Wet Handling

[JustinOlson]

My 280z is stock suspension wise and has 15X7 wheels with 225/60-15's (I know too big). It also has a open differential. I've been having some "fun" lately with the wet weather up here in Portland.

 

What would be the best next upgrades for me to make my car more predictable in the wet? What should I shoot for as far as spring rates go? I figure I would want something fairly compliant for a dual purpose car that will see wet weather.

 

Regards,

Justin

[Guest TeamNissan]

I think tires with a proper tread pattern are one of the single biggest factors for driving in the wet. You know a nice lsd would be a good thing too . My .02 but I'm sure you already knew.

[260DET]

In my experience, which is far from complete, the S30 tends to snap oversteer in the wet. As far as I could work out the contributing factors were too big a rear ARB and insufficient bump on the rear dampers.

 

Agree with your choice of a complaint suspension setup.

[BobbyZ]

I noticed something strange with my truck when driving in the rain with my bald tires.

 

It has a normal open rear end which means that as soon as one wheel loses traction, the torque to the other wheel drops to near zero. This means that in a tight turn if I hit the gas a little too hard, only one wheel will spin. The other wheel has no torque running through it anymore and so rolls along fine. The result is that I dont spin, the one wheel with no power continues to roll and keeps me on track through the turn.

 

I dont know if this would translate to a car with more power but it kind of makes sense to me. If I had an LSD, then in the rain I would lose traction on both wheels no matter what, causing me to spin out.

 

Questionable conclusion = LSD bad for wet roads????

[Armand]

I agree with TeamNissan. Just get some really good tires and your good to go. I use Potenza RE960 Pole Position's and they kick ASS in the rain. Like any other tire you can make it oversteer if you want to but man do these hook-up.

[JustinOlson]

I had the same concern with putting a LSD in my car. I have been doing some funny 40+mph one tire fires going down the on ramp. The car has always been very stable while the inside tire is spinning as I go down the ramp. I'm curious if I would get myself in a lot of trouble with a LSD that would break both tires loose.

 

Justin

[G.I.jonas]

I have been doing some funny 40+mph one tire fires going down the on ramp. The car has always been very stable while the inside tire is spinning as I go down the ramp. I'm curious if I would get myself in a lot of trouble with a LSD that would break both tires loose.

 

 

Well your outside tire wont necissarily also begin spinning if given the chance to recieve power via an lsd (depending on power input).Because its the outside wheel it is being pressed down onto the road surface due to weight transfer.In a nutshell as long as you dont give it too much gas you can find a sweet spot in between spinning a wheel and spinning your car known as going faster

[m1noel]

I agree that tires are the biggest improvement you can make for the wet. With a bad tread pattern or just old hard tires, the LSD will definately be more prone to oversteer if you have any power at all.

Mike

[JustinOlson]

Bump!

 

So would a 225F / 250R spring rates be fine for wet handling?

 

Tokico struts

 

I will be doing camber plates front and rear.

 

I'm going to get some 225/50-15 or 205/50-15 tires next on my current 15"X7".

 

ST 240z sway bars.

 

I think if I get the major body lean out of the car it won't lift the inside tire so bad and get it spinning. I'll be staying open diff for a while on this car.

 

Justin

[ZDrifter]

Not sure of my spring rate but I have aftermarket springs, new struts and ST sway bars. 225,50 16's dry weather tires. Drifting the Park Place exit in oregon city with a open diff comes pretty easily:)

[JMortensen]

I think if I get the major body lean out of the car it won't lift the inside tire so bad and get it spinning. I'll be staying open diff for a while on this car.

Racers loosen everything up as much as possible when it rains. Lower spring rates, softer shock valving, etc. The rear swaybar will hurt, not help, as it tries to lift the inside tire to reduce body roll, reducing traction.

 

The LSD is a mixed bag in my opinion. You'll be less likely to spin the tires, but if you have any power at all it shouldn't be hard to get them to spin anyway. Once they break loose I feel that it is easier to control a car with the LSD than without.

 

At some point skinnier tires are better than wider ones. I don't know exactly where that point is on a Z, but you might try a 205 on that 7" rim and see if that makes it better.

[datman]

We have a lot of rain here and my car sticks pretty well with this setup

 

14" 130lb/inch 2 1/4" springs front with Protec oil adjustable dampers.

14" 150lb/inch 2 1/4" springs rear "" "" "" "" "" on softest setting

standard ARB front and back.

R200 LSD

255/40/17 pzero rear

235/45/17 pzero front.

 

Could do with a stiffer ARB at the front.

 

My next tyres will be Potenza's or R888's

 

A lot of power at the rear wheels in a light car is always going to be fun in the wet.

[OlderThanMe]

I have driven my Z in the rain a bit...actually a lot.

 

225/60R15 cheapo tires on 15X8 rims, 10" 225f/250r coilovers, illuminas 2f/3r, no rear sway bar but stock front one, poly bushings on rear end and steering rack.

 

It was definitely controlable...Go through the corners nice and even and then throttle down and it was a crisp feeling right before started to slide.

Better tires would have been nice.

Sliding in the rain is too much fun with the nice wide flat torque band of the L6.

 

No swaybar in the back helped when I had the suspension more softly setup in the rear for daily driving. It did roll a little bit though as you can see(all illuminas set to 3 here):

[HB280ZT]

OK guys here is my .02!

 

It was a very rainy track day at VIR. The first session of the day it was raining and the track had some standing/running water in places, exit turn 10 and the climbing SSSSSS for starts. But sense it was a HPDE track day we ran in the rain :-), some of it was under the yellow flag :-(

 

Here is my setup:

Nissan Snowflake rims with 225/50 15 BFG G-force sport tires

225F/250R coilovers

Illuminas set at 3 front and 2 rear, usually 4 front and 3 rear in the dry.

Sway bars 28mm front and 22mm rear

L28 with turbo, 300rwh

3.9 rear gears with open dif

 

The car ran very well with the setup I had. Even though I had good hp proper control of the skinny pedal was key to keeping the car moving in the right direction. Also most of the higher hp cars were very easy to pass when we could because they were very tail happy. Now that does not mean I did not have any problem there myself but like I said it is the skinny pedal and the nut behind the wheel that can or cannot cause you problems when it is raining.

 

So for me tires are the first item that I would look at getting. If you are in a rainy area then for your street tires I would personally look at some Ultra High Performance All-Season Tires.

 

Hope this helps some.

 

HB280ZT