This is a far fetched , and un RX-7 Related topic . or well not unrelated but a comparison .


Good friend of mine is looking into buying a 350z And we looked up what kind of suspension that car has . It seems to be a modified , double wishbone kind of setup for the front , and a multilink Rear suspension .

And lets face it the 350z is a decade newer .

But we both came up with the question on .. Which is better? what advantages dis advantages would each design really have?

hoping one of you guys has had experience with 350z's and could enlighten us .

(we're talking about performance wise ) But any and all information would be welcome .

 

Perhaps biased but the unequal double up front with the multi link in the back of the FD combined with the chassis weight and balance make it a pretty superior handling car. Compared to a 350z it's an easy choice. I only auto x but I've ridden in a stock FD and a stock 350z. No question the FD.

The 350z is a Dual ball joint suspension up front and has no camber adjustment. The FD is FULLY adjustable.

With the 350z you HAVE to replace arms in the suspension to lower the car or change the alignment. THe FD is a decade older but lets face it. They REALLY knew what they were doing. Except for those damned pillow *****.

 

Yes, the only two real weakness I can think of with the FD suspension is that-

1) It was so "race car" that they extensively used spherical bearings (pillow *****) in the rear multilink suspension and these wear fairly quickly and you get race car noises (clunk). Luckily, they are easy to replace.

2) The front upper and lower ball joints are not replaceable without buying replacement suspension arms and since the front and rear lower suspension pieces are forged aluminum (like the Z) they are quite pricey new. Luckily, these don't exhibit abnormal wear.

The 370Z doesn't have coil over damper in the rear so it is a little more complicated to adjust corner weights, change springs, purchase springs when you go to coilovers.

The suspension isn't that different between the two, its the 600lb weight difference that will make the most difference.

That is 600Lbs of better crash standards, Nissan build standards and interior refinements- so its not necessarily a bad thing; just... the biggest difference.

 

350Zs are also really wide.

I have a friend who autocrosses one and always complains about how wide it is in the slaloms, it's a pretty big disadvantage compared to narrower cars in the same class.

but on a road course it probably doesn't matter/might be an advantage.

but yeah, 350z are pretty fat...

 

Thanks for all the info you guys are a wealth of knowledge .. even though in my book the 350 knowledge isnt worth near asmuch as the 7 stuff it still comes in usefull sometimes LOL

 

Agreed w/ above.
The idea that "newer" = "better" is not a hard/fast rule. Particularly regarding suspension design/geometry. It's not like this stuff hasn't been pretty well figured out for DECADES now. Advances in basic suspension layout haven't evolved in the same way as, say, engine management or combustion chamber design.

IMO, FD suspension design is "better" for performance, but even if not, I'd go FD because of...(also mentioned above) WEIGHT! Being 500 lb. lighter-weight is a HUGE handling advantage by itself.

A 240Z's McPherson strut front and Chapman strut rear suspension might be technically "inferior" to 350Z suspension, but with equivalent tires, a 240Z will handle with a 350Z and will be more fun doing it, because 1000 lb.(!) lighter-weight.

 

also realize that weight makes a big play here, and the 350z is SIGNIFICANTLY heavier than an RX7. the suspension has to be matched to the car. A lot of people screw this up horribly in my experience.

Edit: The weight difference betwee an FD and a 350 is way more than 500lbs, closer to 700-800.

 

Road & Track: Mazda RX-7 (April 1992)
2870 lb. curb weight 1993 RX-7 touring

http://www.roadandtrack.com/cm/roada...Track_data.pdf
3290 lb. curb weight 2003 350Z track

Even granting that base model RX-7s were closer to 2800 lb, the difference is ~500 lb., not 700-800 lb.

Still, 350Z *is* a pig. Should have kept the "X" in the name, it was certainly no rebirth of the 240Z!