Doing it right ... from the Start, Help me get my FR-S Sorted properly

[steve99]

Getting power out of car without boost, read the "basic Bolt on mods" link below

Short answer Catless Header -tune- E85 fuel maybe drop in filter, leave rest of exhaust stock and it wont drone or be loud, leave the intake alone.

Lots of tracking maybe add oil cooler and 5W30 or 10W30 oil

as per other guys you will need brake pads and better brake fluid

better tyres

[MokSpeed]

2JZ swap.

[Ddreder]

Originally Posted by HotLavaFRS

Tires > Brakes. Doesn't matter how many pistons you have, what material the pads are made of and how big your rotors are if your tires aren't able to hold the road. Tires are ultimately more important to get sorted than brakes.

The only thing that I would change if you're going into a track environment would be pads and a brake fluid with a higher boil point. That would mostly be for HPDE and TT type situations. If you're just into Auto-X, neither of those are required.

- EDIT -

Also, if you wanted to with tires, get a set of lightweight wheels such as the Wedsport TC105N. Less rotational weight will improve stopping and acceleration.

I dont quite agree. After racing now for awhile I believe Tires = Brakes at least in terms of being able to use them more than once at the track.. I took my miata to the track with brand new rivals and coilovers and it was amazing! for the first few laps.. I literally destroyed my brakes because I did not upgrade them from OE standards. The master cylinder blew out, the pads were chunking, and the rotors were so glazed they looked purple... The FRS is the same way. I havent even had my FRS on a track and I have already roasted the stock brakes. The rotors are glazed as hell just from the downhill racing I do in my free time. Now my car wont stop when I need it to and if I was on a track I would have ZERO confidence in late braking into corners. Eventually I will buy new pads and rotors but my budget got ate up by the miata.. lol

Anyways I do not mean to bash or anything. I just thought I would share my opinion on the subject since I am currently dealing with the aftermath of my own driving..

[DarkSunrise]

Tires, brakes, suspension, track alignment, and oil cooler. That's where I'd start.

If still not fast enough, JRSC or Ptuning bottom-mount turbo + BBK.

[HotLavaFRS]

Originally Posted by Ddreder

I dont quite agree. After racing now for awhile I believe Tires = Brakes at least in terms of being able to use them more than once at the track.. I took my miata to the track with brand new rivals and coilovers and it was amazing! for the first few laps.. I literally destroyed my brakes because I did not upgrade them from OE standards. The master cylinder blew out, the pads were chunking, and the rotors were so glazed they looked purple... The FRS is the same way. I havent even had my FRS on a track and I have already roasted the stock brakes. The rotors are glazed as hell just from the downhill racing I do in my free time. Now my car wont stop when I need it to and if I was on a track I would have ZERO confidence in late braking into corners. Eventually I will buy new pads and rotors but my budget got ate up by the miata.. lol

Anyways I do not mean to bash or anything. I just thought I would share my opinion on the subject since I am currently dealing with the aftermath of my own driving..

I don't disagree with you but typically aren't the pads/rotors that are for track use not the best for street use? I know some pads designed for the track require a high operating temperature that you're not going to reach on the street.

[MaximeT]

Race pads will not work properly on the road, but track day pads can do both. Like CL RC5+ (the one I know). I think Winmax w3 should be great too.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by HotLavaFRS

Tires > Brakes. Doesn't matter how many pistons you have, what material the pads are made of and how big your rotors are if your tires aren't able to hold the road. Tires are ultimately more important to get sorted than brakes.

In terms of speed absolutely.

In terms of taking this car off the showroom floor and going to the track absolutely positively do not track the OEM pads if you have a good amount of experience like the OP, you will fade the brakes after 2 laps and have a car that is downright dangerous.

I'm not proposing to spend thousands of dollars on a name brand brake kit, I agree with you that an upgrade to a pad compound and brake fluid that will not fade over the course of a 20+ minute track session is all that's needed. If the OP is 50% as good as he claims he will destroy the stock pads in the first session unless he babies it. Mine faded on my second track day ever and driving home with a squishy pedal and pads that don't grip was a scary experience.

