Eh how can the HICAS deletion cause the handling to worsen? Why not just remove the fuse to disable HICAS and test the effect prior to a lockbar? Irregardless of the Hicas system failing - its more of an expense to repair than keep for most. But while its okay for most street setups, in my opinion its detremental for Track/race conditions. HICAS allows a twitch of counter steer when turning at high speed (or upsetting the yaw rate/weight disturbance at the rear of the vechicle), ~ primarily intended for overtaking manovering travelling at around 100kmph. Translating that effect to a race track scenario then the countersteer effect is not ideal, as it is initiated by a computer and not the driver. With HICAS equiped you'd get a bit more lateral acceleration very briefly and then the car would suddenly start to yaw out of the turn! This effect is like a twitch which needs to be caught/corrected, and isnt great when exiting the corner and religning the car back online down a straight.
You could set a hicas to trigger lock out mode which it has built in as more of a sefty feature i am lead to believe, i simply took mine out and put in an NA subframe.
Had the name long ago... me and the boys were on the piss one night and thought it would be a good laugh, i've carried the name for yearssss lol i did some drifting in my mates TT zed a couple of days ago and i could really feel the hicas trying to throw me around, it is a very strange feeling.... HICAS has it's pro's and cons depending on intended purpose. and its just down to personal preferance really. for me it is less to go wrong, and more predictable driving, i know what the car will do, once things start getting sideways / past the normal limits it was never designed for.... i'd rather be without it.
I like my big strong 9" diff so I just locked the rear and rid the system. No dramas with the ratio either. I found drifting without HICAS was far better for catching wider angle. HICAS is limiting in drift and leads to plenty of spins. Needless to say it was removed very soon after 2 sessions.
I think it works one way up to 60 to 80 klms and then changes to the opposite so for track days it feels like the back is floating and has amind of ite own it is much better to lock it then you can feel the back with power rather than just letting it do its own thing matt
Video - Super HICAS yeh its locked till about something like 30 - 40kmh then turns with the wheel then about 80-100 then it turns in reverse - as per video - (speeds are not exact - dont know offhand but something like that) so its three stage but one stage is locked I guess this is the test to see if its working fine - which I'll try soon to rig up just to make sure its working properly given whats been said Super HICAS in action - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSqT_8vxgHk Certainly contraversial and argumentative as to whether its removed or not based on what everyone has said. It was good to get different opinions to consider my options and why people do it. Given I use mine on the highway and not a drift/race track - its value in high inertia/ yaw recovery when speed maneouvering is a safety / handling advantage (i.e. without hicas the counter inertia is not present in a high speed maneuvour - so it wont recover as fast) and is the reason it was designed. So for me I guess, its best leave it on still I was really concerned at first about the accidents mentioned but looking at the video it doesnt look like the rear could veer to much even if the safety failed and the broken rod (oops - dont know the name yet - mys head crammed already) in the picture looks as if it was stress fracture related more than a hicas failure as such, someone might know more about the circumstances of the accidents than me - im just going off the photo oh - anyone know - is the electrical version (being on later models) better than the hydraulic version - I assume it is being later. Is it easy to convert it to electrical - simply a curiosity question rather than an intention anyway thanks for the input everyone - helped a lot in understanding hicas Linda
In theory the Electronic (or so dubbed "SUPER" by Nissan) HICAS is more responsive and stable. I've never heard of anyone doing an upgrade conversion from the early Hyradulic system - However I can imagine it would be an expensive and major undertaking. I've test driven both versions of early/late models and the different HICAS systems are notoriously difficult to access for everyday driving/feels almost the same-not that I was pushing it hard on public streets. I would certainly favour the idea of Super HICAS being equipped for high way roads (ie like the Autobahn) though.
super hicas sucks bad! i got it in my zed, take off onto a freeway or something where you need to go from a standstill into traffic and a turn is needed makes the rear a bit unpredicable as it snaps in at 40kmph. not to mention the turning circle is something MASSIVE at low speeds.
I love HICAS, i'd never take it off, if it broke i'd replace it. While many street drivers may block it off so that they can do 'fully sick drifts' at 30kmph in carparks, it can be drifted with the HICAS in place anyway but then again i'd rather go around a corner on the limit of traction than oversteering and wasting rubber.
Umm, I believe the HICAS/Super HICAS activates around 80+kmph. I'd hypothesize that you are experiancing the effects of aged bushings / shot tyres/wheels or something equally severe. I at least know full well that HICAS bears no effect at 40ks or for a low speed turning radius.
A few reasons I removed it>> Ugly hydraulic solenoids in the engine bay. Upsets the handling (IMHO) after upgrading the rear end to pretty much solid rosejoints instead of flexible bushes. Especially noticed this doing driving events as I was over correcting for what I thought was a loose back end. Didn't like the prospect of servicing it. Didn't like the weight of it (although I did end up replacing the weight with a stereo so while that's a bit of a mute point a HICAS bar can't keep me entertained like a stereo can )
just over 30kgs (hydraulic) this is full removal of everything including swapping over of to N/A pump.
