sipar69

Some of you were good enough to advise me about body shops recently when I needed to get a scratch on the door of my Z sorted. I thought I'd share my experiences and a few lessons I've learnt along the way. About 3 weeks ago I opened my door on to a stone lamp post. Didn't seem like much of a knock and I didn't realise I'd put a scratch on the door until a few days later. The scratch was only about 1.5cm long, but quite noticeable because of where it was. To say it bugged me would be a major understatement. First lesson - I must have spent about £100 and many hours on DIY solutions - Chipex (actually quite good for stone chips), Paint4u touch-up, rubbing compound, coloured wax etc. Nothing got the desired result. In the end, I made it worse by rubbing off a patch of clear coat. Second lesson - When we (I say we, I mean "she" ) got a nasty scratch on our previous Z's bumper we went for convenience and booked into the nearest body shop to our house. Result - a repaired area that I could see due to poorly matched paint. They even lacquered a bit fluff into the finish . This time, thanks to some great advice from folks on here, I ended up taking the car to TGM in Fleet. TGM already have a great reputation on here for their mechanical work (Tom fitted my Stillen), but I think the body shop run by Tom's brother Willie, is less well known. Their quote was quite high compared to other places, but I'd figured you probably get what you pay for so I booked in. Due to my previous experiences I was quite nervous picking the car up on Tuesday. I didn't need to be. TGM did a fantastic job. No matter how hard I try, I cannot see any trace of the repair. It's flawless. I've posted a pic of the door. The scratch was a few inches below and to the right of the door handle - no trace of it or the repair now. I guess what I've learnt overall (apart from to be more careful near lamp posts) is that it's best to bite the bullet and go to the pros in the first place! I wasted so much time and money trying to sort the problem out myself - money I might just have well put towards the pro repair job! Cheers to everyone who PM'd me with advice from a happy and relieved forum member!

And from me!

I think your 350 looks really good in the blue!

Damn you Now I'm thinking I do want to add the Berks after all....

Work at Judicial Office - (manage a team which does a range of work from appointing new magistrates to complex policy and litigation) Reason for buying a Z - wanted an affordable sports car that was a bit different to the norm.... TTs, boxters etc

If you look at the car front-on it would probably be quite hard to clip the mirror without first hitting the wheel arch!

Me too - wonder if they are still available....? I have the black Richbrook Z holder and it's very nice, but a "Black Edition" version with the number of my car would be great

I might be tempted on the basis that it would be another way of avoiding a nasty bump on the bum and I don't like the look of parking sensors.

That's odd - I didn't think you could get the camera unless you had the GT Edition (which have the darker wheels and only come in white and black I think) as opposed to the GT pack. Either way - great car

That's the PS figure - and Nissan say 325bhp + or - depending on exact models, buy that is at the flywheel. On the basis mine now has 310.3 bhp at the hubs, that approximately equates to around 340bhp (+ or -) at the flywheel. Mark (Abbey) Fdoes remind us that there are variables for individual cars, hence the "+ or -". But they are just numbers. The real 'gain' is on the road and I can assure you the combination of the exhaust and uprev has made the car hugely satisfying and has been money well spent, in my book. Looks like I'm following your example again Colin. Booked in for my uprev at Abbey a week Saturday

Subject to Mark confirming the exact time, I should be taking mine to Abbey for the Uprev at the end of this month..... I gave some serious thought to the HFCs too but I'm just not sure enough to take the plunge. Car sounds great as it is so I think I'll pass for now.

Pop bangs!?!?!? Tell me more (in newbie layman's language please!) You can map the car so that on overrun (off the throttle, revs dropping, low load) the car will dump a bit of fuel into the exhaust where it will ignite and give somewhere between a little pop to an almighty bang and flames. Can look quite cool, but not sure its the best for the Zed! A little popping could sound nice though. Google it, usually on Scoobies, Evos, Focus RS. Not sure how well it works on NA cars. Sounds a) scary fantastic!!!!

Pop bangs!?!?!? Tell me more (in newbie layman's language please!)

Just wondering......does the remap have any affect on the way the car sounds?

Welcome to the Stillen brigade! You will love it!

I try not to think about that Rog! Be impressive if I’d not waited til I was 41 to get around to taking my test . We owned our first 370 for about 6 months before I passed (I did one of those one week intensive courses). Every Sunday morning I used to drag my better half out and practice in a local car park. Must have looked a right sight chugging around in a big white Z at 10 mph ! I’ve got just about enough sense (I think…most of the time) to resist the urge to drive like an 18 year old in a middle aged man’s body.

Would it be fair to say that you have to drive a car like the Z quite a bit to really get to grips with it and appreciate it? Bit hard for me to say as it's the only car I've owned and only the second I've ever driven (the other being the Fiesta I took my lessons in ). My other half has been driving for years and on quite long commutes in a variety of cars e.g. Corrado, Calibra, but she still found the Z quite a handful to begin with. I don't drive to work but when I was new to driving I forced myself to get out and drive the Z as often as I could to get used to it. Now I love it

I looked at quite a few forums in the US when deciding which exhaust to go for. Although I ended up going for the Stillen I remember the Invidia getting pretty good reviews from owners over there.

So the good news is, as long as I don't overdo it, I can carry on making the "Grrrr" s ound without killing the car

Cheers - I'm definitely slowing down before the down-shift and presumably the syncro rev match on the 370 helps to get the revs right....? Just love the sound it makes!

Not sure if this is a daft question, but bear in mind I've only been driving for a year and a bit........... Is block-dowshifting - say from 4th to 2nd when about to turn - bad for the Z? It sounds great with the Revmatch / Stillen but I don't know if it's supposed to be a no-no in terms of the effect on the car?

Cheers Chris - I'll order some. Thanks for the advice on application. I intend to apply only enough touch up to fill the very small area which I can feel with my finger nail. I'll also order some of the touch up 'spears' on their site, as I can then use it for stone chips as well. Once it's dried I'll re-glaze and wax. I put the KAV code in on their site and it just said "Grey". I'll add some additional info to make sure they know it's the Quartz special edition paint.

Thanks to my own clumsiness and a lamp post outside our house I’ve managed to get a thin vertical scratch about 1.5 cm long on the Z’s door. I’ve polished with G3 and concealed it with Black Hole Glaze, but there’s a small area where it’s still visible close up. It’s not visible enough to warrant professional attention, so I’m just wondering if anyone has ordered / used Quartz touch up paint for the Anniversary Edition (was considering paints 4U). Be good to know how the colour match was etc…

Good to hear it's getting sorted Rog. Fingers crossed for some good weather ahead!

+1. Personally I couldnt give a @*!# if the roof replacement cost was into the thousands. Why should you accept anything other than a perfect roof for what is essentially a brand new car? Do not let them try and fob you off. Its clearly not fit for purpose so needs replacing. You might have a fight on your hands but dont back down. No way in hell I would let them near a roof like that of mine and glue it thats for sure. Too right! Ask nicely and if that doesn't work harrass, badger and demand a new roof til you get one