Sporty G37 thread

[12,000 RPM]

565 what do you think about the transmission? I've played with it in sport and manual mode.... pretty sluggish, but pretty obedient. Been caught out at the rev limiter a few times not paying attention.

[GoCougs]

Strongly recommend that ALL G37 owners check to see if they have the latest AT programming. Unfortunately, the only way to know is to have the dealership download computer do a check.

I've been through two - the first addressed clunking when automatically downshifting at lower speed, but it made things slushy. The second addressed the slushiness - when in "D" it will even throttle blip a bit at times on the downshift.

Make no mistake though, if the car has a legit gripe, it's the 7AT. ANY sort of performance driving, especially if it's important (passing, merging) has to be done via manual shifting.

[12,000 RPM]

Yea, I find that 4th gear is the best gear for making things happen on the highway. 1-3 are a little annoyingly short as well. And as bad as the 7AT is, it's still miles better than the 6MT, which shifts like something for a supercar from the 70s. I have owned and driven a lot of manual Nissans; I have yet to encounter one with good shift quality. Quiet as kept, the CVT in the Maxima is probably their best transmission outside of the GT-R's dual clutch (which itself has some NVH and drivability issues)

[Cookie Monster]

Yea, I find that 4th gear is the best gear for making things happen on the highway. 1-3 are a little annoyingly short as well. And as bad as the 7AT is, it's still miles better than the 6MT, which shifts like something for a supercar from the 70s. I have owned and driven a lot of manual Nissans; I have yet to encounter one with good shift quality. Quiet as kept, the CVT in the Maxima is probably their best transmission outside of the GT-R's dual clutch (which itself has some NVH and drivability issues)

I have no problems with the transmission in my dad's G.

Granted, it's not Honda level or even as good as my Miata's, but it's not bad at all.

[12,000 RPM]

If it's like the one in the Z, and gear ratios indicate it is- no thanks

[MX793]

If it's like the one in the Z, and gear ratios indicate it is- no thanks

Are you sure your Z's transmission was in good health?  It did have well over 100k on it and synchro rings do wear out over time...

A lot of the characteristics of how a transmission feels comes down to little things like shift linkage or synchro design and condition.  My current Mustang uses the same MT-82 transmission as my last (despite slightly different ratios), but feels a bit nicer thanks to a different linkage design and revised synchros.  Shifting my old one clutchlessly was a real challenge.  It's pretty easy with the new one.

[12,000 RPM]

Are you sure your Z's transmission was in good health?  It did have well over 100k on it and synchro rings do wear out over time...

A legitimate question, though every review I've read spoke to the same notchiness and heaviness in the shift quality. The clutch was textbook Nissan as well- long throw, high effort, vague engagement. Combined, just awful, especially in direct comparison with that in the Civic.

[565]

565 what do you think about the transmission? I've played with it in sport and manual mode.... pretty sluggish, but pretty obedient. Been caught out at the rev limiter a few times not paying attention.

It downshifts pretty much as soon as you hit the paddles, but there is a big lag with upshifts.  Plus the paddles are column mounted which turns out I don't like.  I always thought column mounted paddles were more legit until I owned a car with one.

I have experienced the infamous lag and sudden shift problem that everyone goes crazy over but it seriously happens so rarely that it's not a problem.

Sport mode is very aggressive in holding gears and downshifting in corners. 

[Laconian]

The lag thing is weird. It's like it freewheels then SLAM knocks you in the back.

[12,000 RPM]

More questions, mainly for the RWD guys.... how do your tires wear? I want to go square to be able to rotate tires, but if the tires generally wear evenly then I will go staggered. I'm seeing mixed responses. I'm obviously going to lower the car, but I will probably get a camber kit at both ends and run -1 all around like I did with the Civic.

Other question, which of these wheels (in dark gray/gunmetal obviously) would you go with? Going to run either 19x8.5/9.5 or 19x9.5 all around. Here is a less than great pic of the staggered setup fitment:



Going to run spacers so it kind of doesn't matter what the width is. Here is what I'm thinking about:

1.


2.

^^^This sunken battleship stance is NOT representative of my vision

3.


4.

^^^Not the same wheel but the same idea

Looking at these all together I'm leaning strongly towards 1.... looks the most "OEM" and I like the slight dish.

