you are going to need modification regardless of which one, so just go custom

Wow, suddenly i feel like i shouldn't complain about a 45s course...

Had two autox's this weekend. Won the stock street tire class and placed top 10 pax in both. Still getting inside rear tire spin up on sweepers, and still fighting understeer (although its much better than before). Hopefully an alignment and front bar will help. Also, I still have a lot to improve with my driving, I'm definitely not as smooth as I could be and I'm not using trailbraking/weight transfer to my advantage enough, which would also help.

Thoughts on the RE-11's:
1. They love pressure! I started with 40f/35r and they sucked. I ended up with 47f/45r and was still rolling the fronts over a bit further than I would have liked. The higher pressure also helped a LOT with the numbness I previously felt on the street. The pressure in the rear didn't seem to have much effect, From 38 to 45 there wasn't much of a difference other than feeling slightly more crisp (times where the same)

2. They kick *** in the wet. On Saturday I was leading pax in the pouring rain in the morning, only to drop back to 10th once it dried out.

3. Good feedback. I could easily feel/hear understeer and the oversteer was nice and progressive*, which allowed for easy modulation.

*The only issue I had was once on a wet lap the back end completely let go without any warning. I may have hit a puddle or slick spot on the course, but it was very unnerving. Luckily it didn't happen again, so I'm chalking it up as a fluke.

Video of the winning lap today
Video of a very sloppy wet lap yesterday

Those are some crazy high pressures, I never found it necessary to run them that high.

Thats what I thought too, but I was still rolling them over about halfway down the triangle which is already very low on the sidewall. Its worth noting that this was on a very grippy lot with stock camber.

I think I'm going to go ahead and order a pyrometer to help sort them out. The engineer in me needs more data ;)

Hey you guys, im autocrossing the Z for the first time this week, any recommended tire pressures for stock re050's?

Start with about 40 up front and 35 rear and see how you do and check the roll over.

What Chris said will work, where are you racing at in Houston?

I'm actually heading to San Antonio to visit some friends and autocrossing at Retama Park hosted by sasca/spokes. Won't be my first time autocrossing but ive never taken the Z yet. I can't wait! Iv'e only driven a bone stock civic si and won novice class with it, so im expecting quite a difference.

I'ts also alot cheaper in san antonio compared to Houston. Only 25$ for non members. And thanks for the info Chris!

Well make sure to make it out to some Houston events too. The SCCA club here puts on first class events with some great competition and friends mixed in.

You guys in Texas see my old FP Boxster yet?

YouTube - ‪FP #111 Texas SW Divisional Best Run‬‏

I definitely plan to. Ive heard good things about Houston SCCA

Is that you driving? Ive gotten rides in Erik Strelnieks's RX-7 before, and man can he drive.

Yeah, they had it out at a divisional last weekend. Got second in FP I think? behind the Berry's EVO.

First day was sort suspension day - car was over steering badly. Second day with rear bar adjustment he was fastest FP car. And yes that's Erik.

I'm going to continue to share my experiences, hopefully they will help others in the future:

Alignment makes a HUGE difference. I went to -0.06* toe (out) in the front and -1.2* rear camber, left everything else stock, and suddenly the car has TONS of oversteer! So much so that I just lost to a bunch of Miata guys I've been easily beating for the past few weeks. It's good news because I should be able to reel it back in with a bigger front sway bar, which will help with overall stiffness and rear end grip as well. But until my front bar comes in, I'll be tuning the alignment back closer to stock (+.03* toe (in) in the front and -1.4* rear camber) to keep it under control.

If you are fighting understeer on stock (or otherwise staggered) tires, an alignment may be a cheap way to solve your problem.

1.2 camber in rear seems little

Ideally I would like something like 2* camber all around, but since I can't get any more than 0.8* in front, I'd rather have balance than 0.8* in front and 2.2* in back (what it was stock)

Camber is not like tires, you don't need square setup....

True.

