Finally broke 130+mph
 

After owning my car for under a year, and just getting her more reliable. I finally broke a little over 130 mph, with room to go. Mine was limited, and I removed the limiter, and I still couldnt get my car to go over 118-119, but this was due to my Alessio F1 19" wheels. I took those off last weekend as my alignment and I weren't agreeing, and I put back on the stock steelies, and put on 205-50-15's on. To my surprise I pulled even stronger in the upper power band, and I had plenty of power around 110-127. I just wanted to share with you, the beast underneath the future "Show Maxima". I know this thread is worthless without pics, but driving alone, going 130 tryin to grab a digi-cam and snap isn't the easiest thing to do, that ish takes guts first, then the skill. Lets just say I like my life.


More to come soon...

All this from a '95 gxe autotragic 145k miles! :grinno:

pics of car would be nice

I have pics, just that I am too lazy to post them. But I have a new digi-cam now, so look out for some more pics.

Umm i got to top out 3rd no problem. That's good for 130ish according to the speedo. All i had was a cone air filter. I never thought wheels would limit the top speed by that much.

Those big wheels add drag. 15's will get you up there much faster and easier by making the gear ratio smaller.

A) The speedometer reads high at those speeds

B) The smaller than stock tire size makes it read even higher

You probably didn't break 120mph actual road speed. Find a friend with a GPS to ride along next time...

What mzmtg said.

I think I buried mine once. :wall:
But I didn't have my GPS with me. :slant:

Well, I can't break 4800 RPM in 4th gear. For us autos, 60mph = 2100 RPM.

2100/60 = 35

So, when I'm at 4800 in 4th with the converter locked, 4800 / 35 = 137mph

I dont know if this is any more accurate than the speedo, but that's how I figured my top speed, by ignoring the speedo and watching the tach.

Ok so I will check this out again. So when I am going that fast then I am not going the actual speed, I thought that , this was pretty close since I was around the same circumference 205-50-15 vs. 205-55-15(stock). theoretically speaking I should have been going slower since the wheel size is smaller. ok oops, I might have been going physically faster, but the calculation of speed was now altered due to tire size.??? Insight.

Stock tire size is 205/65-15

According to this site:
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

When you run 205/50-15 tires, your speedo reads 9.5% high

When your speedo reads 60mph, your actual speed will be 54.3mph.

When your speedo reads 130mph, your actual speed will be 118mph.

Good catch. Since most of us have SE's I didn't understand where the smaller than stock was coming from.

He was doing 118.7 if we use the 9.5% too high figure, but I almost wonder if in reality he was doing 112? 130+ and 118 is a BIG difference for those of us who have done it. I reached just over 120 in my car and it felt like ****, so I backed right done. When I was young and reckless (about 2-3 months ago, not really, nearly 10 years ago) I did over 150 in a Porsche. The car felt great, but it was stupid on my part to do that on I-90 in NYS. So I suggest everybody be a little careful, we all know what the Maxima tops out at, no need to try it for yourself. There is not enough chassis for the HP that our cars have.

Also, the tire thing, can we simply conclude that a 19" rim is slower top-speed wise than a 15"? I kinda doubt it. When you +1, +2, +3 things the overall diameter is unchanged. Yes, in general, the unsprung weight will increase with wheel diameter. That can be fought by going to a higher quality forged rim, in which case an expensive 19" can be lighter than a cheap 17", but expensive rims are probably beyond the scope of this forum. If we did a poll I'd be surprised if more than a couple of people have forged rims. Just look at the 745, 545, and M3. They do not slow down with optional 19's. As a matter of fact that option is a performance upgrade.

Ok, I do know about the overall diameter not changing, as I am running 235-35-19. I understand that concept, but I am implying that my rims are either that heavy(increasing unsprung weight), or produce that much drag, or a combination of both.

That insight about the bmw's is something to think about, and it does make sense.

I've done 120 before in my honda and I know what it feels like, this time I was definetly going faster. It might not have been 130, but it wasn't 118.

mzmtg, I don't think your formula extremely acurate because the force of air resistance/drag is expontential. That is a good way to think of it but there needs to be a different formula. Also, you're basing the orginal rate pair, 2100/60 on mph which could be off to begin with. The best and easiest methods for measuring speed is GPS.

I always figured that by increasing the size of the rim, you would actually be going faster than what the speedo says, but I thought it was only by a couple of mphs. What is the actual difference if Im running 235/40/18 on the max that came with stock 15's?

The thruway! Yessss! Probably like 10 or 20 miles outside Rochester going east just BEFORE the really nice straightaway that runs through that huge farm was the site of my top speed 127 mph run.

