Understeer on stock nismo?
 

I went to my first AutoX of the year last month. Suspension wise I'm stock Nismo with GTR wheels. I noticed on the hair pins I would get massive understeer limiting on how fast my entry speed was. Obviously the faster I was going, the worse my understeer was.

I've never auto-X in a Z before (since I was a miata guy prior). So i was wondering if removing the front sway bar would help with that.

Brake earlier and then use the throttle to rotate the car. Unlike a miata, our cars have enough power to do that.

I've heard getting a beefier front sway bar will cure the understeer. Apparently the rear sway bar is fine as-is, but the front could use some beefing up. Two options- Eibach or Hotchkiss. The hotchkiss is said to be "more extreme", but in my experience, ride wise, nothing changes with a sway bar, besides how planted the car stays when cornering. The eibach is a more mild upgrade, though a noticeable one still.

Given the options, I'd suggest going with the front hotchkiss sway bar, and calling it a day.

Alternatively, you could also beef up the front tire width. That will help with understeer also. I believe this is why guys often run square tire setups at the track.

Coming in to fast. Often I want to get through a corner faster and end up doing the same and the car says, nope, and understeers and I end up going slower. As gomer said lower your entry speed, slower to go faster and its free. Stiffer springs, roll bar, and bigger stickier tires would help aswell.

Changing my driving made the biggest impact, but the next best thing would be a bigger front sway bar. Most folks like the eibach or hotchkiss one. I also run a much wider than stock front tire. 275 for a while and now 285 square.

Another thing to consider is "plan for the understeer". Instead of initiating the turn where you are, turn in as though you're trying to clip the cone with your front inside corner of the bumper. Let the understeer push take you past the cone and then use the throttle to finish rotating the car for corner exit.

If you have the chance to put a local hotshoe behind the wheel of your car for a run, it can be quite enlightening on where you're losing time.

Thanks guys! Old habits die hard! Since i'm used to miatas, I'm usually just planted almost the entire time. Maybe it'stime to dial it down a fewnotches.

Get rid of the stock front tires. 26/35-19 or 275/35-19 Mich PS4S or BS RE11, RE71R. :tup:

I just wanted to give you guys a little update. Slow in, fast out is a lot harder than it sounds! Car did immensely better this time around, I did a few things though. 1) Turned the boost down, 2)turned the timing down to make lesssssss power.

I don't have enough driver skill to NOT keep the gas pedal planted. Plus with the overall weight of the Z does make braking a ton harder.

However! After turning the power down, understeer was better, but it really comes to seat time. I just need more practice. At this point I don't want to start throwing parts (sways, tires) until I get my driver skill dialed in. I'm afraid of changing more parts, and wondering if I got better, or if I made the car better. I'm going to leave it alone for now, for a few more events and see how it goes.