My wife and I spend two full days in Quebec City. It is also my first experience with Canadian French. I visited Paris 18 months ago, and was able to communicate okay, but in Canada, I had a lot of problems understanding even the most basic greetings. The trip itself was fantastic! I thought the city was just beautiful. We spent most of our time away from the walled city though due to the takeover by souvenir shops and overpriced restaurants. It was still a must-see.

Back on topic, I ended up doing both track days with these toyos as they held up well. The tires looked a bit glazed after each session though. I spent about 4.5 hours on the track; that's 16 sessions in two days! I was so wiped out.

Trail braking was not easy to get a hang of. I usually ended up braking too early and/or too much, and by the time I released the brakes after turn-in, I was going to slow. Out of maybe 80 attempts, I might have gotten it feeling right 6 times.

It's just hard to break a habit of braking before turn-in.

However, I did finally start sliding the rear end around on medium speed turns. I was ecstastatic, and found the give to be quite gradual! It took some mild sawing of the steering wheel while on full throttle to comfirm that the rear wasn't completely gripping. My rear tire wear has now surpassed the fronts! On another note, there is definitely too much understeer in my set up, as I'm feeling in at mid-corner. I feel fine on entry and most corner exits though.

The rear tire wore on the inside, so I'm thinking that I might have to dial out some camber. I have 2.0 degrees w/zero toe, so 1.5 might be more appropriate.

The outside edges of the front tires are worn from track days. Inside edges seem to wear from street driving. I'll be buying the control arms to dial in more negative camber...perhaps go 2 degrees on these street tires so I'm not riding on the edges so much. I need to get a hold of a pyrometer to do this right. Members are running about 3 degrees on RA-1's but I'm not certain whether it would yield similar results w/street tires.

BTW, I also used Axxis Ultimates in the rear for the first time (vs Hawk HPS). The car danced a bit more under hard braking. Is it supposed to do that with more rearward bias? It may be because I dialed out rear toe though...

 

So, I think I might have it figured out now. (I have the same tires w/a few thousand less miles on them).

Your rear toe is at zero? I think that might be the number one reason for your good tread life. Everytime I walk up to the rear quarter panel of a Z and look straight down at the wheel from above I can literally see the toe-in. I think...wow, that's awesome for handling...then I think...wow, that REALLY sucks for tire wear.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all car with an IRS have toe-in from the factory. In fact, most all car have toe-in at the front as well correct?

I know the faster you drive, the more your suspension compresses...especially with the air pushing the car down. So therefore, if your toe is in...once your car compresses a little at a descent speed it will be back at zero once your driving.

 

Our cars get lift at speed. So the suspension extends. At best, it's minimised if you have the aero package.

As far a bump steering at the rear (toe changing with ride height) I have no idea. Has any body ever mesured it?

 

yes toe changes dramatically with rideheight on the front and back

The suspension extends at speed? Huh? Don't confuse aerodynamic lift with suspension lift - the two are totally different.

toe is the hands down killer of tires....not camber. The rear of the Z is especially prone to increased tire wear because most people lower the cars over an inch, and do nothing about rear toe. This is further exaggerated by the wide width wheels, wide tires and low offsets so common, which makes rear toe even worse. This is also part of the reason why so many report that they have mega width tires, and mega low rideheights and no rubbing - because they also have tremendous toe in, and either don't know or don't care that they have to replace tires every 10k-15k.

Something like the SPC rear camber/toe kit is, without a doubt, the best option out there for 99% of the people who have lowered Z's - and even more important for those with wider wheels and low offsets. It will give you enough adjustment to put things back into spec, where it belongs.

 

I can't find the factory 350Z alignment specs...can someone help? I thought there used to be a sticky post that had it.

I used the SPC kit on my last Z. My car was w/in specs, but I only had Hotchkis springs.

Now I'm wondering if I should buy the kit again on this Z. Hotchkis springs again, but my rear tires are gone. It's a combination of camber/toe.

The #1 thing I hated about installed the SPC kit was the cutting/trimming the the toe bolts. Do you think I could get away with NOT doing that and just installing the toe bolts (while getting w/in factory spec)?

 

Sorry for being OT here...

Please explain what you meant by that. Maybe I've misread but you seem to say that if the car gets aero lift at speed, the suspension will not extend to stay on the ground...