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Got a set of rear tires put on today (got to keep the foot off the gas!); went with the new Sumitomo HTR Z5 (285/35/18). The fronts are still in great shape, so I just had rears put on at my neighborhood Big O tires; very hard to beat these tires for the price ($142 per)!
**I recommend them with no hesitation.
Hey Mic, yeah apparently these "5's" are the new gen. and improved model, that's what they told me and reading online that is what I've found out; had no idea that they had a new model out. They are a good looking tire, deep tread, still the Y speed rating (186) and on the sides the HTR Z5 is in bigger letters and stand out a lot more; I'm impressed.
Out for an early a.m. spin; "hiding in the weeds"! I have a great 10 mi. stretch from my house (good piece of road to put your car through it's paces if you want) that has a lot of mostly uphill straits with 80 mph curves, approx. 800 ft. elevation change and desert scenic. Not best pics, but looked better in person.
I had Covercraft make this Z cover custom so as to account for the rear amuse wing. I had one of these "evolution" models once before for my stock '07 and they fit like a glove. The past couple of years I had another type of cover that I had to cut out a slot to slide the wing through, but I really like these Covercraft evolutions and they worked with me to deal with the wing size and I'm impressed with the quality anyway, but this one worked out very well; I recommend this cover.
I miss the nice garage that I had in my newly built home (first 6 yrs. of the Z's life), but my Parents offered this "Winter home" to me for free and I couldn't pass that up, now it's the carport for the Nissan, but I had good sun screens installed as soon as I moved here, then I added extra pull down blinds for the area that the Z dwells; it is always under cover and rarely gets any direct sunlight on it. *sorry to bore you guys, but it's one of those days! Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Sometimes it is the smaller things that count. I as well don't have a garage anymore and stored my car under a Z1 car cover for a couple years while awaiting parts. Once i clean it again will be time to cover it back up. Like the idea of sunscreens on the carport but don't think city code will allow for them since so close to the street.
I have Bilstein PSS10 coilovers on the car and have always been very glad to have 'em! They have adjustable dampening settings that you can easily adjust on a scale of 1-10 (10 stiffest). The lower settings are stiffer than stock; I've played around with these settings over time and for the past couple of yrs. have left them at #4 fronts and #2 rears.
Am I correct to have more stiffness up front? That's what I had read some time back and I am just curious as to what some of you gearheads and track guys may think (or suggest) about my 4/2 settings for street and some spirited high speed/cornering action? These are a Stiff ride on the street when set on or around #10 for example; good for track though I'd imagine.
Here are a couple of pics of the engine bay adjustment *****. Thanks for any input for an old guy who likes to let it rip from time to time, street and/or open road hehe!
This is a pic of when I first got them. I had a hard time deciding between these PSS10 or KW Variant 2; both basically same $$, both very nice German made units:
I have Bilstein PSS10 coilovers on the car and have always been very glad to have 'em! They have adjustable dampening settings that you can easily adjust on a scale of 1-10 (10 stiffest). The lower settings are stiffer than stock; I've played around with these settings over time and for the past couple of yrs. have left them at #4 fronts and #2 rears.
Am I correct to have more stiffness up front? That's what I had read some time back and I am just curious as to what some of you gearheads and track guys may think (or suggest) about my 4/2 settings for street and some spirited high speed/cornering action? These are a Stiff ride on the street when set on or around #10 for example; good for track though I'd imagine.
Here are a couple of pics of the engine bay adjustment *****. Thanks for any input for an old guy who likes to let it rip from time to time, street and/or open road hehe!
Bottom line at top (TL;DR): Set them to your feeling and comfort level (not firmness, how you feel when you drive it).
The long answer:
All depends.
A couple of things come into play when selecting shock settings...
Everything adjustable on the suspension should always be done "IN RELATION TO". (Unless you're corner weighting.) That is, the shocks are adjusted in relation to the front and rear sway bar settings (roll stiffness) and in relation to the alignment, etc.
Note: This is my method. There are many others but this works/worked well for me.
You set your alignment, baseline somewhere in the OE range to keep it simple.
Next you set your sway bars for a desired steering attitude: Softer front, stiffer rear bias for oversteer (reduce understeer.) Opposite to reduce oversteer.)
