350z Cornering - Looking for improvements

[Track350Z]

Currently Tracking my 350Z at two local tracks, Gingerman, South Haven, MI and Autobahn, Joliet, IL - Equipment: Hotchkis Front/Rear Stailbizers, Tien EDFS adjustable coilovers lowered 2 inches, Stop Tech 6 piston front / 4 piston rear calipers and oversized rotors. APS turbo and full APS exhaust. Tires are Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 305/30/19 rears / 265/30/19 fronts. I am looking for more improvements for track cornering. Any ideas from someone that has done the modifications would be appreciated. Thanks
Modified by Track350Z at 6:48 AM 5/2/2008

[skydragoness]

Try the 350z and the Wheel/Suspension/Tire forum. This is just the general BS forum.

[dickie]

moved

[evildky]

what spring rates are you running? are you getting oversteer or understeer?

and I gotta say the bigest improvements are made to the nut behind the wheel if they host any schools at your local tracks sign up and you'll thank me

[rmezz13]

Check the SCCA in your region, i know the region i'm in hosts ride a long driving coach events/classes, teaching you how to drive the autoX courses.

[dspiel]

gt spec makes a bunch of pieces to improve rigidity of the body, take a look at their products

[CUSHLOS]

i have a 05 track and i did spacers in the back i went from a little loss of grip in the back tacking turns at 80 to full grip and now doint almost 90 0r close to 100 b 4 i start to fel the *** end give out of cousre i had to do over fenders to acoplish the new whells and wider tire i did 1 1/2 spacer w/19 inch rims on 30's series tires and 295 wide let me tell u i can still do donuts and it handles ****n great hope this helps

[C-Kwik]

You need to quantify what more you want out of the car. Bolting on parts is not simply going to make the car handle better. In many cases, it can make things worse. The parts you choose need to compliment each other and/or be tuned to compliment each other. You might potentially already have a good set of parts that just needs to be tuned to better match the tracks you are on. Throwing money at something is rarely a good solution unless its well thought out. If you have a specific handling problem, address it specifically. Do one thing at a time so you can gauge its effectiveness. Make sure you are aslso paying attention to the little things like tire pressure. And like evildky said, the biggest improvement most people can make is to simply drive better. This tends to reward a driver exponentially as improvements are made to the car as a better driver can identify and correct techniques to better use a car's available grip.

[Bubba1]

You need to quantify what more you want out of the car. Bolting on parts is not simply going to make the car handle better. In many cases, it can make things worse. The parts you choose need to compliment each other and/or be tuned to compliment each other. You might potentially already have a good set of parts that just needs to be tuned to better match the tracks you are on. Throwing money at something is rarely a good solution unless its well thought out. If you have a specific handling problem, address it specifically. Do one thing at a time so you can gauge its effectiveness. Make sure you are aslso paying attention to the little things like tire pressure. And like evildky said, the biggest improvement most people can make is to simply drive better. This tends to reward a driver exponentially as improvements are made to the car as a better driver can identify and correct techniques to better use a car's available grip.

Well said. Seat time is by far the best mod you can do. And if you're receptive, attend a few HPDE's and have an instructor (or insructors) go out with you to discuss the areas where you and perhaps your car could improve. As far as other improvements, you noted you invested in coil overs, but were they corner balanced?? the reason I ask is I see a lot of HPDE students bring cars to the track with new coilovers that seem to skip that step.