mpowers

iTrader: (7)

Alright autocrossers. I am at a crossroad in my life. Just sold my 94' 300zx wich I campaigned and now ready to purchase the 350z. My delima is the brakes, is it worth the extra cash for the Track just to get the brembo brakes or does the performace model brakes perform well enough? Ran last in ESP and understand that both cars compete in BS in stock form and prefer not to go to staight to BP just because I would like the braking performance of stop tech or ap etc. Whats you view? And by the way there is an autocross at Roeblingroad on august 30th.

2003z

iTrader: (7)

stricltly for autocross, go with the enthusiast or performance. The brembos dont make a difference on a short auto-x course. The distances between the 2 are really similar, but its when the heat starts building on a proper track that the brembo's pay off.

mpowers

iTrader: (7)

THANKS FOR THE INFO.

MannishBoy

iTrader: (1)

And, if you are wanting to stay in BS class, the Enthusiast model will give you more tire selection (and cheaper prices) on the 17" wheels. If I got more into autocross, I'd like to be able to run the 17s instead of my 18s for that reason.

D'oh

I agree with the above, especially the part about the limited tire choices in the 18" size (see my thread here: https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=40143 ).

The 17" wheels really give you more options in the tire department.

You might want to check out tires before making your decision just to make sure you can get the tires you want.

The wheel sizes are as follows:

Base, Enth, and Touring A5
17x7.5 F
17x8 R

Performance & Touring 6M
18x8 F&R

Track
18x8 F
18x8.5 R

Good Luck!

-D'oh!

mpowers

iTrader: (7)

I heard a rumor that the Z32 wheel fits on a 350z, if thats the case would you think that a 16" would work? Only reason is that I have a set of Kosei wraped in Michelin Pilot Sport cup that are only two races old. I was planning on selling but if they will fit, wich I don't know, I would like to wear out instead of selling. They are 245/45r16

2003z

iTrader: (7)

It would put you in street prepared, but they should fit, except maybe not the track model with brembos.

rktjhn

94 and up Cobra Mustang rims will fit on the car too. Make for a source of inexpensive 17"rims, to put race rubber on. My old ones are on a guys enth model now, he claims offsets are identical.

2003z

iTrader: (7)

How about spacing for brembos in the rear?

archman350z

I have to agree with the guys above: the Brembos really aren't necessary for Auto-X. However, if you plan to do a lot of Auto-Xs or get into HDPE events, it may be best to plunk the money down right away for the Track model. (It will have a full warranty, as opposed to adding the Brembos later).

The Performance model also has 18" wheels...they are just not Rays Engineering(tm) wheels. I'm not a fan of 18" wheels for racing, but you've got to make due with what you have...
Brembos will give you added confidence in braking (brake fade almost never occurs) and the 4-piston design will give you better pad wear under hard use (i.e. extended pad life from floating piston units) because the pad will wear evenly from front to back.

I'm pretty serious about my racing, so for me, the extra $8k over the Enthusiast model is worth it. Wheels, tires and brakes are THE most important part of any race car. Any failures in this department willl lead to guaranteed disaster. I tend to pay a lot for these items as well as my safety equipment...I don't want to end my life or wreck a $38,000 car because I wanted "to save a few bucks."

Sit down and figure out how often you'll race and where. If you do only 6 events per year and no HDPEs for a couple years, then go with the Performance. It's up to you...

christoc

iTrader: (2)

I autocross heavily, and got the enthusiast. I would highly suggest it, I don't believe the $8k is worth it, it's extra weight, more $$$ for tires, and IMO the brakes are not that much better for an autocross course.

mpowers

iTrader: (7)

Thanks Christoc, the enthusiast model is what I have decided on. Just waiting now to locate it. Is the web page a scca official site, even if not the solo info seems to be better laid out than scca site wich is confusing as hell.

christoc

iTrader: (2)

www.solo2.org is a site that I run *DISCLAIMER* it's not affiliated with the SCCA in any way

mball

Does the Performance model come with 8" wide wheels in the front and back? I thought that it had wider wheels in the back. What is the offset of the Performance wheels?

D'oh

Performance has 18x8" x 30mm offset on all four wheels (according to the owners manual and from what I measured, the front and back widths seemed to be the same).

For SCCA AutoX, you need to stay within 1/4" (6.35mm) of the stock offset. Therefore you could run 18x8" with an offset between 36 and 24.

I just bought the enkei RPO2J with the 35mm offset for my racing tires (they will be 265/35-18).

Good Luck!

-D'oh!

mball

Where did you get your wheels from? I looked at tirerack and tires.com and I was disappointed with their selection. A set of OZ Superlaggas would be nice. Is there a good place to get cheap, light wheels?