There’s no speed limiter, the tires won’t wear out in 3000 miles, and Nissan even picks up some of the service costs.
April 2008
You’ve likely already read the various rumors flying around the Internet about the GT-R’s steep ownership costs; that it has a speed limiter unless you’re at a Nissan-approved track; and that tires can only be replaced four at a time. We heard these things, too, courtesy of a tire supplier to GT-R, so we called up Nissan and got to the bottom of it. Most of the gloom-and-doom hype is unfounded. See below for our questions and Nissan’s responses.
Rumor 1: Nissan’s GPS will only allow full-speed operation in the U.S. at Nissan-approved tracks.
There is no speed limiter on the U.S. spec GT-R unless you count the rev limiter.
Rumor 2: Once a vehicle has been run an approved track, it must be subjected to a post-track safety inspection at a Nissan dealer (brake fluid, suspension, tires, drivetrain, other checks), at an estimated cost of $1,000. Otherwise the warranty is voided.
It is a very good idea to inspect a car of the GT-R’s potential after spending time on a track to verify that everything is still within specifications and not worn. We are investigating offering this type of post-track inspection service to GT-R owners in the U.S. in order to provide the type of customer service some GT-R owners will want.
Rumor 3: The vehicle is set up from the factory with suspension settings for track use, with very high negative camber in the front and substantial toe-in at the rear. If the car is driven on the street with the factory settings the tires will only last 3000–5000 miles, and inner tire wear in the front will be substantial within 1000 miles. The settings may be changed from factory settings for street use prior to delivery, however.
The normal front camber setting is 1 degree 36 minutes negative. This can range plus or minus 10 minutes so if a customer wants to maximize tire wear they can request less negative camber. The rear toe setting is 1.7 mm total toe-in. While these settings are more aggressive than most cars, they are not extreme. The car provides amazing performance and you wouldn’t expect it to behave like a typical car. Based on our testing we anticipate tire life to range from 12,000–15,000 miles in typical street driving. Of course, track usage will definitely diminish tire life.
Rumor 4: The brakes are some type of ceramic composite, and a brake job will cost upwards of $3000.
The GT-R brakes use conventional materials. The brakes have full-floating two-piece rotors. The outer rotor is cast iron and the hub or hat is aluminum. The pads are also conventional materials. They are large Brembos—15-inch rotors front and rear, six-piston calipers front and four-piston rear—so they won’t be inexpensive, but they provide phenomenal stopping performance. We don’t expect a 500-hp engine to cost the same as a 300-hp engine, so we wouldn’t expect 500–hp brakes to cost the same as 300-hp brakes. We don’t have final pricing on the parts yet so we can’t say for certain how much they’ll cost.......
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