I don't think top speed runs are that big a deal in this car if you have the room. Granted there are few places where it's really safe to do that kind of speed, and even fewer times when there's no one around...but the CAR itself can handle it...I found it to be pretty stable at that speed.

Drag doesnt change gear ratios.

But, yes, my speedo is off a little at 60mph, and that formula tranfers that error across the board.

With this configuration, there is no difference, the O/D(overall diameter) is still the same, and if you were going to move up to a larger rim like a 19", then you would need 2xx-35-19, 20" 2xx-30-20 :grinno: !

rotational mass kills ya.

So whats a good estimate of my current high speed? I have 215/60/15 and the speedo read 130, I topped out 3rd gear, right to the rev limiter.

haha i have done 120 when i had my 91 accord.......and trust me the honda feels like it is going alot faster.....probely cause it was shaking and all that nice stuff. BUt speeding like that is kinda stupid i think, unless you are track or whatever. becareful and not retarted.

I think it was in Fonda, Montgomery County. There's a reason I remember after all these years--I got caught. :Police:

In retrospect, I think it's foolish to push a car to its limit. It does take a long time to reach top speed. I was only about 20 at the time so that's why I look back and say it was a stupid thing.

man u got some ballz

The best way to silence the critics is have a trooper get you and you can scan a pic of the ticket.... :grinno: You don't even have to run drag variables, tire sizes nothing..

Just look at it this way--don't think about the donut hole, which gets bigger. Think about the diameter of the entire donut. When you do the plus one or plus two, the overall diameter is nearly the same. For example, a 215/55-16 is 25.2" in diameter. A 235/40-18 is about 25.4" in diameter. So the 18's are 8/10 of 1% larger. So at an original 100 mph read on the speedo, the car is going 99.2. But the original speedo isn't even accurate to 1 mph anyway.

But also remember that the rim is more dense than the tire--so when you give it 2" more wheel, and 2" less rubber, you will most likely increase the overall weight. Again, on a forged rim you might not increase the weight since most of us have cast rims due to cost.

To answer your question on the 15", a 205-65-15 is about 25.5" in diameter. So you see how the diameters match-up regardless of 15, 16, 17, 18?

I guess what I was saying is I don't buy the claim that a 15" will give faster acceleration and top speed. Physics doesn't apply 100% from theory to application. It's why they have mathematics and applied mathematics. :)

Miami roads, although flat, are not safe for that type of speed.

..sounds like you bumped your gear ratios....

I got my max to 135. All I got's a K&N cone air filter. I got stock tires too. And I know that's right cause I've done it a few times now with other cars. I've beat cars that I really shouldn't, so I love my maxima a whole lot!

i did 110 once in my CRX and it feels absolutely different than 110 in the max. In the max, it feels like i'm doing a lot faster, more of a big boat feeling. But the CRX felt more like a loud bullet, real low to the ground and solid.

140 easily, but that is with a complete 2 1/2 inch exhaust system including cat back and a hybrid intake and y pipe. I'm an auto. But when I make the run, I drive with OD off up until 85, then I take it off then, I take the OD off again around 105 until redline and when I put the OD back on, it floats to 140 pretty easily. I wouldn't recommend doing this too many times because of the strain it puts on the clutch inside the tranny at such high RPM's. I have 235/45/17's. The needle gets buried every time I try it. I never tried a top speed run before the modds, so I really don't know what it would be like without the goodies.

i never realized there was that big of a differene in the 4th and early 5th gen models. i got wasted by a 4th gen off of the line. but my car does 140 easily with zero mods. i've got a '00 se 5spd. i thought i was slower than a lot of the 4th gens. it seems that way sometimes.

Your top end is better because of 5th gens engines have a variable intake. But your car weighs more than ours and those rims are a ton. I know, I have them on my max. It will be next to impossible to beat a 5 sp 4th gen off the line with your car unless your a better driver. But you should easily be able to get a 4th gen on the top end only if they don't have a VI of their own.

I havn't broke the 110 mark in my maxima. I won't attemp much more with stock suspension and tires. I have 17 maxima rims with new tires on their way and hopfully suspension soon. I have taken my honduh civic slotec to 127 before. I have touched the bottom of the guage cluster in my turbo 240. I also had a rear end with longer gears and z rated tires and fully adjustable suspension, I trusted that car more. Me and my friend estimated 135 or so. And the 240 still had 2700 rpm left to redline in fifth. Nick

Ok, we dont need another "what's your top speed" thread going on here...