For Those Daily Driving a GT350R (or city driving)

[TheLeftSchuh]

This thread is aimed at gathering some of the practices people have used in daily driving/city driving an R and not intended to evoke opinions on whether an R is less suitable as a daily driver.

Given the end of the road for the GT350 combined with my longing for one since I cancelled my order for a '16, I'm heavily debating the purchase of a '19 still on the lot or a '20. I've decided on an R over the standard GT350 if I pull the trigger.

I'm hoping that those who drive their R's in city settings or as a daily driver might share a bit about their best practices or experience.

Anyone swap out the extended front splitter for the standard GT350 one? If so, any experience in swapping it back for a track experience?

Choices for a second set of wheel/tires?

I would not really be daily driving mine as I don't have a daily commute, but it would be one of a few cars that gets driven around the city of Portland which does unfortunately have poor roads and many steep driveways and low rolling speed bumps on main roads. Interested to hear from those that have made a similar decision.

Appreciate any responses.

Sponsored

 

[Alain]

I haven’t had a chance to drive my 19R very much yet (only have 52 miles on it) so I can’t say much about the actual driving aspect.

I will tell you this, I installed the front splitter on my R and I will say, with high certainty, that once it’s installed it would be highly impractical / a pain in the ass to take it off.

That thing is in there like swim wear!!!! I don’t think a lot of the plastic tabs would survive uninstalling and re-installing that thing.

Im going with 19 inch R replica wheels, the clearance with that R splitter is very low!
My car is not a daily driver so I can get away with the low clearance since I can pick and choose when and where I drive the car.

Only way I see around the clearance issue with the R spoiler is going with 20 inch wheels instead of 19s.

 

[lightrules]

Portland which does unfortunately have poor roads and many steep driveways and low rolling speed bumps on main roads.

i curled up into the fetal position just reading this. Good thing you have a Raptor!

 

[Deleted member 37397]

I’ll say this, after swapping to the R splitter from a standard splitter, the R splitter was much easier to deal with than the standard 3 piece. There were a few screws that were a royal pain to get to on the standard splitter which I didn’t nearly have the same trouble with on the R splitter. i wouldn’t get another standard splitter I don’t care if it costs more lol

 

[TheLeftSchuh]

i curled up into the fetal position just reading this. Good thing you have a Raptor!

It's not quite the terrain of the Raptor Assault program in Utah... but it ain't far off either. Unfortunately, the Raptor is wider than some of the damn streets

 

[TheLeftSchuh]

I’ll say this, after swapping to the R splitter from a standard splitter, the R splitter was much easier to deal with than the standard 3 piece. There were a few screws that were a royal pain to get to on the standard splitter which I didn’t nearly have the same trouble with on the R splitter. i wouldn’t get another standard splitter I don’t care if it costs more lol

Did you notice any significant increase in scraping once you switched to the R splitter?

 

[FDHog]

With all the changes you're thinking of making, why not just get the GT350

 

[Champale]

What locking lug nuts do people use on their 350R with aftermarket wheels?

 

[ecoboost321]

I use Forgeline GS1R with Michelin Pilot 4S tires for the street. Car drives excellent with this setup, much better than the carbon rev wheels and cup2 tires. I didn’t want to mess with the R front splitter, if you are careful it’s not a big hassle.

 

[TheLeftSchuh]

With all the changes you're thinking of making, why not just get the GT350

I like the R for all the reasons it differs from the standard GT350. However, the majority of driving the car would be on the streets. So, I'd rather buy an R and an extra set of street wheels and tires than buy the standard GT350 plus some carbon fiber wheels but still not quite have an R.

 

[Deleted member 37397]

Did you notice any significant increase in scraping once you switched to the R splitter?

Not really, my standard one was chewed up on the edges, where it was visible, the few times I scraped with the R splitter it was underneath more in the middle and not visible

 

[TheLeftSchuh]

I use Forgeline GS1R with Michelin Pilot 4S tires for the street. Car drives excellent with this setup, much better than the carbon rev wheels and cup2 tires. I didn’t want to mess with the R front splitter, if you are careful it’s not a big hassle.

Nice choice. Recently put a set of Forgelines on my '69 Camaro, went for the GA3. I'll be tempted to go for the GA3R in this case.

I tried to search for a picture of your setup to no avail.. any chance you can post a photo of it here?

Saw some of your comments on the Model 3. Up until last year I was working at Tesla, had the Model X P100D for a while. I know most on this forum probably don't approve, but I think they make a hell of a car.

 

[ecoboost321]

Here’s some photos of them right before I installed them on my car at the track for the drive home. I will take some photos tomorrow of them on the car.

 

[Demonic]

I haven't driven my R in Portland, but I have visited Portland and would not enjoy driving an R around there on a daily basis. You'll be driving with your eyes focused 6 feet in front of the car, and constantly having to plan what streets you'll take. My local city is Boston, and when I drive there I do so with a mental note of which streets I can take, and what specific lots or streets I can park on. Do not try to enter parking garages, since the car can't always take the ramp angles and you won't always know until you're inside the garage with no other way out. Also some garages have spiral exit ramps which can also be difficult to take given the large turn radius of the car combined with the splitter. Changing out the splitter and wheels would make driving in the city much easier. Also, Portland doesn't use salt in the winter for eco reasons, and instead has sand on the streets. In other cities when the weather warms up the salt gets washed away, but I don't know how much sand you'll still have to worry about driving over in your case.

 

[TheLeftSchuh]

Here’s some photos of them right before I installed them on my car at the track for the drive home. I will take some photos tomorrow of them on the car.

Killer wheels man. Forgeline makes beautiful products.

Looking forward to seeing them on the GT350, I appreciate you sharing them.

Sponsored