Side note, here is what 255/285s on 19s look like:



I would not go anywhere near that low though; I'm generally happy with a 1 finger gap all around with a slight rake

[Raza]

A lot of it depends on how aggressively you drive.  I've never had them wear evenly, the rears always go first.  When you're driving mostly highway, they wear more evenly, but if you're on surface streets, accelerating from a standstill a lot, and hitting the curves aggressively, your rears are going to wear faster.  In my experience, anyway.

[giant_mtb]

Something is wrong if your drive tires don't wear faster.

[Cookie Monster]

I like the design of the Varstolens because they are CE28N knockoffs, but I wouldn't put Varstolens on anything I own.

I don't like how the spokes go all the way past the lip on the first ones.

[68_427]

Lol Varstolens.  I like that

[68_427]

I dig the Enkei TS10s (on the right)

[12,000 RPM]

I like the design of the Varstolens because they are CE28N knockoffs, but I wouldn't put Varstolens on anything I own.

I don't like how the spokes go all the way past the lip on the first ones.

But you have no problem riding on D2s lol I keeed I keed

I don't like that aspect of the first ones either, but they fit the bill on every other metric. Ideally I'd get some 19" RE30s but if I had that kind of money I wouldn't be driving a G37...................................

[Char]

17x9 APEX ARC-8 ET30 wheels: 16.77lbs

I would probably have gone 18" for appearance to be honest.

Even wear from the tires - Bridgestone Potenza RE11As 245/40 - will be grabbing a set of 255 of something here soon.

[12,000 RPM]

17s on the G 

Thing weighs 3700lbs.... lightweight parts are a waste of time.

The first ones are really growing on me. I really like how they look on that RC at stock height.

[afty]

Late to the party, but...

I nearly spun my G when I first got it, taking a left turn in the rain.  I agree that it's surprisingly tail happy. 

I disagree about the MT, I like it, and it's certainly better than the auto.  I've had auto G37s as loaners, and the auto is slow and has that awful torque converter lag.  The MT is direct, mechanical, and shifts well.  It does feel heavy, but I'm not a wuss. 

[Vinsanity]

In all the car's I've had, RWD and FWD-- the drive axle always wore down the tread much faster. The Merc has a staggered setup, so unfortunately I won't be able to rotate the tires unless I get a new set of rims, and I'm not exactly into the idea of aftermarket rimz on a late-model Benz.

[MX793]

In all the car's I've had, RWD and FWD-- the drive axle always wore down the tread much faster. The Merc has a staggered setup, so unfortunately I won't be able to rotate the tires unless I get a new set of rims, and I'm not exactly into the idea of aftermarket rimz on a late-model Benz.

Same here.  Although on my current car, the front and rears are worn very close to the same (both axles are between 3 and 4 32nds left).  Not sure if that's due to the staggered setup or just the way I drive (auto-x can be hard on the fronts).  Based on past experience, I was really expecting to have to change the rears before the fronts given I can't rotate with the staggered setup.

[12,000 RPM]

Z wore the rears out faster but it turned out the alignment was a little out of whack (too much camber)

I think I just have to accept the higher running costs of this thing. Running 285s out back would lock this thing down nicely

[MX793]

I believe that was a common problem with early 350Zs.

[12,000 RPM]

Yea alignments were a problem in general

[565]

I just put michelin pilot super sports on.  I was planning the wait until the PS4S were available in 225/50/18 but I thought that the old Kumhos were getting unbearably loud.  Also it wasn't clear when, if ever the ps4s would be available in that size.  I got the new tires and the sound was the same.  Turned out I needed new wheel bearings, which fixed the problem.


Anyway I'm super glad I got the super sports.  They work as well on the g37x as they do on the z06.  Amazing grip.  Great feedback and super gentle and predictable break away.  I can rotate so I'll see if they hold up 30k like the warranty says they will.

[Laconian]

I couldn't find any faults with the PSSes. Amazing grip and very good ride quality. So much better than the Potenza RE050s I had.

[12,000 RPM]

No go for snow though... otherwise I definitely would. I'm really happy with the DWS06s, plus I can make up for the better compound of the PSS with more meat

[giant_mtb]

What snow.

[12,000 RPM]

We get a solid ~3 days a year. Plus we have like 2-3 months of freezing conditions. Even w/o snow a summer tire is no bueno.

[giant_mtb]

Making tire decisions for 3 days a year.

Temps, sure.