Need Advise On R Compound Tyres

[180 wanabe]

At the same time though the car is my daily and im not wanting to turn it into a hardcore track car. I figured I was on the right path with the Brakes/swaybars/diff

Cant see myself buying coilovers/castor rods etc not for this car anyway

Im happy to mask a problem which only happens once a month when for the other 98% of the time I dont have any issues

As for my driving skills ill be the 1st one to put my hand up to say theres a lot of people out there who are a lot better than me, but at the same time theres also a lot out there that are worse than me

[badhairdave]

Could you please elaborate more on the wheel alignment? V35/350z are heavier cars than the R series skylines

The car drives straight so I havent taken it in for an alignment yet but was going to get it checked anyway when I fitted new tyres to the front of the car which isint that far away

camber as stated by warps. But the other stuff mentioned is relevant too.

[warps]

Not being familiar with the V series skylines, I don't know what is adjustable in the suspension. At the minimum, toe adjustment at the front is possible. This would most likely be set to slight toe out for better turn in. If anything else is adjustable, then it's worth talking to someone who knows about track day setups.

Take it to Jon Siddins at Labrador for a wheel alignment. He knows track cars well (has competed eleventy times at Targa in a wicked fast 240Z, and spends a lot of time at Lakeside and QR). He usually runs fairly conservative setups, but they work. Good for cars that see occasional track duty. Tell him what you want (honestly) and he will accommodate you.

I'm not suggesting you should be fitting coilovers. They aren't always the answer, and as I have said time and time again, a decent set of springs and shocks set up properly will beat most off the shelf coilover setups. If your springs and shocks are healthy, then that is probably enough to go and have some fun. If you've upgraded front and rear sway bars, then the balance shouldn't be too far out. If it's spearing off the track in terminal understeer, then there could be a problem with chassis alignment, or you could be pushing too hard. Many cars are built to naturally understeer, as this is easier for the average Joe to deal with. It shouldn't be too hard to drive around the understeer nature though, so I'd be surprised if the car was naturally an understeering pig.

I wasn't just talking about skill behind the wheel, but also attitude. Again, I don't know you, and am not trying to have a dig at your ability. However, it's fairly common for people to push too hard and break something / fall off the road. Remember, there's no sheep stations at stake. "Start at twleve tenths and back off till you stop crashing" works well for factory drivers, but isn't much fun when you have to constantly fix a broken car, or spend most of your track day watching from the gravel trap.

[nfi]

The root of the problem in this case sounds to be a lack of front camber.

Easiest and best solution is to buy front camber arms and change them before and after the track day. Think you'll then find the car is balanced.

A car without camber at the track is horrible. If you use R comps further to Bad Hair Dave's comments with no front camber you'll wear your $1000 front tyres in 1 track day on the outside.

Unfortunately there isn't really a way to fix a lack of front camber with anything but more front camber. R comps have miles more grip and I can't see it working on the front just because they have sooo much more grip.

[180 wanabe]

The root of the problem in this case sounds to be a lack of front camber.

Easiest and best solution is to buy front camber arms and change them before and after the track day. Think you'll then find the car is balanced.

A car without camber at the track is horrible. If you use R comps further to Bad Hair Dave's comments with no front camber you'll wear your $1000 front tyres in 1 track day on the outside.

Unfortunately there isn't really a way to fix a lack of front camber with anything but more front camber. R comps have miles more grip and I can't see it working on the front just because they have sooo much more grip.

Looking @ the tyre ware on the front I’d say my car is running next to no negative camber at all, ware is very even from the inside to the outside

Ill pay Jon Siddins a visit as per warps advice

I’ve also decided after having a chat to Craig @ Hornibrook that im better off biting the bullet and shelling out for a full set of R compounds "yes I know you guys have all been telling me this from the start" but yeah everyone seems to say its the way to go. I guess if I really want to I can try out R compounds on the front anyway once I have a full set sorted out.

[180 wanabe]

Just a quick question is there any major benifit on running a staged set of semis such as 245 on the front and 275 on the back when your car is making stock power? I was thinking that 245 all round shoud be fine and would be better due to being able to rotate

[Beer Baron]

245 all round will be fine. no point putting big 275s on the back with the standard 200kw. all it will do is make the car understeer even more, and as you pointed out it means you can't rotate front to back. on top of that the 275s cost more too. 245 semi's all round will be perfect.

[Beer Baron]

also I'd suggest tracking down a stock front swaybar and try that. leave the rear bar in but set it to soft or medium.

also get a more 'agressive' wheel alignment done. bit of toe out on the front, and if camber is adjustable get some neg on the front. i'm not sure how competent a driver you are but you could consider winding off a bit of the rear toe in as well but it will make the rear end a fair whack more 'lively' so if your not prepared for that it could put you in the wall. so whatever changes you make, make them small incremental ones. that way you will feel and understand the difference the alignment changes are making without them too drastically changing the way the car behaves.

[180 wanabe]

Well iv got a set of toyo R888s in 245 40 R18 on the way

went round to the workshop I had the swaybars installed and they still had my stock ones so I picked them back up Ill leave the whitelines in for the moment and see how the car goes with with the semi slicks on

I'll get a wheel alignment done before the next track day and try to get as much neg camber as I can on the front which from what I have read on the net is about -1.5 deg max with stock suspension Ill also get the toe checked out