MY 19 GT350 vs any GT350R?

[drummerboy]

What you get for an extra ~$5k is impressive, maybe extraordinary. I don't know if it helps, but I really, really didn't want to deal with my my inevitable paranoia over the wheels. The 2019 upgrades were enough for me.

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[svttim]

What you get for an extra ~$5k is impressive, maybe extraordinary. I don't know if it helps, but I really, really didn't want to deal with my my inevitable paranoia over the wheels. The 2019 upgrades were enough for me.

The 19 is a great car. Took me a while but over the paranoia of the wheels. I only use them on track, And they do make a huge difference in steering feel

 

[Mjc1241]

What percentage of R owners actually drive around daily on the carbon fiber wheels? Seems to me that the first "mod" for R owners is to buy another set of wheels therefore minimizing some of the driving advantage of a owning an R. Thoughts?

 

[cobra4ever]

If one doesn't want the advantages of the carbon fiber wheels all day all the time why buy an R ?

 

[Carpenater]

Hmm, I must get out from under that rock I'm living under.

Don't you mean your head out of the clouds?

 

[Seven]

What percentage of R owners actually drive around daily on the carbon fiber wheels? Seems to me that the first "mod" for R owners is to buy another set of wheels therefore minimizing some of the driving advantage of a owning an R. Thoughts?

If one doesn't want the advantages of the carbon fiber wheels all day all the time why buy an R ?

I think the idea is debris can damage the wheels, repairing CF wheels (if they're even repairable) is expensive, most debris is on public roadways, and you can't push the car to the limit on public roadways (safely anyway) so having a set of "street" wheels/tires will minimize potential damage and associated cost and the difference won't be noticed anyway.

I get it. I did the something similar with my 1LE. I put higher treadwear tires on the stock wheels, bought smaller/wider/lighter track only wheels and tires and then had the best of both worlds.
Most people who track have at least 2 sets of wheels, and I'm definitely in that category.

 

[Seven]

The R has different springs, different magneride programing. more aggressive aero, Carbon fiber wheels. The 19R got revised brake calibration. The 20 got the steering knuckle from the 500 program. The difference on track is quite large. If you dont track your car, you will never approach the limits of the base 350 let alone the R.

Yes, you can buy a lot of what is on the R. But to do so, you will far exceed the cost of the R

I'd argue this a bit - here's why...

(Assuming 2019 350+ vs any year 350R...)

• If I buy the R, I'd be replacing the springs for the FP springs (the FP350S springs I believe) either way - So that cost is moot as I'd do it on both cars.
• The 19 has likely enough aero if it has the handling pack - which also makes the camber plates the R comes with moot - no cost there unless I want to add the front lip
  • Let's say I do - I'm unsure on the front lip cost, but I can't imagine it's more than $500
• Mageride programming is moot because of the DSC Sport controller - which I can't say FOR SURE I'd need to do it on the 350R, but it's $1200 and likely worth it - especially considering the spring swap, I'd assume a new magneride calibration would help with this.
• Rear seat delete which is about $500
  
  So we're talking maximum $2200 difference there + labor (if I decide I don't want to do it myself, which I definitely can - it's a matter of time and desire really). Likely it's more of a $1000 difference (lip and rear seat delete) assuming I'd buy the springs+DSC either way.
  I do admit I lose roughly 75-100lbs (don't recall exact figures) of rear downforce here though.

The differences are then...

• Brake calibration is the same on all 19, so if I bought a used R, I'd miss out on that if I bought an older-than-2019 R as I'm unaware of a way to update the programming for this (let alone if the hardware would even support it)
• If I bought a 19+ non-R I lose out on CF wheels... However, I could definitely buy lightweight forged wheels and likely would for track use.
  
• If I didn't buy specifically a 2020 R, I lose the knuckles. I'd assume I could buy the parts but have no idea the cost on this
• If I don't buy a 19+ of either model, no new engine - which isn't necessarily a deal breaker, but definitely worth the consideration.

Anyone is welcome to correct me if I'm wrong

 

[Tomster]

Don't you mean your head out of the clouds?

No, that's not what I meant.

I didn't know about aftermarket cf wheels. Other than that, who has more R model experience?

Edit to add:

Oh I get it.... you are still mad from the HEP thread....

 

[Caballus]

MY 19 upgrades to non-R closed the gap by quite a bit--CF wheels remain biggest difference. Hard to tell what the MY20 steering knuckle upgrade did for the R; maybe less understeer than non-R? Again, CF wheels are the biggest difference.

 

[svttim]

I'd argue this a bit - here's why...

(Assuming 2019 350+ vs any year 350R...)

• If I buy the R, I'd be replacing the springs for the FP springs (the FP350S springs I believe) either way - So that cost is moot as I'd do it on both cars. No need to on an R but to each his own
• The 19 has likely enough aero if it has the handling pack - which also makes the camber plates the R comes with moot - no cost there unless I want to add the front lip
  • Let's say I do - I'm unsure on the front lip cost, but I can't imagine it's more than $500 Anderson composites is 1350, The OEM is 1500. Now add the rear wing to maintain aero balance
• Mageride programming is moot because of the DSC Sport controller - which I can't say FOR SURE I'd need to do it on the 350R, but it's $1200 and likely worth it - especially considering the spring swap, I'd assume a new magneride calibration would help with this.
• Rear seat delete which is about $500
  
  So we're talking maximum $2200 difference there + labor (if I decide I don't want to do it myself, which I definitely can - it's a matter of time and desire really). Likely it's more of a $1000 difference (lip and rear seat delete) assuming I'd buy the springs+DSC either way.
  I do admit I lose roughly 75-100lbs (don't recall exact figures) of rear downforce here though.