You test this setup with shocks at neutral (usually a "0" position); then readjust sway bars if it's not right FOR YOU,
Once that's set, finally you'll fine tune the front/rear stiffness bias with the shocks, again using stiffer rear = more oversteer, stiffer front = more understeer. IOW, if you want get a LITTLE more oversteer, you'll stiffen the rears a bit or soften the front or both.
Again, this is just ONE way to tune your suspension but I like this because the shocks are the easiest thing to "field adjust" without special tools or having to get under the car AND the shocks don't affect the alignment.
FWIW, I finally settled my own car on bars set to full soft FRONT (hole #1), rear set to hole #2 slightly firmer for a bias to oversteer, alignment settings to the negative end of the alignment range, ~2.0 camber, stock caster, stock toe, after camber adjusted. Shocks are usually neutral/0 but depending my wheel set, will adjust to suit the weight differences. Lighter the wheel set, the softer the shocks. Yeah, niggly and bothersome to do all this but honestly, only thing I've re-set in the last three years is the shocks, coinciding with a wheel change and alignment.
Thanks for the good insight and info. Mic! I have my Hotchkis sway bars currently set at hole #3 of 4 Front, hole #2 of 3 rears, which is way stiffer than stock '07s.
If I remember correctly when I bought them those were a recommended setting/s by Hotchkis for higher performance, maybe I should try stiffer rear and then set the coils to softest dampening and try a variety of types of driving and determine how it all feels to me, then adjust the Bilsteins up from there, etc.
I think I'd keep as is up front on the sways (hole #3). Also I have tried to keep a neg. 2 camber on all 4; not sure what the toe and caster is currently. **Remember that I have a Datsun 350Z!
Thanks for the good insight and info. Mic! I have my Hotchkis sway bars currently set at hole #3 of 4 Front, hole #2 of 3 rears, which is way stiffer than stock '07s.
If I remember correctly when I bought them those were a recommended setting/s by Hotchkis for higher performance, maybe I should try stiffer rear and then set the coils to softest dampening and try a variety of types of driving and determine how it all feels to me, then adjust the Bilsteins up from there, etc.
I think I'd keep as is up front on the sways (hole #3). Also I have tried to keep a neg. 2 camber on all 4; not sure what the toe and caster is currently. **Remember that I have a Datsun 350Z!
The key is how it feels FOR YOU!!
My set up is PERFECTfor me!! I've tried everything from full soft to full stiff on my sway bars and concluded that my original "scientific-but-theoretical" setting where it is now gives me the BEST combination of grip WITH high steering response, which I've gone on record to say many times, that I have to have high steering response and would trade a bit of ultimate grip for it.
The best part of all this is the "test and tune". Driving for the sake of results is a GREAT excuse to get out there!!!
Funny segue... This talk about "testing and tuning" reminded me about this story.... If you want to read any more of my useless drivel about my indulgent behavior: https://my350z.com/forum/2003-2009-n...l#post11014837
I had just read your post on that great thread of your's This is Why I Drive a Z and it looks like you had a classic day of fun in that beautiful part of the country in that cool car of yours Mic! Thanks for all of your input towards my "settings" of suspension parts that are so important to us all. It makes me want to really pay close attention to some of the fine settings and adjustments that could surely get one's car more dialed in to what they feel works best and gives them more confidence knowing some of the important boundaries of our cars.
Now that the weather here is getting mild I have some "to do" things on the list to get going on; even going to start things off with a good oil change (got the items sitting here ready to go), will replace all of my idler pulleys (smooth + grooved), tensioner, drive and blower belts, (have those items also) then I'll start on these sway bar/coilover testing and adjustments.
Replaced all of my smooth and grooved idler pulleys, tensioner (has an idler, plus blower belt tensioner/idler), drive belt and had a local shop flush cooling system and install the upper and lower silicone radiator hoses that I got from Z1. While doing the idler pulley project I stripped, sanded, primed, painted gloss black and couple coats of clear on the charge pipe as you can see shiny now, which I like better. Dig those red hoses; were blue ones.
Nice to have this stuff all done and the car is ready to roll. A few pics:
09-11-2019, 03:17 PM
