When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Does the tubing have any wire in it for support? Instead of picking up brackets to mount the opening of the tubes to the grill in the front bumper, I was just going to poke some holes in the tubing and mount them on 2 or 3 spots with zip ties.
I might pick up the Stillen kit with just the tubing and brackets for the hubs so that the air is directed properly. (I have tried making hub brackets as well without much success on other cars.) I imagine you had to remove the dust shields on the brakes to get everything to mount up properly?
Yes, it has contained wire. Could use some tape so the fiberglass doesn't tear, it's not very strong.
The brackets for the hub replace the dust shields and are the same thickness as the parts they replace.
Well, I had fun at the first SCCA Autocross event for the year. Second in class by 0.5s to an older model m3 that was being driven very hard. Telemetry data tells me that my previous run where I went wide on the mid point of the long right hand sweeper to straighten up the slalom in the middle of the run was 0.5s faster, so I guess that means first was there for the taking.
Car runs really well with the new suspension, I just need to work on the setup a bit to get the rear end in check, it's still a little tail happy for me and I feel like I'm slowing down by babying it.
Peak G force was 1.22, up from 1.16 without the coilovers. This is also without the new wide wheels that I have waiting for new rubber. I want to burn up this set of tires before going over to the race rims, so I have entered another autocross next weekend with the BMW club at the same track. Should be a blast!
1st in class in the wet on Sunday (5/6/8 cylinder, NA). Had a blast, but no video as I didn't have my waterproof case with me. Shame that, cause it was SUPER sketchy for most of the run
Looks like fun. We still have snow here so it might be a bit yet. Do you have a 6spd. and you just get to leave it in 2nd?
I got a chance to visit the snow for the first time the other week (Salt Lake City) and I gotta admit, it was huge fun and I'd love to give it a shot for a couple years, but I do like my racing.. Skiing tho...
Yup, 6spd. Launch in first and then just get it to second. The car has plenty of torque that you don't even need to think about 1st down at 20mpg such as the tight right hand hairpin halfway through the course, full throttle at 2,000rpm is surprisingly effective and I'm sure with your mods you'll have an even easier time.
Usually the courses don't have such tight corners so close to the start and you can rev out first, but being in first after the first cone would have put you on the limiter and going for second half way round a corner, so just had to get it in.
Something something that's what she said something something
I'm still on the fence about what diameter tires to get for my new 18" rims - 285/30 or 275/40 and I think that being on the hard limiter on the first straight there gave me my answer "Keep wheel diameter up".
I'm heading out to Texas World Speedway in April and these front tires are DEAD (bad alignment courtesy me, too much toe and a chopped out shoulder on the fronts) so I'll probably get some of the new Hankook RS4's to see if they're any good.
I got a chance to visit the snow for the first time the other week (Salt Lake City) and I gotta admit, it was huge fun and I'd love to give it a shot for a couple years, but I do like my racing.. Skiing tho...
Yup, 6spd. Launch in first and then just get it to second. The car has plenty of torque that you don't even need to think about 1st down at 20mpg such as the tight right hand hairpin halfway through the course, full throttle at 2,000rpm is surprisingly effective and I'm sure with your mods you'll have an even easier time.
Usually the courses don't have such tight corners so close to the start and you can rev out first, but being in first after the first cone would have put you on the limiter and going for second half way round a corner, so just had to get it in.
Something something that's what she said something something
I'm still on the fence about what diameter tires to get for my new 18" rims - 285/30 or 275/40 and I think that being on the hard limiter on the first straight there gave me my answer "Keep wheel diameter up".
I'm heading out to Texas World Speedway in April and these front tires are DEAD (bad alignment courtesy me, too much toe and a chopped out shoulder on the fronts) so I'll probably get some of the new Hankook RS4's to see if they're any good.
Snow is a lot of fun to drive in as well. You learn very quickly how your car handles when it loses traction. Makes it a lot easier to recover on the track when it is second nature.
It is nice to have long gears in this car. The track in Shawano is very short and technical and I was constantly shifting my Subaru STI. This car I can basically leave in 2nd gear for the whole session since the straights are so short.
The fastest driver/car combination at our local autocross club drives an STI - he was in third yesterday for all of that same course. I have no idea how bad his gas mileage must be on the highway tho, I only get ~20mpg cruising at 3,000rpm in 6th at 80mph.
Yes, RE-71R's and the only reason I'm thinking of something different is because of the ridiculous aspect ratio that the 285/18 comes in, the wheel/tire combo would be something like 2" shorter and I don't think I need my car another inch lower to the ground!
My STI got a little bit lower mpg than the G37, but not much. It was fine cruising on the hwy because it had a 6th gear. The Evo with the 5spd. was murder on the highway. 3,500 rpms at 72-ish mpg?!?
You could always get a lightweight set of 19's. (hint hint) The tread pattern of the RS4's do not look like they would hold as well in the corners as the RE-91R's. The RS4's have movable tread blocks whereas the RE-91R's basically just have rain grooves cut out of a solid slick. They do have the same treadwear rating so I could be wrong, but for some reason I am like the horse whisperer when it comes to judging tires for the track by their tread pattern
My STI got a little bit lower mpg than the G37, but not much. It was fine cruising on the hwy because it had a 6th gear. The Evo with the 5spd. was murder on the highway. 3,500 rpms at 72-ish mpg?!?
You could always get a lightweight set of 19's. (hint hint) The tread pattern of the RS4's do not look like they would hold as well in the corners as the RE-91R's. The RS4's have movable tread blocks whereas the RE-91R's basically just have rain grooves cut out of a solid slick. They do have the same treadwear rating so I could be wrong, but for some reason I am like the horse whisperer when it comes to judging tires for the track by their tread pattern
The compound makes it faster, not necessarily the tread pattern. That's more for feel and water evacuation. I have several stacks of RS3s in my garage right now... haha.
That being said, there's quite a few options at 275/40R18, so that might be an option you'd want to pursue? Just off the top of my head, you can get Hankook RS4s, Nitto NT01/NT05, Nfera Sur4s, and a few others in the 200ish TW performance category. They won't be as fast as the RE71Rs (with exception of the NT01), since nothing short of a R compound will currently beat those things, but they will be a reliable choice.
The compound makes it faster, not necessarily the tread pattern. That's more for feel and water evacuation. I have several stacks of RS3s in my garage right now... haha.
The compound is important too, but these tires both have the same tread wear rating. Not so much the tread pattern, but the design of the tread blocks absolutely makes a difference at the limit in a corner.
I guarantee the RS4's will squirm more at the limit because the design gives them the ability to do that with individual tread blocks. The RE-91R is one solid immovable chunk of rubber with slits cut out of it. Much more stable and predictable at the limit. Again, I could be wrong, but 13+ years at track days of running countless extreme performance/R compound tires leads me to believe otherwise.