The differences are then...

• Brake calibration is the same on all so if I bought a used R, I'd miss out on that if I bought an older-than-2019 R as I'm unaware of a way to update the programming for this (let alone if the hardware would even support it)
• If I bought a 19+ non-R I lose out on CF wheels... However, I could definitely buy lightweight forged wheels and likely would for track use. So add 4 -6K for a quality Wheel
  
• If I didn't buy specifically a 2020 R, I lose the knuckles. I'd assume I could buy the parts but have no idea the cost on this Not sure this makes it faster as much as it reduces tramlining
• If I don't buy a 19+ of either model, no new engine - which isn't necessarily a deal breaker, but definitely worth the consideration. Correct

Anyone is welcome to correct me if I'm wrong

Its not a matter of being right or wrong. Its all numbers. You can not duplicate an R for less then the purchase price of an R. You could build a faster car but, again, not for the price of an R. The R is a factory race car. Its a fantastic car right out of the showroom. All I need for mine is a set of rear gears to get out of the corners a little quicker and a track alignment. The base car is fantastic as well so, you cant go wrong.

 

[pilotgore]

I'd argue this a bit - here's why...

(Assuming 2019 350+ vs any year 350R...)

• If I buy the R, I'd be replacing the springs for the FP springs (the FP350S springs I believe) either way - So that cost is moot as I'd do it on both cars.
• The 19 has likely enough aero if it has the handling pack - which also makes the camber plates the R comes with moot - no cost there unless I want to add the front lip
  • Let's say I do - I'm unsure on the front lip cost, but I can't imagine it's more than $500
• Mageride programming is moot because of the DSC Sport controller - which I can't say FOR SURE I'd need to do it on the 350R, but it's $1200 and likely worth it - especially considering the spring swap, I'd assume a new magneride calibration would help with this.
• Rear seat delete which is about $500
  
  So we're talking maximum $2200 difference there + labor (if I decide I don't want to do it myself, which I definitely can - it's a matter of time and desire really). Likely it's more of a $1000 difference (lip and rear seat delete) assuming I'd buy the springs+DSC either way.
  I do admit I lose roughly 75-100lbs (don't recall exact figures) of rear downforce here though.

The differences are then...

• Brake calibration is the same on all 19, so if I bought a used R, I'd miss out on that if I bought an older-than-2019 R as I'm unaware of a way to update the programming for this (let alone if the hardware would even support it)
• If I bought a 19+ non-R I lose out on CF wheels... However, I could definitely buy lightweight forged wheels and likely would for track use.
  
• If I didn't buy specifically a 2020 R, I lose the knuckles. I'd assume I could buy the parts but have no idea the cost on this
• If I don't buy a 19+ of either model, no new engine - which isn't necessarily a deal breaker, but definitely worth the consideration.

Anyone is welcome to correct me if I'm wrong

Others mentioned Andy Pilgrims assessment of the 350 vs 350(r). Andy, a professional driver, determined that the R model was 1.11% faster than the non-R. Not exactly a significant difference for the ~$10k price difference.

I was faced with a similar choice when I bought my car this January, and I ultimately decided on a loaded '19 non-R vs a used (or new) R. Why. . . because I like the look of the Non-R better (particularly the look of the SWING,) and if I curb one of my wheels (because life happens) $160 refurb cost for standard wheels sounded a lot better than thousands to repair a CF wheel. Finally I like the thought of the newer engine block and I like the extra warranty afforded to me by getting a newer car. You'll love either one.

Edit: To clarify. . . the R was 1.11% faster at a very technical track like NCM. I didn't mean to make a blanket statement about every single track.

 

[DrumReaper]

Others mentioned Andy Pilgrims assessment of the 350 vs 350(r). Andy, a professional driver, determined that the R model was 1.11% faster than the non-R. Not exactly a significant difference for the ~$10k price difference.

I was faced with a similar choice when I bought my car this January, and I ultimately decided on a loaded '19 non-R vs a used (or new) R. Why. . . because I like the look of the Non-R better (particularly the look of the SWING,) and if I curb one of my wheels (because life happens) $160 refurb cost for standard wheels sounded a lot better than thousands to repair a CF wheel. Finally I like the thought of the newer engine block and I like the extra warranty afforded to me by getting a newer car. You'll love either one.

Edit: To clarify. . . the R was 1.11% faster at a very technical track like NCM. I didn't mean to make a blanket statement about every single track.

To each his own... and that’s a good account as your post summed up reasoning well.

I had the opportunity to pick in 2015 between a non-R be an R and went R and I can tell you after driving both on track the difference is night and day.

Since, I’ll be tracking mine some, I’ll be choosing an R again, since a back seat is not an issue for me and I like the CF bits.

 

[drummerboy]

Just food for thought, and perhaps fuel to the fire, I put the durometer on the R Cup 2 and nonR Cup 2 and the R variant is significantly softer. So much so that it makes me think it's the single largest difference between the two. Comparing to the 15-18 PSS would probably be quite unfair, and to be honest the car is pretty sporty even with those tires for how heavy it is.

 

[MNGT350]

put same tires and lightweight forged wheels on the non-R and I doubt most people here could tell the difference on the road or track b/w the cars.

 

[fpa1974]

put same tires and lightweight forged wheels on the non-R and I doubt most people here could tell the difference on the road or track b/w the cars.

I started down that road when I had my 2017 non R (lightweight wheels, Cup2 s, FP springs etc). While car got better and closer to what I wanted you would not confuse it with a same year R if you drove them back to back (it did not really need to be back to back to notice the difference). For me the answer to this was pretty obvious and do not regret it for one second.

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