So last Friday afternoon I got the following update from Ochiai-san...turns out that even though the crap alarm keeps interfering with the starter motor (so I guess the immobilizer works..., in a way... ha ha) work is progressing on other parts of the car.
One item that I had asked to be replaced with new...turns out it HAD been on the last go around. I forgot to check, Ochiai-san forgot to tell me... oops.
Forgot to ask them to replace the brake cooling duct with new...
maybe it can be refurbished, we shall see...
I also got an update of sorts on the new headlight bulbs. If you recall from this past post, one of the Phillips HID bulbs had failed, and in order to pass Shaken the techs at Nismo Omori Factory hurriedly installed an aftermarket bulb sold by Sphere Light.
New bulb on right side (left side in photo) appears slightly more blue?
And yes I like the Star Wars Landspeeder effect!
But strangely I did not get sent a photo of both installed. Either they did the install and Ochiai-san simply forgot to take an "after" photo or they are saving me a few yen by letting me install the passenger side one myself (frankly, it's the easier one to do as the back of that headlight is more easily accessible as you can remove the airbox to get clear access to it). Either way is ok with me!
Finally, it looks like they installed the Ohlins DFV as I mentioned last time and have installed the newly refurbished (and of course, glass coated) wheels - note they haven't yet applied the Rays stickers yet - with the new tires mounted. In addition to the requisite alignment they will also be lowering the car to the bare minimum allowed under the Shaken rules... so a few more cm for sure.
Meanwhile I'm also happy to report that Ochiai-san has found an alarm shop that is willing to help out with the alarm removal. It's not the same shop that I went to many years ago in Tokyo (where I will go again to get another alarm installed) but one that is an authorized installer of the same alarm system that WORX Autoalarm "installed." Hopefully Nakamura wasn't too clever and they can sort out the mess.
So hopefully by next week the car will be ready... keeping fingers crossed...
Ok so as I mentioned in my post where I described taking the car to Nismo Omori Factory (again), I mentioned that in addition to getting the biannual Shaken done, I also needed to replace the tires.
Traditionally, the Nissan race cars of this era were on Bridgestones too.
I took this photo of the LM racing car at Nismo Festival 2017
Taken at Nissan Global Headquarters Gallery
Also at the Gallery
Nismo has confirmed with me that traditionally, their recommended street tire used to be one of Yokohama Tire's top sports tires being offered at that time. As shown on the CRS cars.
But about 7 years ago, Michelin started making inroads with Nissan... witness their gigantic trailer parked at last year's Nismo Festival, for example.
My Lexus IS-F came OEM with the Michelin Pilot Sports, so I know that they are good tires. But then I stumbled on this video.
And if it's widely acknowledged that the Pilot Sports 4S is even better than the Pilot Sports...
However, just because Nismo now uses the Pilot Sports tires, doesn't mean I do. Putting price aside, I decided to do some research and compare the PS4S against the two tires I would normally decide between, the Bridgestone RE71R and the Yokohama Advan A052.
Interestingly, I found that on TireRack.com, they consider the RE71R and the Advans to be "Extreme Performance Summer Tires" ("Hyperfocused on extreme dry grip, but gives up wet traction, confort and life to get it") while the PS4S is a "Max Performance Summer Tire" (designed to "deliver the highest combination of dry and wet traction along with reasonable ride and treadwear").
In other words, the Extremes are for track/dry weather use, while the Max tires are for great all around use (except obviously snow and ice). Normally I would agree that, since I never drive the GT-R in the rain, I could focus and buy one of the Extremes. However, there were 2 things to also consider - what if I got caught in a downpour or end up on a road up in the mountains still wet from the day before, and second, is there a Max tire that has just as good dry performance as an Extreme tire?
Now, for those you who question my research at TireRack.com -while their categorization is useful, what I'm really interested in are the ratings by actual owners. Somewhat like how we check Customer Reviews on Amazon or feedback given in the App Store, I tend to disbelieve what the "experts" say - even in famous magazines or youTube channels - because most of the time those people are given some kind of financial incentive to not say anything negative about the products they review. The average consumer, however, is usually much more truthful because it's their experience and money. In fact I usually go to the negative reviews first, pissed off consumers are usually very informative (if not entertaining)! But I usually go along with what the majority say.
