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That's why I stayed with the stock 17's (you can get black wheel paint from Amazon for 40 bucks for 4 cans - I still have 1.5 cans left after 4 wheels) and just run the 17x8 rears on all four corners. Just had to remove the bolt from the rotor in the front to be able to run the wheels.
I do believe that D Street HAS to run a 200 Treadwear tire. I went cheap, Federal SS595's. I got 4 for 290 bucks delivered off of Flea Bay (can send you the store name if you want it).
R comps are great until you burn through them, they are expensive and with two driver's, you will be replacing them quite often.
Good tires are:
BFG Rival S
Bridgestone RE 71
Michelin Pilot Super Sports
Kumho Ecsta
The only real problem is that they are branded 200, but are not truly. When SCCA mandated 200 treadwear, it was to try and keep costs down for people, not everyone can run out and buy sticker Hoosier A7's (the A6 is what I would run on my Mustangs and Corvettes back in the day) as they get expensive fast. Street Class was meant to be just that, however the SCCA Mafia finds ways to circumvent the rules as much as possible.
When you see a STOCK car (in my case another Corvette) running Penske or Moton shocks that run over a GRAND EACH along with LG or Strano or Pfadt sway bars, and then sticker Hoosiers, you know it gets ridiculously expensive to be competitive other than locally, and even then, you can have National caliber driver's who drop a lot of coin to stay competitive. Street was meant to change all that. It didn't.
I did run Pfadt adjustable shocks and front sway bar. I had damn good brakes.
I may be headed this very direction, thanks for the above. Shoot me your tire supplier. Yeah, my son wants black rims, I am thinking to just go on the cheap(lower cost on the tires etc.) and do what you are saying. I have the nice 19" wheels on the car when I am not on the track. Decided to take my time and think it over and wait until I least get the Brembo's I bought installed and working(hopefully this weekend). One project at a time. My son really wants some black rims and will be a bit disappointed if I get the OEM's and paint them. I might just tell him we are going to go the low cost route on the track wheels and then replace the nice wheels I have on there to fund some "cool" black rims. Keep looking for some "bargain" black Enkie RPF1's but that does not seem possible! LOL. I am amazed how light the OEM Track V1 rims are from Nissan even compared to fairly expensive rims.
On the Corvette digression, I might be looking at one of those after my son goes off to College in three years. I really don't want him driving with that much horsepower at this stage in his life, but love the sound of the V8. My Hyundai Genesis (2011) has a nice 4.6L 385 horsepower motor in it and I love the torque and the freight train like acceleration. My son says he will take that as his car next year when he turns 16. No way. Used Honda Accord for him. Of course, he found out that they actually make Honda Accords with a stick and he is looking for one. LOL.
You should pic Mic's brain about wheels. There are a few fairly light enkei and konig that around the 1k mark. Might not be in your budget but if you can find a used set could be near half that.
I am sorta looking for wheels myself. My crap rotas are out of round. For now they are serving the purpose until i finish up some other projects that i want done. Likely won't be tracking my z for at least 3 more years so i have time to find the set that i want and save up.
You should pic Mic's brain about wheels. There are a few fairly light enkei and konig that around the 1k mark. Might not be in your budget but if you can find a used set could be near half that.
Rusty,
I got the 17s for a hundred bucks. Since Stitch already had 17s, it was easy. This way, I have the stock sizes for Street if need be, and 245s all the way around for autocrossing. In reality though, the 245s are going to stay on the car year round.
I'm only a few years away from being able to pop smoke and retire. I have a seriously fun daily, and Hamster will be paid off before that. Retire with no payments on anything
I went down this path of autocross and trying to fit into a class at first. You cannot be in street class with the brembos unless you completely swap everything else over from the track package Z also. Meaning you need track package seats, track package steering wheel, the vlsd, and swapping tcs to vdc. I know at one point you were looking at an intake/plenum spacer and that also is not allowed in street class along with any aftermarket bushings. Your local region may not care, or they may care. Some people that are very into autocross are VERY into autocross. The alternative is to build the car how you see fit and will enjoy to drive and pic what other car at an event you are looking to compete against and benchmark. This would open you up to putting any size wheel you want and also not having to care about the restrictions and running in STU. I have been down both paths and enjoyed my car FAR more when I wasn't trying to be competitive within a class and just built it how I wanted and then ran autocross to have fun. I had some people who were in mustangs, civics, evos, etc that ran very similar times to me and we would always talk and benchmark our times against one another, even though we were all in different classes.
Saying that, I would recommend either 18x9.5 or 18x10.5 square. Meaning the same size front and back. I have run 10x10.5+20 with 275/35r18 in the past until I swapped to brembos and the wheels no longer fit. I then stepped down to different 18x9.5+27 and run 275/35r18. With the same size tires all the way around the car is much more balanced than with a staggered setup. I currently run the Firestone Firehawk tires, which is a 300tw tire (harder than a 200tw) as daily tires. If these are dedicated autocross tires I would look at the rivals, re71r, rt615k+, sur4g, direzza z3, or the 595rs-rr. As a beginning driver, all of these tires will be within .5 of a second and you should base your decision on price and life.
Also I see you are in Houston. They have some really cool beginner track days at Grandsport that you should check out.
I went down this path of autocross and trying to fit into a class at first. You cannot be in street class with the brembos unless you completely swap everything else over from the track package Z also. Meaning you need track package seats, track package steering wheel, the vlsd, and swapping tcs to vdc. I know at one point you were looking at an intake/plenum spacer and that also is not allowed in street class along with any aftermarket bushings. Your local region may not care, or they may care. Some people that are very into autocross are VERY into autocross. The alternative is to build the car how you see fit and will enjoy to drive and pic what other car at an event you are looking to compete against and benchmark. This would open you up to putting any size wheel you want and also not having to care about the restrictions and running in STU. I have been down both paths and enjoyed my car FAR more when I wasn't trying to be competitive within a class and just built it how I wanted and then ran autocross to have fun. I had some people who were in mustangs, civics, evos, etc that ran very similar times to me and we would always talk and benchmark our times against one another, even though we were all in different classes.
Saying that, I would recommend either 18x9.5 or 18x10.5 square. Meaning the same size front and back. I have run 10x10.5+20 with 275/35r18 in the past until I swapped to brembos and the wheels no longer fit. I then stepped down to different 18x9.5+27 and run 275/35r18. With the same size tires all the way around the car is much more balanced than with a staggered setup. I currently run the Firestone Firehawk tires, which is a 300tw tire (harder than a 200tw) as daily tires. If these are dedicated autocross tires I would look at the rivals, re71r, rt615k+, sur4g, direzza z3, or the 595rs-rr. As a beginning driver, all of these tires will be within .5 of a second and you should base your decision on price and life.
Also I see you are in Houston. They have some really cool beginner track days at Grandsport that you should check out.
Arghh. Good stuff. I was under the mistaken assumption, that so long as the parts I added were within the specs of OEM for Nissan 350z in general (excluding the Nismo) then I would be fine. The reality at this point is I am just running for fun and I am not planning to compete on a more serious level. It seems the Street rules are just to restrictive for me as I do want to upgrade certain things(SS brake lines, Brake bracket, Z1 Diff cover(already done)). Still running the stock plenum. I am also still thinking on moving to running on the track as well in the next year or so. This is a perfect example why I am taking my time making the decision on what wheels I will buy, as I am learning something new every day. Thanks. The 17" wheels offer a low cost way to run autocross(tires and rims) and it seems that they are ideal for running cones, 18" wheels seems like the sweet spot for track, and the 19", wheel...well the driving around town looks cool size. I know it is way more complex than that of course, but just a summary in my head.
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 02-20-2020 at 04:50 AM.
So, was looking for something to fiddle with in the garage last night and decided to install a working antenna and actually have the FM radio work. The previous owner deleted it and cut the wires out. At this point I am a pro at stripping the interior. Also going to take another run at my airbag problem while I am in there.
What do you see on this dash? Yes. Nothing! If you have been reading this thread I have been trying for many(4 or 5) months off and on to get my airbags working again after they were removed by the previous owner. This was a “moment” to cheer!! In the end the problem was a failed airbag control module. This was generating a circuit error on my Driver side airbag. Everything had been replaced. 2 airbags, 2 clocksprings, 3 control modules (long story). I tried, the dealership tried, I tried again. We were down to that or the wiring. I also got the antenna install done and we have a working FM/AM radio. The interior is all put back together and life is good.
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 02-21-2020 at 12:59 PM.
About to install my Brembo’s. I am checking out the pads and the pads with the wear indicator are slightly longer which causes them to bind and not drop in? What the heck? These are carbon Tech pads. Anyone hear of this problem before? I messed it with for quite awhile wondering why only the tabbed pads did not fit? I could tap it into place I think with a hammer, but my understanding is they should "float" a bit when they are installed to allow them to move back and forth when you apply the brakes. I could grind them down a bit I think, but seems kinda extreme for something that should just drop in.
I also have some stop tech pads that fit, I guess I will use those if no one has any idea what to do about this for now and return the carbon tech pads.
See any issue with me just installing the pads on the work bench in advance of installing the caliper? I bought the grease(forget the name at the moment,but it is the correct stuff) That goes on the back of the pad. Do you also put a dab of it on the sides of the pad where it slips into? I plan to install these Saturday, but my son may have come down with something, so I might cancel it this weekend if that is the case. I want him to do this project with me.
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 02-28-2020 at 04:53 PM.
About to install my Brembo’s. I am checking out the pads and the pads with the wear indicator are slightly longer which causes them to bind and not drop in? What the heck? These are carbon Tech pads. Anyone hear of this problem before? I messed it with for quite awhile wondering why only the tabbed pads did not fit? I could tap it into place I think with a hammer, but my understanding is they should "float" a bit when they are installed to allow them to move back and forth when you apply the brakes. I could grind them down a bit I think, but seems kinda extreme for something that should just drop in.
I also have some stop tech pads that fit, I guess I will use those if no one has any idea what to do about this for now and return the carbon tech pads.
See any issue with me just installing the pads on the work bench in advance of installing the caliper? I bought the grease(forget the name at the moment,but it is the correct stuff) That goes on the back of the pad. Do you also put a dab of it on the sides of the pad where it slips into? I plan to install these Saturday, but my son may have come down with something, so I might cancel it this weekend if that is the case. I want him to do this project with me.
Pads should never require blunt force to install! I would suspect that you may have the wrong pads. OR, looking at the picture, is it just the overhanging friction material that's causing the bind? If that's the case, you can grind enough off of that (never the metal backing pad) to clear (making sure you don't breath while doing so). But yes for installation, a gentle tap is fine and should be all that's needed; anything more will cause the pad to bind. As for installing with the pads pre-loaded; no, just makes things more difficult with the unpinned/clipped pads moving around. With the calipers installed and the pistons retracted, the pads should just drop in after installing the calipers.
Double check the PN. If you have other pads already and you can't wait to replace them, suggest using those pads and exchange/return the Carbotechs unless you decide to grind the friction material.
As far as the "grease" you're talking about, do NOT apply to anywhere but the backs of the pads and/or between the pad and the A-S shims if so equipped. Oh, and while it's not a terribly big deal, not a good idea to get in the practice of handling pads by their friction faces. Residual grease could be on your hand and once the friction face is greased, they're pretty much useless.
Not sure if I am describing it right. It is the metal backing to the pad that is binding(because it is longer) as you put it into the caliper. The weird thing is that the pad without the wear indicator drops right in no problem(because it is not as long), but the the other one does not because it is a bit longer. If you look at the picture I have both pads standing on a piece of glass. The "tabbed" pad is slightly taller. That is the one that is binding. Very odd. Both sets of pads that came have the same exact issue and I also tried it on both calipers as well. I am just going to give up on those and return them. The Stop Tech's go in with no issue. Thanks for answering the other questions in your response. Did not know about the handling issue either, thanks.
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 02-29-2020 at 05:19 AM.
I have 8 crush washers. Do they go in both sides of the banjo fitting or just on one side? None appear to be used where the other side connects up in the fender well? NEVERMIND. Found an example on Youtube. BOTH SIDES like I am showing. I figured, just wanted to be certain!
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 02-29-2020 at 07:31 AM.
The most straight forward project I have done on this car. The struggle was breaking free those back caliper bolts without my impact wrench and then getting a torque wrench on the back calipers and getting enough leverage for 113lbs of torque when I installed the new calipers. One bolt is at 110lbs...will hit it again in the morning. LOL. The stainless steel lines fit nicely as well.
i have everything completely installed. Tomorrow I will bleed the brakes, check for leaks, and put the wheels on and test it out.
The calipers cleared the rims fine. Looking forward to trying it out.
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 02-29-2020 at 02:33 PM.
The most straight forward project I have done on this car. The struggle was breaking free those back caliper bolts without my impact wrench and then getting a torque wrench on the back calipers and getting enough leverage for 113lbs of torque when I installed the new calipers. One bolt is at 110lbs...will hit it again in the morning. LOL. The stainless steel lines fit nicely as well.
i have everything completely installed. Tomorrow I will bleed the brakes, check for leaks, and put the wheels on and test it out.
The calipers cleared the rims fine. Looking forward to trying it out.
Bravo Zulu!
In the immortal words of Hannibal Smith - I LOVE it when a plan comes together!
Bled the brakes, put on the wheels, noted that the emergency brake was functioning and headed out. Went through the bedding in process, then went a ways down the road to let them cool. After that I did some hard quick stops, but never to a complete stop. Soooo much improved in initial bite and hauls down the car fast. Very pleased. Not to mention they look great. As an added precaution I may have the Zstore just check my work, because, well, there brakes. The project went great!
Shout out to the person in here that recommended the brake tool pictured. Made the whole bleeding process a breeze.
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 03-01-2020 at 02:53 PM.
02-18-2020, 05:40 PM
