bernmc

Talk about a thread hijack !!!! Absolutely gorgeous car Sarnie. Who'd have thought a yellow car could look so good :teeth:') The next time you do it, you have to persist with the clay bar. Never mind the detailer spray - as suggested, mix up a bucket of shampoo - even that Meguiars stuff will do , put some of it in a spray bottle, and use that to lubricate (rrrrrr). Spray a small area at a time, and gently rub. It'll be worth it. Trust me - I know a doctor!

mmm. I wouldn't pay 20K for a Z with 54000 miles on it. Parkers values a 54 GT with 10000 miles at just over 20K (private)... Nissan 350Z Coupé 3.5 V6 GT 3d 2004/54 Insurance Group 18 Average mileage: 10,000 miles Cost New ('04) £ 26982 Franchised Dealer £ 22095 Independent Dealer £ 21270 Private Good £ 20445 Private Poor £ 18585 Part Exchange £ 20030 Wisebuyers mileage adjusted price: Car valuation adjusted for 54,000 miles Retail: £20,151 The valuations quoted are prices you should aim to pay for a used car, not the advertised price. You should adjust your valuation to allow for extras that were not standard specification. Private Good: £18,601 Private Average: £17,441 Private Poor: £16,671 Part Exchange: £18,021 Trade: £17,829 You have to remember that even though the car is only just over a year old age-wise, mileage-wise, its 5 years old. Lots of big things to start doing after 50K.

Good Price! Buy buy buy, dammmit buy!

Small world. We're also just off the A5 heading towards yokelland. The supertracker guy is very enthusiastic, and seems pretty competant. I've always heard good things about protyre though, so don't know if Brit could live up to it. The operator is keen to show off his toy- he's invited me in both times I've been (in fact, when I took the VR4 in yesterday, he spotted me in the car park, and grabbed my keys from the back of the queue and took the car straight in!), so you'll get to keep an eye on things! Price is £15 (inc VAT) for each wheel adjusted.

Bridgestone REO40's don't seem to have a very good reputation. Popular alternatives in price order: Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3's (my favourites!); Toyo Proxy T-R's; Falken 452's.

Problem with meg's endurance gloss [*:1kzivodb]It's as sticky as a sticky thing on a sticky day - it's an absolute swine to clean off anything, includig the applicator pads. [*:1kzivodb]I've also noticed that it doesn't seem to 'dry' completely (ever), so if you accidently rub against the tyre at a later date, you end up with a big black smudge on your knee/trewsers - see 1st point! I've just started Zaino's Z16 which seems to work quite well. One coat for a nice mat finish, 2 for a bit more shine. Doesn't have the same pant-blackening qualities either! Clay bar should be good for 3-4 cars with moderate contamination.

Just booked my place. C'mon c'mon c'mon you lot - I want to meet some of you down there! Our first track day, so don;t be afraid - there's someone less experienced than you there! Get your bums in gear! Ps Kenso at Hyeline is a really nice chap! Top marks. Waiting for details on a 450BHP upgrade for the legnum

ooh, yow little beauty! Downloading now!

Oops- didn't read to the end of the thread!

Try a bit of heat? Cheap gas torches at any local DIY. Couple of good whacks with a hammer to break it loose? 1 meter breaker bar? Halfrauds do a brake piston compressor, although I'm not sure if it would fit the brembos. I usually just us a dirty great screwdriver (or two in the case of two pistons per side - else they just see-saw). Might help to open the bleed screw while you compress.

mmmm. Had a little play with an Alpha 156 GTA today. They're 250bhp/220lb/ft but a bit lighter than the z... Found the ESP cutting in 1/2 way through every roundabout. He never looked like overtaking (except when he tried to undertake in traffic, the plonka), but I wasn't getting away either. He was better under braking too, which confirms my grumbles about the standard brembo's - must change those pads!

Just pulling your leg Saw your sig and couldn't resist! I'm ex-South Africa dontchaknow... cop cars are yellow over there . There's also a bright yellow Seat Cupra R cop car that lurks around Nuneaton - more of the same I say - they're easier to spot!

