Oki, Im going to be honest here. I got out matched around a corner by an STi, the other day. I dont know what he had, but he took a certain sweeping turn here in Cedar Rapids, that my Z just couldnt handle.

(caveat - we were not racing, he just came and passed me on this corner faster than I thought possible.) I realize with his AWD I could probably never be as good as his could be. But I'd like to make the Z much more capable in fast corners. So I need a plan to get my gripping power maxed out. This is not a debate on which is cooler, drifting or sticking. I simply like to be able to stick better than to drift.

Here is what I have already:

GF210's, stock struts, 18X9.5's all the way around, wrapped in RE050 A Potenza PP's 255f, 275r.

Here is what I think I need, and where your input will come in.

Hotchkis sways
Front and rear camber/toe adjust kit
Tokico D-specs
Stickier tires (KDW-2's?)
Spoiler that actually gives good downforce.

Instead of gf210s and d-specs, perhaps coilovers?


Am I missing something? Suggestions? This is my new goal for the Z, as Im pretty much done with exterior mods for the "looks" factor. (I've found that having a good looking car is like bait for ricers to come try to prove themselves. Which is probably why the sti pulled the ricer flyby then this corner maneuver.)

 

start with a good lsd.

then do all the other crap. i would stick with the re050's though--they are a very good tire.

 

ie..better than the stock one?

 

Unless you were doing 140mph around the turn don't waste the money on a wing with more downforce. I don't know if you were serious about that or not.


We need more info on what your car was doing as to not allow you to go faster thru the turn.

 

here is my list

1. coilover/camber a-arm/rear camber&toe -
2. F/R sway bar
3. strut brace
4. Dampers or fender braces
5. if you have a extra money, i will look for light weight/bigger wide wheels

-JLee

 

HPDE for some track time, the driver mod may be best.

 

-subscribing-

 

Like someone already stated you need to upgrade to an LSD, also a nice set of coils like the tanabe 7's. For DD they're a bit much but if you really want to stick they're very good or you could always roll with the 5's. You've got a good set of tires which is really key as well. Some cusco sways. GTSpec Fender braces were actually impressive as well with controlling the front of the car. Also camber has a lot to with with the amount of contact your tire has with the pavement so naturally you would want to make sure you're alignment and camber are in spec so you have a nice contact patch. If you were to have all that you should notice a completely ridiculous change in the way your Z handles.

 

I would start with getting better shocks or a complete coilover system(whichever you have budget for). Front and rear camber arms to dial in a little more camber than stock specs. Then I would upgrade the stock sways to either hotchkis or cusco. That should make your Z handle a little better in highway sweepers. If you still feel uncomfortable with the way your Z handles after these mods, I would look into an aftermarket LSD.

To be honest, I had both the STi with stock suspension and 350z with full suspension. I always felt more comfortable doing highway sweepers with the STi than my Z.

 

Not me, But I do feel more comfortable sweeping in an EVO than a Z

 

I would also add to what the others stated by adding endlinks for the new sways.

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...,0.152435&z=13

Oki, I'll give more info about the sweeper. It's probably the only decent one in town and its long and fairly tight. Normal traffic takes it about 70, but I've seen normal stock cars (cavaliers, camry's) go near to 80. Late at night when the road is wide open (this is Iowa, keep in mind) I've done it at 90 and some change with and without TCS on. The sti guy probably was upwards of 100 when he hit it (I was 80ish, he kinda pulled a ricer flyby). Oddly he braked early, well before apex, for a second like he wasnt sure his vehicle could do it, then he punched it.

To me the sweeper is kind of a litmus test for your vehicle when it comes to handling, because there is nothing else out here to reference. When I first got my tires, rims and springs installed, it was the road I used to compare old handling with new, to see if there was any change. (There is no such thing as a track out here, so there was nowhere else to compare.)


I have an enthusiast, so I have an LSD. I did go get the tires aligned about a week after the springs were installed. The guy flat out told me he couldnt get it back to what the computer considered spec, but he got it close. So Im sure I need a front and rear kit to get that right.

So, coils and sways possibly with end links. Strut brace helps? I'll look into that. Aftermarket LSD, I'd have never thought of that one. Anything else? Umm roll cage, or anything crazy, I want any and all ideas.

 

Yes I was serious. The road is one long bridge, so every 10th mile or so it has the metal spacers for contraction/expansion. This causes a fraction of a second where the car feels like its less connected. I figured some downforce might help.

 

I'm sure coils and sway will help and i think you should be fine with stock strut brace. Also check out Nismo dampers.

 

To the OP , what is your driving experiance???

 

+1


This is not to say that you don't already know "how to drive" but when you say...

It makes me think that your perception of "possible" might be off a bit. The STi is generally going to be faster around (at least, out of) a turn than a Z. But unless he was running on fat race tires, the speed he was able to carry through one turn should not have been that much faster than a Z.

If you can't swing HPDE's, autocrossing is also a great way to get familiar / comfortable with your car's limits.


As far as your suspension setup, just don't make the mistake of going too stiff.

I am running Hotchkis sways on the softest rear-bar setting and the second softest front-bar setting. I am also on RS-R Ti2000 springs and Koni (yellow) struts. A better diff will help also. I am running a Quaife LSD and it is awesome.

Bridgestone Re-01's, Yokohama Advan Neova AD07, BFG KD's (not KDW's), Kumho MX's (if you can still find any), Falken Azenis 615's... are all good tires with lots of grip. But they don't last long compared to average "high performance" tires.

Good luck, BTW. My brother runs an STi and we have had our own sibling rivalry for about 2 and a half years of autocrossing. We traded event's back and fourth last year with me winning a few more than him. But this year he has started running the RE-01's and opened up a can of whoop-@$$ on me.

 

All this to beat a guy in an STi around a corner? I would get and LSD and upgrade the driving skills. Getting over the fear of spinning out is hard. Sometimes a car has more grip than you think.

 

/sigh.. simply put, he was racing and acting like a tard. I put it that way because I dont want this to turn into a flame fest with people thinking I was racing some idiot in an sti. I didnt expect alot of responses about increasing my skill, I expected flames from everyone thinking I was being a tard along with him.

He went around the corner faster than I thought was safely capable for the traffic conditions. I didn't want to reply to the driver mod replies because there is no correct answer or reply. Im not here to brag about how good a driver i am, because unless you know me personally, theres simply no proof. I know the sti has awd, and that is probably the biggest factor in the equation. I dont think the guy was a safe driver, and I do believe his car compensated for his general idiotic behavior. It did however inspire me to want to better the car for increased performance.

I do have a decent driving education. When I went through the police academy so many years ago, we were required to learn various brake methods, understand apex and many other aspects of patrol driving. I no longer have any connection to LE, but I took what I learned there and still apply it to this day. However, I have plenty to learn, but thats not the point here.

EDIT: To wit, I know I could have kept up with him to a certain extent, but I did not want to endanger other drivers. Youre right, not much faster that I could have Im sure, but I wasnt racing and wasn't looking to find out given the conditions.

 

That's a VLSD not quite the same as a LSD.

 

Gotcha, so definitely looking into an aftermarker LSD. I've heard good things about Quaife anyway.

So I think Sways are a good place to start along with getting my camber and toe back to spec. From there, I'll look into coilovers, then the LSD. Then perhaps, some Skip Barbour.