do fit.

The primary problem with a trailer hitch on the Z is that if it only connects to the bumper reinforcement, the bumper rinforcement brackets aren't really heavy enough, so welding the seams helps, but then you move to the next weaker point -- the connection to the unibody.

It looks like the newer hitches have a better connection to the actual unibody.

 

have any links to these? I'm starting to do all my research for the trailer.

thanks!

 

http://www.hitchesonline.com/

 

Im not sure what is funnier looking though...A Z with 4 tires in it, or a Z with a trailer. lol!

Good to see you like the tires. Good luck this season in Auto-X! Cant wait to see how you do!

 

Neither. The funniest thing is a Z sitting in a parking lot outside of an autocross or track day.

 

Here's the hitch that I installed this weekend. It took me a couple of hours since I had to remove the bumper and the support beam to bolt the hitch. I had to cutout a small portion of the bumper on the bottom center to fit the receiver portion of the hitch. I ordered the hitch from eTrailer.com:

http://www.etrailer.com/hitch-2006_Nissan_350Z.htm

 

have any pics of it installed? I really don't want to cut the bumper to make this fit...

 

285's ...2 275's barely fit in the front passenger seat - that's gotta be a tight fit.

 

I'll take pics tonight . . . you really could not tell the bumper is cut because the hitch is there. And it was only a small cut - 1 1/2" x 1 3/4".

I'm also almost finished building my tire trailer that I bought from Northern Tools for $150. Load capacity is 1060 lbs. I've installed the wooden floors and a tool box in front. Just need to install the bars & tiedowns to secure the tires. Here's a pic of the trailer from Northern Tools:

 

Does it connect just to the bumper reinforcement (the "inner bumper"), or to the unibody too?

 

I took a picture last night but it was too dark, even with the camera flash. I will attempt again later today. I should be home before it gets dark.

 

Just to the bumper reinforcement. The hitch is well-designed, and is installed solidly on the bumper. In addition, I made sure the trailer I bought is lightweight but had enough load capacity to haul the tires & a toolbox. Realistically, once you're on the road, the hitch/bumper itself should not have a lot of stress on it. You just need to make sure to compensate for the additional towing weight by accelerating and/or slowing down more gently. I'm used to towing trailers/boats/jet skis in my pickup truck so I'm aware of what can happen if you exceed your limits.

 

Here are a couple of pictures of the hitch that I installed this past weekend: