I, like about 3/4 of the people in this section, am looking for a solid street setup that will let me do track days once in a blue moon and have a little fun on back roads from time to time. It also needs to get me from home to work and not knock over my coffee in the morning. I don't really need rebound adjustment or any other adjustments besides dampening and height (I'd probably screw it up anyway and I plan on leaving it alone for the most part). So, I need suggestions for

Wheels:
Tires:
Sways:
Springs:
Shocks:
Anything Else I need:

Price Tag, Installed:


I'm thinking

Wheels: 18x9.5 all around
Tires: 615's in 255/40/18 and 275/40/18
Sways: Hotchkiss Adjustable (stiffest setting)
Springs: No f'ing clue.
Shocks: Either D-Specs or Koni Yellows
Anything Else I need:
- Alignment
- Corner balancing
- Camber Kit (maybe)

Price Tag: Without wheels/tires Around $2000-$2500 (I think).

Church!

 

Cusco sways ftw
The falkens are a good street setup, good autoX setup, horrible track setup.
I'd suggest 18 X 9.5 + 15 in the front, 18 X 9.5 + 10 in the rear with a 275/35 all around on the falkens. Beautiful setup. Also, springs wise.. If you get tockiko, stick with the tockiko springs or eibach prokit. On 275/35 all around you'll have a huge tire gap. You'll need 1.5'' of drop to make it reasonable. Dampeners wise, for a real racey setup, koni's are good, but a 1.5'' drop makes them out of the picture.
More dampeners have to be made! I want to see double adjustable dampeners that offer stiffer settings.

GT spec underbody parts will always help.
Stoptech stage 2 brake kits are excellent

I dont think u can corner balance w/o coilovers. I can be wrong.

Expect to spend around 1500-2000 w/o wheels/tires.

Wheels...anything under 22 lbs is a good choice. 18s offer more tire choices than 19s. 17s offer cheaper rubber.

 

Oh, that's not as bad as I thought cost-wise.

Maybe I'll just do the Tokico spring/shock kit, since it's cheaper anyhow. Will that provide the kind of drop I need? Z1 suggested the Konis but maybe they are too aggressive for street, I don't know.

Any reason for 275/35 as opposed to 275/40? Also, with the setup you suggest I assume I'll have to roll the fenders?

Finally, a 1.5'' drop will require camber kits front and rear, correct?

 

Current setup on my '04 ZR DD, which I track only once in awhile is:

Stillen (red) sway bars front and rear
Prothane bushings all around
Nismo end links
Tanabe Sustec PRO SOC Type I Coilovers (w/helper springs) dropped 1.25"
GT-Spec front & rear frame braces
Enkei RPO3s-18x9 front /18x10 rear-very agressive offsets
Balding/cupping Kumhos 245/40 275/40 (I need tires; I always need tires)
Drilled and slotted rotors
SS brake lines
Hawk street pads
Motul fluid
No camber kit, yet
No fender rolling necessary,even going to BFG 255/285 as planned

I hope this helps for some alternate products. The Tanabes have been superb for the price. Urethane bushings add a lot of tightness and stability. End links may be necessary only if you plan on tracking frequently. Good tires add more than you might expect. But if you're dropping 1.5", plan on buying good (read expensive) tires more frequently. Good luck.

 

Wheels: 17" or 18" 9.5" wide 19lbs or less

Tires: 615's in 255/40/18 and 275/40/18 though lengthy track runs can see them overheat and get greasy. RE50, Yokohama AD07 and RE-01R come to mind

Sways: Any front and rear adjustable setup from a brand name you trust at a price point you feel is justified. Hotchkis, Stillen, EVO350, Eibach and H&R all come to mind. Do NOT start out at full stiff, start out at either soft/soft or med/med and full test the car's at the limit feel. Make changes front and rear based on how you want the car's at the limit behavior to be like (why its so important for both front and rear bars to be adjustable).

Springs: Why not keep the stock springs and get the bahavior you want by dialing in the other elements of the suspension? If that won't work for you Hotchkis, Tein S-tech, RSR or Swift.

