Driving & Track Blog

Looking sharp. Are your GTR wheels staggered or are they squared? I couldn't quite discern tire size from your pictures.
 
Dang. No wonder you can hang with that crowd. I've got a lead on some stock '10 GTR wheels nearby, staggered though (9.5, 10.5 in). From the looks of it, the 10.5 fills out the front wheel well perfectly. May have to piecemeal a set together instead. Thanks for the input.
 
Even staggered they will improve the handle, although I think square is slightly better.
In addition to a fatter wheel, the combination of other things can really transform the driving experience.
Such as sticky summer tires, Coilovers, bracing. The GTRs will give you those tire options.
& if you dont know, some Q50 guys look for 9.5" fronts to run square since the rears are too wide for them. I would pick up the staggered set if its a good deal & try and find a trade on those forums (what I did). But Staggered works too.
 
Doesn't having fat tires in the front affect your ability to turn somewhat? Which is why "sportscars" use the staggered wheels? More traction in the back where most of the power comes out and narrow in the front so it's easier to turn...
 
Besides looking cool, most high performance cars that would use a staggered setup are mid or rear engine, have 500+ hp and require a wider tire in the rear to handle the extra load of the motor being back there, as well as to be able to put that power to the ground.
On N/A FX, wider fronts should increase the traction at the front of the car and cause the rear to exit the friction circle before the front, creating a more neutral car that tends to oversteer more. Also allows you to drive the car with the throttle on corner exit and make it easier to rotate in a corner.
Track drivers generally prefer a square setup as it does help to eliminate the understeer and make the car more neutral or slightly over.
Another huge benefit is tire rotation.

Now if the steering felt heavy, which it doesnt on our cars with those wider fronts, one could argue.
 
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gto said:
Besides looking cool, most high performance cars that would use a staggered setup are mid or rear engine, have 500+ hp and require a wider tire in the rear to handle the extra load of the motor being back there, as well as to be able to put that power to the ground.
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The GT-R, where the original rims come from, are none of the above, but the designers at NISSAN decided it was better that way... And the way the GT-R was designed for speed AND handling makes me think there was a benefit to having narrower fronts... Maybe in 95% of RL situations there's no difference having a wider front to match the rears, but still makes me wonder...

Still your arguments make sense and you've used them IRL which means a lot more than talking theoretically about something... Which is all I seem to be doing lately... :P
 
You might be on to something Dat. But this is no GTR, & those do make big power. Nissan engineers did decide we should be square from factory, right?
& to be honest I couldnt even tell you as a fact that the smaller fronts would be better or worse our cars as I've only driven square. I can say though that my FX is really good in the turns, & I'm pretty happy with the results of square. There is like no understeer, & at exit, you can play with throttle to get the rear to come around. While it has its limits due to weight and high center, its amazing how much better it feels from where I started . . & worlds apart from stock.

Did you watch the video above? Was a great day . . & I appear to be famous out there ;)
 
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gto said:
Did you watch the video above? Was a great day . . & I appear to be famous out there ;)
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I didn't watch it before cause I thought it was all about a Mustang... Didn't make the connection between your screen caps and the video LOL! Pretty sweet getting those props!

But aside from the GT-R and the similar platform, the FX is much higher and heavier so it negates most of those points... It's just that I always see a staggered setup on the M version of the X6's and the fat rears just look so aggressive! I kinda like the 265 fronts and 305+ rears look... Even if it really doesn't make much of a difference :P Either way, I haven't tracked any cars, and although I'm pretty in tune with my cars, I've never had to take one near the limit out of a turn to see what the driving characteristics are when pushed... Just observations I've made and personal likes and dislikes with visuals ;) Making a little more money right now as well, so I'm already trying to think about what other mods I might start doing in the summer... The first will probably be brake upgrades that I've wanted to do for a while now, up to the 2nd Gen BBK on 1st Gen FX... I have turbo's adapters for the rears in storage from YEARS ago LOL!
 
Yeah, great video. especially my revs at the end. Sounds mean. Gives a real good idea of what a Sunday outing looks like. He did a great job for a first video.

lol. I also have the Turbo adapters in the garage! Bro, just get the fronts for starters, stainless lines & some Dot4 fluid. Total bargain. Havnt gotten around to doing the rear calipers. I'm convinced it would be for looks only. I've pushed Gen2 front Calipers really hard & have yet to see any fade. Seems to be a good balance with stock rears & so so much better than Gen1 tiny fronts. I was warping rotors every hard use day & was getting expensive & vibrating steering just sucks.
These are the pads I've settled on after some different tries. Cant say enough good things about them, except they make a little brake squeal every so often. Comes and goes.
Project Mu® PH8F210 - Type HC+ 800 Series Front Brake Pads
 
When (not if) I do the brakes, I'll do them all just for looks... I want to paint them properly too, and I HATE the look of the OEM 1st Gen rears, so I definitely don't wanna paint those and bring attention to them LOL!

Already have stainless lines, but apparently I still have air bubbles in them (as per jumbosrule's trick on bleeding while the FX is running) so I'll change and bleed fluid when I do the brake upgrade... Already got the DOT4 fluid... I think I even asked my mechanic to get me DOT5 cause I wanted to see if it would make a difference (squishy brakes even after I went to SS lines... Still remember the newish brake feel which was firmer, and the firmer feel of the pedal when I brake, quick release and quick brake again) so glad I found out about that trick... Just don't need to bleed and waste $$$ right when I plan on doing everything later this spring... Brakes don't feel great, but it doesn't affect safety / driveability right now...

I'll need spacers as well, since I have the OEM 18's as my winters... Not sure if my summers will clear, so probably best to just go with 20 mm spacers and extended bolts and run with it... I want to put my summers on and measure them first to make sure I'll have clearance with them as I'm dropped even lower than you are I think... :P Might make a trip down to the US to do that core swap trick someone mentioned too, but I'll check with my mechanic to see if I can do it up here... If it do it in the states, I'll visit my cousin as I'll want to wait overnight for the paint on the new calipers to dry... I've heard you can install after a couple of hours, but I know my (lack of) patience and I'll try to rush and then screw them up with brake dust and road debris on the drive home...

Pretty excited cause I've wanted to do this for a while now! Do you have a garage here? If so, I wanna check it out and peak at your mods... :P
 
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gto said:
You coming to LA? We'll make a cruise out of it.
& front swap is straight up bolt on. We did it one afternoon at Jumbo's place
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Would love to come out to LA, but I was talking about a garage on the SCENE so I could check out what mods you've done... On the other site, we would just write mods on our Sigs, so it was easy to see... But quite a few modders here, and I was gone from the whole modding scene for so long, not sure what I've missed / forgotten... :P
 
Before the QX70 came into play, Infiniti’s attempt at making a sporty premium SUV was the FX, a car whose design still looks fairly modern even by today’s standards.
At least that’s how The Smoking Tire’s Matt Farah feels about it, with this customized first-generation FX35 model on hand delivering even more performance and surprisingly decent handling.

The owner of the car actually lowered it and fitted a set of Nissan GT-R wheels. Add the bolt-on engine bits and the ECU tune and you’ve got yourself a very interesting package, and the fact that it’s rear-wheel drive makes it even more interesting.

While Farah and his guest spent most of the drive discussing the car’s performance in various ways, they often came circling back to the first-gen FX35’s design, while wondering about its current and future fate on the used car market.

In the end, this FX turned out to be surprisingly engaging, both in the corners as well as in a straight line, even though both occupants admitted that it could use an extra 100 HP or so.
 
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