I've only had the Z out in anger a few times now, but I've already found that cussed ESP light flashing it's big brother interference . It may have something to do with my driving style - I'm a big fan of the 4WD rally derivatives which realy respond to being taken by the scruff of the neck and hurled around, so I may have to be a bit more gentle with the Z. However, considering I've got the 19inch NISMO alloys with 275 rubber on the bag, I've found the ESP cutting power far mor than I'd have expected it to... if it really is sensing impending wheelspin. My VR4 has traction control too - quite why Mitsubishi thought that something with an intelligent 4WD system and Active Yaw Control also needed TCL, I simply cannot fathom. It's the first thing I switch off when I get in the car (and if I forget to, I nearly always regret it!). In 14 months of owning the VR4, and over 20000 miles on everything including 40 miles/day on very wet and very bumpy country roads, I've yet to have a moment where I thought that TCL would have done anything other than slow me down... but what about the Z...? How many of you routinely switch off the ESP? How intrusive do you find it... and more importantly, when you do switch it off, do you need to change your underpants when you get home? Is the back too frisky for fast road driving without ESP? I can see I'm going to switch it off pretty soon - it's too frustrating to have to wait to try it on a track, but I'm worried about ending up in a hedge!

A yellow car... surely no-one will buy that????!!!! :teeth:

...must be sold already then. You might want to post the most important details like model year and mileage

W3NKR :teeth: that's not very far from W4NKR (probably the dutch version?):teeth: not sure I'd pay a grand to drive around with that on!!! Swap you my std plenum and cats...

The engine is at it's most efficient at it's torque peak - so that's around 4000rpm in std form (I think - check), whatever speed that is in 6th. However you then have to factor in wind and rolling resistance which is not a linear relationship with speed (ie going from 60-70 mph uses a lot less energy than going from 70-80). That is the joy of science - sounds impressive, but I still don't know what the answer is :blush:

Intersting post - particularly the 'everything is an extra' bit. We drove the RX8 and the baby Merc when we were considering the Z. Never even got to the boxster for exactly that reason - even in standard form it's expensive - to get it to anything close to decent spec you needed a second morgage! The merc was much the same (and also uninspiring!). I've never been a great fan of porsches, but I've never driven one, so it's nice to hear that there are other people in the world who feel the same way! Incidently, we went to test drive a Z in COventry - the salesman was such a prick that we walked out. Fortunatley we didn't give up and drove 20 miles in the opposite direction to another dealer who couldn't do enough for us. Give us the keys, pointed at the car and said 'have fun!' Think of what we have missed if we just walked away...

yes. Just be careful if you disassemble and clean the oil out - the piston does need some grease in the right places (it's usually red in colour), so don't just chuck the whole thing in some degreaser unless you've got some spare grease. I usually just wipe the top of the piston off carefully, as well as the surface it closes against. There are often oil catch cans on fleabay, and they're easy to install - I just haven't got round to it yet.

Truely, a man of culture and breeding !!

Quite a good site for tyre info is TireRack - nice pics, and a useful user review/rating system. mytyres.com also have links to tyre tests for each tyre, but no comparison tables (which tirerack does). The A048's are essentially street legal slicks. A lot of the EVO boys use them in the summer, but you'll have to tiptoe in the rain - hard enough when you've got 280bhp going through four wheels and a clever computer to try to sort things out. Unltimately you have to decide how much you want to compromise, and in what areas. A tyre will only ever be able to give 100% in one area - it'll never be the best at everything. You want maximum grip, you lose longevity because you need a soft, sticky compound. You want maximum dry performance, you lose wet grip because in the dry, the more rubber on the road, the better the grip. In the wet, you need channels in the rubber to squeeze the water away from the rubber in contact with the ground. A tyre that gives maximum traction in a straight line is very different to one that gives maximum cornering grip, and so on. I have this problem whenever I come to buy new tyres, and I always seem to end up getting F1 GSD3's - they just seem to do everything well! The main complaint is their softish sidewalls if you do a lot of track days, but for a road tyre, they're hard to beat. And if you;re going fast enough to break traction with F1's, you probably should be on the track !!

Nismo far 2 common but so pretty....

Mine sticks a bit because of oil buildup in the intake system (from the crankcase breather) - thin film of oil on the top of the piston makes it stick to the housing by capilliary action. Tends to make it reluctant to open coming off boost. Need to install an oil catch tank. Leebar's problem is that the valve is too willing to open, not that it's sticking.

Small World !!!! Wish I'd met you - would have wheedled a ride in the passenger seat! I had to leave early on the day (job interview on the Monday that I had a ton to do for). Owning a 350Z was just a dream then. I've probably got pics of your car on my PDA - I took loads that weekend and the weekend before to send to my wife (she's the official Z owner - I just get to borrow it whenever I can convince her that she needs load capacity!).

Yeah - we had a clubvr4 dyno day there (great fun). A couple of us went down the weekend before to have a look-see and help them set up for the VR4's as they hadn't run them before. They had two Z's in at the time - one getting two hairdryers, and one getting a SC. Great bunch. Agree about that exhaust - 30BHP !!!