What is the best suspension for improve handling and lap times?
 

I just looking for to get a suspension for my Z, I heard most people recommend Kw V3 and BC racing. I just wondering which suspension can bring the best handling for the Z. My budget is like under 3000$.

sounds like you're new

get some better tires and the requisite safety equipment.
rack up some track time
see if this is something you wanna commit to

if you really wanna track your Z

powertrix, fortune Auto as entry level coilovers
SPL FUCA + rear arms and get an alignment. watch the for sale forum for deals
some 18x10.5 or 18x11 light wheels and sticky tires
pads
lines
fluid
oil cooler

the sport brakes will be fine until you are putting out much more increased power and have appropriate level of tire to require bigger rotors/calipers

First, seat time, as 370z is well balanced car from factory.

Then, you should look into upgrading your brakes to not face any brake fade.

As suspension, you would start with alignment kit, like OptionZero suggested, with FUCA and RCL, getting more camber and better tires, you would improve your car a lot. Changing the LSD would also improve the car predictability and exit speed.

You can get swaybars next.

Those would bring the best out of the car, as the stock suspension is well balanced.

How much track time do you have and what mods have you done to the Z so far?

May be 2 weeks 1 time, my goal just want to improve the car's handling.

Thanks for replying, how about the ohilens or Kw v3 coilovers?

Thanks! It is really helpful!

Do you know some suspension build from Amuse and MCR? I watch some video from hot version and I find out that Amuse and MCR is really fast in track. But, why it is rare to find people use their coilovers?

Amuse and Zeal (MCR) coilovers are probably twice the price of KW V3's I'd guess.

Yeah, but how much performance different between them? Is that worth it?

“Improve” is a very vague word. Exactly what is it that you want to improve? What part of the tracks and what situations you find the OEM lacking?

Also, there is a diminishing return for every dollar you spend on coilovers. A $10k setup isn’t going to yield 10x “better handling” than a $1k setup.

So.....you not have a lot of track time and did nothing to the Z yet.

1. Get time behind the wheel to improve yourself first.
2. As you improve. You will find out what areas of the car needs up-graded first.
3. The first thing most do is to read this thread.

http://www.the370z.com/track-autocro...must-read.html

Do you know anything about adjusting the dampening on coilovers?
There is;
Single adjustment - one knob for both compression and rebound. $
2 way adjustable, one knob for compression, one knob for rebound. $$
3 way adjustable, on knob for low speed compression, one knob for high speed compression, one knob for rebound. $$$$
4. 4 way adjustable, high speed compression, low speed compression, high speed rebound, low speed rebound. $$$$$$$$

If you screw up on your adjustments. You WILL make the handling worse.

The other thing too is spring rates, front and rear. In a nutshell. Stiffer springs are needed for the track, which makes the car harsh on the street. Plus your dampening has to match your spring rates.

I'm giving you this info because the way you ask the question. It doesn't sound like you know too much about it and just getting you feet wet in the subject.

Best suspension??? Your budget of $3k doesn't really allow for that. While I haven't checked prices recently, I'm guessing just going full SPL for suspension bits eats up your budget and that's just not even touching the dampers and springs. For dampers and springs, the "best" you'd be looking at a few grand minimum for just a single adjust damper with custom valving and springs. Obviously spending money on suspension can turn into a money pit.

Personal opinion on anything Amuse and Zeal is it's overpriced mediocre parts. You're paying for the name more than anything else.

With all that said, Rusty hit the nail on the head. Get behind the wheel and work on the driver mod. To start with just get a decent set of tires, track capable brake pads, an oil cooler, and maybe a front sway bar. Spend your money on consumables and then only once you've started approaching the limits of the car should you go down the rabbit hole of suspension upgrades.

I had Zeal (MCR) coilovers (got them from Japan, they are reasonably priced over there if the jpy rate is low), they are pretty nice coilovers and did very well, but I got into accident and apparently they got affected by it and at the end I returned to stock, now thinking about which coilover to go for, looking at custom ones, I am looking at MCA Red and Fortune Auto 500, don't want to overspend, as I cannot rebuild the suspension, the shipping cost could reach the price of a new coilover kit.

For you, no.

The difference between something in the sub $2000 range (Fortune, BC, Powertrix, etc) and something higher (AST, Aragosta, Ohlins, etc) is largely irrelevant for a total novice

Nothing is gonna change your track experience more than . . . track experience at this stage.

When you can maximize your car in its current state, then you can move to a higher level of suspension (or power)

For now, you should be focused on safety equipment and some basic wear items like pads and tires that get chewed up on the track over time

The japanese brands you are referencing are just that - exotic japanese brands. They aren't going to have any USA support. If something breaks, expect a long and difficult road to replacement.

Thats why i am recommending Fortune - they can rebuild it for you stateside. Ditto for Powertrix. I think BC does too. All these places can also do swift springs as an upgrade in whatever rate you want.

Before you throw money at big name parts you need to consider where you currently are experience-wise.

I will repeat:
The most important thing for you is seat time.
I'd also add that you should get seat time at a couple different tracks too


EDIT:

This used set of KW's looks pretty good too

http://www.the370z.com/parts-sale-pr...tom-setup.html

Thank you so much! It is really helpful, I will do more practice in summer time!

Not sure what this means exactly 2 weekends once, 2 events once, or 14 days?

You haven't said what if any mods you have? Do you even have a helmet or do you rent one?

Take some time, maybe even like 10 minutes and write a reply more then a few words so the people here can properly help you and potentially save you from a 3 thousand dollar mistake.

A good (experienced) driver in a stock 370Z will run laps around a new track driver with a $10,000.00 custom designed and tested coil over system.

Today I remembered your words, as I went to the track with stock shocks/springs, and did my personal best laptime. What I got now is more experience behind the wheel and better alignment setting.

Back again... Optionzero pretty much stated it correctly as is with his first reply. Tires being the most important piece out of all. Track abuse will destroy normal road tires not meant for extended heat cycling. Same goes for normal road bushings that weren't designed for extended lateral g-force. Once your bushings die out, you will be chasing alignment problems and steering feedback troubles. So tires and bushings are numero uno. Safety is key, being fast is a goal. Don't have anything to add in terms of companies to choose from. But JIC magic has gone through an evolution in the past years and are offering bespoke kits. Their customer base isn't too deep, so you have an opportunity to get some good one on one info from the team. They can definitely meet your price point for a custom kit with good spring rate options.

You should talk to tuning experts that can give you the best spring rate option for the height you are trying to achieve. Companies like performance shock inc or vorshlag can help you with this far better than suspension companies who mass market kits for several cars. Most suspension companies won't even be able to properly tell you the spring rates for half the kits they make without reading a chart.

More important than just buying a suspension kit though is making sure the car is properly corner balanced before you even hit the road. You'll need to find you nearest suspension tuning shop to figure out if they can do this for you, or find a way of getting the car to a shop that can perform this service properly. None of the kits mentioned previously sets the spring alignment up perfectly for your car right out of the box. So you'd want to set aside about 250-500 dollars to chassis alignment after the suspension install. People end up chasing geometry related problems for years because of this oversight, don't fall into this camp.

Also note, after the installs, an alignment should be done before and after corner balance for the best results. Once to set the suspension linkages to a neutral position then again to insure the values are set as you want it for intended use. This isn't absolutely needed, but at the very least do the corner balance > alignment if the tuner doesn't have the proper tools to handle this all in a single instance.

Whoa Mays is back!