Here is my logic: Increasing rear camber increases rear cornering grip while decreasing acceleration grip... if you are having trouble with understeer, and can't increase front cornering grip (in this case by increasing front camber), you must decrease rear cornering grip to achieve balance. You might as well decrease rear camber to sacrifice some rear end cornering grip for an increase in acceleration grip.

And to be honest, you don't need a square setup with tires either, you need a setup that addresses the needs of your car and driving style

I run less than the stock camber setting on my car. It helps with tire wear and putting power down on corner exit. I don't run quite that low but less than 2*.

I agree. From driving with a few different alignments and checking tire temperatures along with driving feel I think the ideal rear camber is in the 1.7 to 1.8 degree range.

Yep, I think you guys are right. Thanks for sharing. The 1.2* wasn't enough, rear end was too lose. 1.4 is better, its enough that the car still understeers with the small amount of toe in I have atm. When I get my front bar on I will put toe out back in the front and bump the rear camber up to 1.6-1.8ish as a starting point.

For reference; yesterday with toe out (-.06*) and 1.2 rear camber I was oversteering badly and lost by over two seconds, today with toe in (.03*) and 1.4 rear camber the car was back to slight understeer and I won by 3/10ths against the same guys.

Honestly all this camber talk is useless without understanding specific tire and wheel setup. Different type and size wheels/tires all require a little bit different setup. Also size of your sway bars impacts camber settings as well. Also type of LSD may influence your alignment settings as well. If your spinning inside wheel a lot with stock VLSD you just might be better off with less camber. But if your car has a good LSD you might not need to worry as much.

Funny thing is I run around -3 rear and -4 front with 285/295 A6s on 9.5 front and 10.5 rear wheels I didn't notice any rear issues with my OSGiken LSD then went back to the crappy stock VLSD and the car was spinning light wheel like crazy.

Yea, the VLSD is crap. I wonder how much temp effects it? Might be worth while to spray it down with water or something to cool it off between runs and bring the viscosity back up.

Best Autocross Brake Pads?
 

So I started doing autocross this summer and realize that I'm really in need of some new brake pads. This car is my daily driver and my only vehicle, so I'll have to be driving this during the Maryland winter weather. I am thinking Hawk HPS, but I just thought I'd toss out this question to see what other people think.

~Justin

I use the stoptech street pads, but Hawk offers contingency if you run/win national events.

they can give me hps for free and I would still toss hem into the dumpster

I use OEM pads, still going strong after 3.5 years and 40,000 miles.

You are still on your original pads???

Any tried squeezing 295/30/19 AD08 in the front 19x9 rim by any chance. I'm using 285 RE11 right now and want to try something different.

Old thread, but Sub'd for future ready, and hopefully future Autox driving. :driving:

^^ I'm with you. Just bought my 370Z about a month ago. I can't wait to start autox this spring. About 10 years ago I used to auto x an 86 300zx. Didn't know much then, I know a lot more about cars now, but I have everything to learn about setup. I'll have to read this entire thread when I get more time.

So I'm trying to stay in street touring (str) but i want more meat!... 255 tire is max, so if I get say a 18x10 wheel w/ 275s would that bump me up into stu where the max is 285's and no max on rim or would it bump me up to ASP in street prepared? Al your input would be greatly appreciated. Scca rules are so damn confusing.

370z is not legal for STU, you would go to ASP.

Fak that sucks. We'll I will just stay str then. I don't have enough mods to really compete in ASP.

Im currently starting out in Autox and im the only ASP guy in my area. I ended up slippin the stock clutch last weekend at the driver school event so now im investing in a spec clutch set up with the HD CSC. I think ill run the rest of this year on the stock wheels and brakes then upgrade between years. There's about 3 370z's and a handful of 350z's in my area, any advice from you guys with experience?

Yea you need to boost it and quit being a pansy!!!

:icon18: your soooo funny brian

I mean..i did beat you so I must be doing something right...right?? #Boostlife #youaintboutthatlife #notraction #imbroke #hashtagsarestupid lol