Shocks: D-specs and Koni's do not adjust the same. D-specs are double adjustable for rebound/compression (no independent, both at the same time), they can be adjusted to be softer then any oem Z shock or firmer then any oem Z shock, your choice. Koni's adjust rebound only, you canot make them firmer or softer. This rebound only tuning does allow for a degree of tuning that the D-specs cannot do. Both shocks have valving that is vastly superior to oem. Pay extra for the Koni's if you know how their rebound only adjustabilty will benefit you and you'll use it, otherwise just get the D-specs.

I'd tell you to get a tire pyrometer to set you camber angles to be the most productive, but that'll be a hard sell to someone that doesn't think they need adjustable dampning, same thing can be said about corner balancing.

 

Thanks all.

G-Sedan, when you say to keep the stock springs and dial in the other components do you mean sways/shocks or something else? Can you run the stock springs on different shocks?

Also, it's not that I don't want to adjust the rebound. Just that rebound and compression adjustments would be lost on me since I have no experience tuning suspension.

Like I said, I might occassionally track the car for kicks. Probably not competetively (sp?). What I mostly want is to be able to handle twisty roads really well at a good pace.

 

Yes, consider the idea of doing everything else on your list including aftermarket shocks, with your current oem springs. You'll get handling improments without any camber induced tire wear issues. You certainly can run your oem springs with aftermarket shocks, many here do. The spring choices I did list do not have spring rates that are all that stiffer then oem, nor do they have aggressive drops and they are all linear in rate, except the S-techs (slightly progressive in the front).

IMO, what you want to accomplish requires that D-specs or Koni's be in your shopping cart and I say to you that either product will yield a ride and drive differance that every owner can detect very clearly, theirby justifying the money spent. Of course as mentioned, both shocks are adjustable.

 

Here is what I am running currently, but I switch things up pretty often.

Wheels: Nismo LMGT-4's with 245/40 F & 275/40 R --- soon to be 265/35 & 305/30
Sways: Stillen (Red) Adjustable Sways
Springs: Tein S Techs
Shocks: Tokico D Spec's
Front Camber: Stillen Adjustable A arms
Rear Cabmer: Stillen adjustable arms
Rear Toe: JIC Adjustable Toe arms
End Links: SPL End Links
Bracing: GT Spec all the way
Front Strut Bar: Cusco

 

What I had before: not ultimate street setup but balanced and looks nice

Wheels: Maya STMS 19" - sold - 235-35F, 285-35R
Sways: Eibach - Med front, stiff rear
Coilovers: Function and Form Custom Type II Coilovers: @1.8 - 2.2" lowered 18ways adjustable: 6FD, 4FP, 12RD, 14RP damping setting. Will have to revise the rear soon when new wheels/tires set come it for more street friendly, rear is pretty stiff now once it settled in. Prolly like 8RD, 10RP
Front Camber/Toe: SPL A Arms @ -1.2camber, 0 Toe
Rear Cabmer: SPC arms @ -2.2 Camber
Rear Toe: JSPC Toe bolt @ 0 toe
End Links: Stock
Bracing: OEM/None
Front Strut bar: CircuitSport

Will go with SPL Endlinks soon, Custom bracing.

 

I like the setup that G35Sedan is saying, but in a square tire setup. Right now, i dont have problems loosing traction in the rear, but more so in the front, especially on long sweeper turns and quick low speed turns at the track. The tokikos are good all-around setup, but handling becomes addicting as you get better at it. Right now I really want a KW Variant 2 coilover kit :-D anda BBK.

I like 275/35 setup for two reasons: 1.) it looks good, 2.) Stiffer tire wall at low and high pressures.

 

I just realized, all I'd be doing (in addition the the Sways I'm in the process of ordering now) would be shocks and a new wheel and tire setup. Plus alignment. Probably not worth the corner balancing at this point.

That makes everything a lot cheaper: D-Specs are $500 shipped; alignment is a couple hundred. Hopefully I'll do this as soon as I get rid of the godawful D's the last owner put on the Z.

 

if you are interested in the D specs and Tein S Tech's I will most like be selling my set of each next month for $550.00. Just a thought.

 

Interesting. I'll keep that in mind.