Yes, race pads are not ideal for the street, they make lots of noise, dust, and may shorten the life of the rotors requiring an early replacement and some compounds may have poor stopping power when cold (very dangerous). There are lots of options and compromises to be researched but all the rubber in the world won't do you any good if you're coming into a corner 20+mph faster than is physically possible to make, hopefully you don't have a car in front of you going >20mph slower than you.

Changing between race pads and stock pads takes me ~45 minutes all by my lonesome with hand tools and run about ~$300-$500 a set along with ~1L of quality fluid for <$50. I have absolute confidence in my brakes now and my "crappy" Primacies never gave me a fright like the brakes did.

Edit: My Carbotech XP10's have great cold grip, if it weren't for the awful noise they make when driven lightly I would daily drive them. They are billed by Carbotech as race pads. I do not trust the OEM pads to survive AutoX, even the uprated TRD pad says only "light autocross" is acceptable.

Edit 2: I think that the link I provided in my post made it explicit that I wasn't proposing some expensive solution.

Originally Posted by MaximeT

Race pads will not work properly on the road, but track day pads can do both. Like CL RC5+ (the one I know). I think Winmax w3 should be great too.

Yeah calling them 'race pads' is probably an error on my part, hundreds of pages for the OP to research if he goes through with it and lots of knowledgeable people to ask questions in the appropriate threads to find a good solution.

[SCIONMONTREAL]

Holy crap ! thanks so much guys for the great feedback, I have a friend with a set of track racepads and I did notice the amount of noise. I'm guessing I might go with some Autocross racepads at some pont or some that are in betweeners and not too noisy.

I do agree with a lot of the suggestions. I have already tracked the car a few times, enough to notice that my driving style is a lot less ... err ... drifty than this car has a tendency to slide into. I love the steering feedback, the engine's dynamic, I guess the way to explain my needs are : I don't want more FROM the engine, I want more OF it, which is why I don't want to do any swaps, Turbos etc ... etc ...

At this point, I think tires, brake Pads and the drop in filter are a great start.

[tennisfreak]

Drive that FRS straight to a Ford dealer and trade it for a Mustang GT

[LucidMomentum]

Originally Posted by tennisfreak

Drive that FRS straight to a Ford dealer and trade it for a Mustang GT

[stevesnj]

Originally Posted by tennisfreak

Drive that FRS straight to a Ford dealer and trade it for a Mustang GT

[SCIONMONTREAL]

Mustang was amazing, I test drove it as the Group I work for also sells Ford, truly great car. Steering feel is a big deal for me and I didn't get the same feel from the cheep 'stang than I got from the Fr-S, but main thing on the base v6 was that the payment was closing in on 470$ a month on a 48 month lease versus ... low 300s on the FR-S 2015 (even lower with my trade-In)

Both mesmerizing cars, but would have been too powerful to compete with my friends

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by tennisfreak

Drive that FRS straight to a Ford dealer and trade it for a Mustang GT

Damned 'Vette owners always pushing Mustangs on people.

[Ddreder]

Originally Posted by HotLavaFRS

I don't disagree with you but typically aren't the pads/rotors that are for track use not the best for street use? I know some pads designed for the track require a high operating temperature that you're not going to reach on the street.

I was told the same thing but after owning a set and driving around town they actually work fine. The only thing that might bother people is the noise.. The HP+'s on my miata will start squeaking like crazy once they warm up. People give me wierd looks like my car is broken..

But alas it is not. Also the whole warming up thing I find to be a little over exaggerated. Yes when you first start the car and go drive if you stomped on the brakes it wouldnt be the greatest. If you are driving like a sane person you probably wouldnt notice any difference... But after like 3-4 stops they are warmed up and ready to do battle. Realistically if I was daily driving the car every day and didnt go to the track I would get a quieter performance pad. But since I race/autocross the miata and downhill race the FRS I neeeeeed pads lol because driving on melted pads and glazed rotors is down right dangerous..