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The cool weather is amazing. 75-80 during the day and 60’s at night. Beats the hell out of 100 with 100% humidity!
It got to 40 this morning and I was stopped for about 5 minutes idling before I left (key fob battery is dead - threw TPMS, ABS and TCS lights), oil only got to 110 in that time, water to 170.
It took 15 minutes to get to 160 and after my 30 minute commute was at 170. Little too long to warm up, so I will block the cooler by about 1/2 or more here this afternoon.
The thermostatic plate is not like an on-off switch, it opens with temperature and is fully open at 180. I like my hyper sophisticated race tape to get the job done on blocking the cooler, black for that stealth look
I don’t worry about the brakes, stock pads work fine at low temps on the road.
I'll experiment with checking the coolant temps to see if blocking the oil cooler makes any difference this winter. I sure didn't notice much difference with it last winter and the factory temp. gauge. Then again, my commute is only about 10 minutes so once it gets warm enough to open the thermostatic plate, I am probably already to work.
Blocking my brake ducts would take about 2 seconds worth of duct tape on each side. I am always a little careful about brake temps when one winter I drove through some ice water and warped a rotor. Very strange.
Do any of you guys run square set ups at the track? When swapping over winter tires this weekend I noticed that my 275's fit up front ok and do not seem to rub. The offsets are so close to the width of the tires that you really cannot tell which set is on which end of the car. I am sure 275's all around would get rid of any understeer, but might make turn in a bit less tidy and kill my power steering pump in the process.
Fitment is pretty close front and rear even with the tires on the wrong ends
I run 265/40R18 square (going to 275 for the next set), both on track and off. Running lighter weight rotors and wheels seemed to have mitigate a lot of the heavy steering feel I thought would occur.
Haven't killed the steering pump (yet), and I love the more reactive turn in I get on lower speed corners. Also, the extra tire up front seemed to help with the longevity of the tire during longer sessions as they have a bit more thermal tolerance due to the size. And a 275 on a 9.5" wheel is almost a perfectly square fitment, if a bit of a tiny pinch depending on the tire. If I could, I'd run x10", but 9.5 works fine.
A weird side effect - the tires also seem to wear completely even across all four corners with the current suspension set up I have.
275/35/18 all around here, car handles VERY well. The rears look like they might rub the fender liner just a hair under heavy load, but not causing any issues.
Handling is very great, power steering isn't working too hard by any means now that I fully drained and refilled the system. Had a track day a couple weeks ago and then this a double duty autocross (16 runs back to back, 88 degrees, 5000% humidity) this weekend and didn't get any spill out of the power steering reservoir at all.
Good to hear about the square set ups working well for track days and on the street. I might consider that for my next set of tires. I am guessing that may not be long as I went through 2 sets of tires within the last year thanks to the abs going out and flat spotting a tire on track last fall and nail and a screw causing some flats. I think I went with 9" and 9.5" rims so I might even be ok keeping the same rims up front and for rotates. Hmmm...
Good to see so many people running square set ups.
Originally Posted by Splitter
You know you want to.
Seat looks like fun
RPF1's are great, but I think I might be ok with what I have if I decide to go with a square set up the next time around.
The seat is great so far and very good quality. A bit narrow in the thigh like GT-R Recaros, but doable for me. Not great for people with big thighs.
The Bride seat rails are not working so well. They only sent me 2 of the 4 allen bolts I need to attach the rails to the seat. The holes in the front are too wide as well so I will need to re-drill one of them.
Good to see so many people running square set ups.
RPF1's are great, but I think I might be ok with what I have if I decide to go with a square set up the next time around.
The seat is great so far and very good quality. A bit narrow in the thigh like GT-R Recaros, but doable for me. Not great for people with big thighs.
The Bride seat rails are not working so well. They only sent me 2 of the 4 allen bolts I need to attach the rails to the seat. The holes in the front are too wide as well so I will need to re-drill one of them.
I run 275 square on my X and they are great for time attack (NT01's)! Also, for seat rails I am using wedge and they line right up, no issues.