So first the customer experience on the RE71. Overwhelmingly, most people seem to buy these tires for track and/or autocross use. For those who do drive with these on an daily basis, these tires seem to not be as good in the wet as they are in the dry.
Second, what about the Advans? Very few reviews on the A052 but again the majority of reviews reflected track/autocross driving. Just in case I also checked out the reviews for the AD08R, the successor to the tires on my car, but the feedback was similar. And the overall rating, like the A052 and the RE71, showed only "good" and not "excellent" subjective wet performance.
Ok then what about the PS4S? Well first, this tire showed "excellent" in both wet and dry performance, but the reviewsshowed that overwhelmingly, this tire is not for the track. Some of the users who used this tire for the track had problems with premature wear, and some even outright mentioned the RE71 as a better tire on the track... and especially in the dry.
So in conclusion, the PS4S appears to be the best high performance street tire. And, given that I can currently get these tires at about half the price of the others, I can convince myself to go with them, even though I'll likely never drive in the rain, and I've been itching for a track day. If I ever get back to do a track day, I will have to mount some Advans or the RE71 (purchased as cheaply as possible) on my spare set of wheels (LMGT4s).
Incidentally, if pricing was comparable amongst all three tires, I would likely go with the Bridgestones, given their OEM association when the car first came out. Never mind that I don't take the car to the track these days and I don't drive it much (and when I do, and I wouldn't do so in the rain anyway). Just wearing JDM best might be good enough...
Stay tuned! Another post coming soon! Stay safe everyone.
So as I mentioned in my last post, I had my old NISMO S-Tunes shock absorbers temporarily re-installed by Ninomiya-san at BeAmbitious onto my car while the Ohlins DFVs usually on the car are being re-built at Labo Carrozzeria, the Ohlins distributor/service factory here in Japan.
When I went to pick up the car after Ninomiya-san had gotten the GT-R successfully registered for another 2 years, the first thing I noticed was that the front of the car seemed lower than before. But, as he had told me that the car did not pass shaken until he put the S-Tunes on, I assumed that the ground clearance was better with the NISMOs than with the Ohlins.
Anyway, on my short drive home, I immediately could tell the difference - after driving around for a while on the stiffer sprung Ohlins (which were probably more stiff than usual because it was long overdue for a rebuild), the S-Tunes felt amazingly smooth and supple. Still very sporty, and in fact, they responded very well to the dips and bumps in the road. In short, the car feels very close to OEM, in that most people might be satisfied with level of firmness combined with good ride comfort.
Although these S-Tunes are sporty enough that I went to several track days such as at Fuji Speedway, as you can see in the photo below (sorry for the low-def), hard braking meant that the car would literally scrape the front lip. So, one impetus for switching to the DFVs was a higher (stiffer) spring rate. Although, as I mentioned in my previous post, the DFV technology also results in a very smooth ride.
Then, pulling into the garage, the front lip scraped... meaning that in fact, the car WAS lower than before. So I don't quite understand how the car could pass the shaken rules with the S-Tunes when it was lower than the Ohlins, but oh well. When I called Ninomiya-san about it, he thinks it might be due to the Do-Luck Roll Center Adjusters, and while that makes sense about the height, I'm still a bit confused about how it could pass Shaken...
You can see how close to the fender the tire/wheel is.
In any case, the car needs a proper alignment so I'm not driving it until I get the Ohlins re-installed and the alignment done. Of course meanwhile I will simply have to have other projects to keep me busy, although I expect the Ohlins to be rebuilt and ready to go fairly soon. I'm really looking forward to experiencing the DFVs when as good as new!
I'm not a very good photographer, nor have I ever claimed to be even half good. But, once in a while the subject looks good and the lighting is perfect.
Like this, taken with my iPhone 6 last Sunday. Enjoy!
