Zzzz...

My 10p worth... and a bit long winded... I'm with theMinel guys... sorry but it is true you get what you pay for... I am not getting into the discussion of pretty wheel or ugly wheels...but With expensive rims you get the development that goes behind it... Anyone can get onto a PC with CAD data of a wheel and plot STRES/STRAIN analysis (Spurious Finite Element Analysis software can be downloaded for free from the net!!!) under standard loadings and impact conditions. This will give you a calculated representation of the performance in market according to a piece of software (algorithms and calculations methods can vary significantly from one program to another... ) You can then test the wheels for these standard conditions and check the performance, and it can give you "real parts" re-assurance... but that is it... and it will be a small sample of test parts. What you pay for on expensive wheels is going the extra mile , checking more severe loads and things such a durability, fatigue, etc, which you can only do by running the wheels for long periods in test tracks that cost money, with drivers that have to be able to cope with high speed driving over long periods (I guess they will be premium rate drivers). Not only that but bench tests etc... and again cheap companies might try and get away with the minimum...saving on development and time and manpower...it all adds up... Understanding where the limit of the strength of the wheel is and what that equates to in "real use" . Ensuring no fatal failure can occurr taking into account the worst case scenario, of used in markets ( not just UK but the whole world) Think other EU roads are worse that UK roads... You then move into manufactruing and the quality standards that guarantee the casting process, forging processes etc... and the tolerance in the parts performance. I don't know for a fact, but imagine that Nissan would demand a very tight tolerance from the nominal performance they specify, for example within 5% of specified...this means anything outside of this range is scrapped... that is why they cost more ... But suppliers could be making wheels that have a 20% performance difference from nominal....(so long as they pass homologation requirements , which are always the MINIMUM requirement. ) you could end up with a very strong wheel and a very weak wheel in the same car... purely on manufacturing variation... and this is not visible in the shop... Cosmetic corrosion etc,,, is another issue and an area where companies can cut down and offer a 1 year warranty etc... that's another matter, more marketing and maybe getting you to buy new wheels after the 1 year expires... but these companies will not build a reputation for quality... I am only interested in wheels structurally. I want to have confidence that the wheel is designed to survive the life of the car and perform over and above basic requirements. ( and my capability, or lack of capability....) A small cheapo company will give you an assurance that in normal conditions and potential normal accidents, the wheel will have a minimum level of performance... That's it... I don't want to have a doubt in my mind as to how these wheels have been manufactured and tested... They are what decide how my car behaves ... and stays on the balck stuff.. What I think is that I want to be sure that the wheel will survive anything i throw at them , high G', High centrifugal forces, a few kerbing strikes, which are not going to cause a delayed fatigue failure later on... etc... If you are going to buy wheels you should buy wheels that match or exceed nissan owns wheels , ( and then decide which are nice ones...) unfortunately I think this means spending a lot of money... It is why I am not buying wheels yet... to be honest I would not even buy Nismo Wheels... they are design-orientated for race track use...( very specific conditions...), where the concpet of replacing wheels after each race etc... is not so strange... I would go more towards companies with Euro and Rally experience... Konig, OZ, etc... [/img]

I am tempted but I think i would go all-out and go for red... get the 2WW submarine feel...(DAS-BOOT) of or the Amsterdam Brothel window (No experience honest... just heard about it ... of course...)

They are both the same, definetely.... and one thing I noticed...little hint/tip for all stereos... The control you are always most likely to use is the volume, so this should always be closer to the driver (so he is not stretching etc...) , and this is always on the left, because the majority of Europe will require it on that side... for UK of course this puts it far away from the driver as possible... but for the rest of the world it is on the "right" side... It adds cost to production to make a unique UK spec with volume controls on the right hand side of the unit...and another with volume control on the left hand side... so i guess all OEM equipment is designed for the continent.. and in UK we are used to see it on the LH side... This maybe generalised and there maybe units with volume controls on the RHS but check if they are from a japanese maker...in that case it will make sense...(UK-JPN dirver side...) same as indicator controls in old imports compared to euro models (Jap import indicator stalk always on the right, in Europe indicator stalk on the LH) GOOGLE is amazing ...

I think the screen is the same (Xanavi system on Xtrail and Zed is the same...) however the Bracketry to fix it...is all wrong... and to find the bracketry alone for the Z without the screen... will be impossible ... unless you are really crafty and can make your own ... and you might even be able to covert it to a TV/CAM? ... look at this car in http://www.swooby.com/z/navpc/

THAT Bumper shows individuality... it says out loud...WHEN I GROW OLD I WANT TO BE A TRANSFORMER!!!

or... how about YOU design your UNIQUE wheels that you want? you can even have them certified as being 1 OFF's ... How I hear you ask.... mmmmm simple go to BRAID.ES They are quite famous in the continent... but not in UK. http://www.braid.es/billet/llantas/tecl ... llaENG.htm

My ten pence for what is worth... and to give another perspective... Rather than agreeing with the above I am going to throw a few spanners in the work to give more points for discussion. In my honest opinion... 20" Wheels (rating in "stars") Styling: *****, definetely the way to go. Performance: *, Completely No good, for too many reasons, many already mentioned above... 19" Wheels Styling: ****, definetely will enhance the look of the car Performance : ***, with Std suspension could enhance track performance, but deteriorate UK normal road performance. 18" Wheels Styling **, No change, though some 18" can give the appearance of larger rims... Performance: In std. format, Ok on smooth track ( I guess), and Not really ideal on UK ROAD Now then If you combine any of the above with lowering... with the majority of kits you effectively reduce the suspension travel and harden the damping force, so at uk (normal) road speed the ride comfort will be decreased and make handling more difficult (where do you spend most of your time???...) . And the lower the profile the tyre the less suspension effect you get from the tyre wall. And I won't go into fuel economy etc... 20" & lowering = completely unless you are going to park in at shows only... regarding the nurburgring, i have seen the photos and heard the reviews from mates..,. it is not a race track, smooth. It is a toll road used for racing around by most car companies and race enthusiasts... and everyone realises it is a fast road...not very well maintained.... as such I have heard that lowering suspension, big alloys, etc... makes you look good but does not make you faster. A good example is that DUKE dvd on Skyline (HALFORD...I got it) and there is a guy with an untra cool high powered R34 and lowered, and this "ringmeister" said it was difficult to drive due to this ... (this is the ring meister who set the record of the fastest production car lap around the ring in a R34 STANDARD set up...) My opinion...( for what it's worth...) go for 19" and slightly wider rubber , don't lower it ( does it really look raised as std?? but find yourself a set of dampers that are maybe a spot softer that standard (Bilsteins do some... and TEIn could be tuned for that.) and keep the current springs... (Stiffer springs will harden the ride, and make the tyres bounce off bumps too much...the original ones feel ok I think it is the damping that is too hard). This will mean you will keep the tyres more time in contact with the track, allowing you to put the power down effectively... so long as you don't drastically reduce the damping it will not affect the overall feel and performance of the car and it will make living with it, day-by-day a lot better. but that's my opinion... ( also reccomend to watch that skyline DVD from halfords... ) you'll see what I mean about stiff lowered cars around the 'ring...

Owners manual...

have you tried these ? No , i just investigated following this thread... As for the boot light i am only guessing but i bet you can...

I Think the OSRAM ones would go really weel in the boot area, specially in winter nights and with that pissy poor bulb in the back.... also... they cost 4.50 in the web page ... does the code allow to get them for less than £3.30??? if not... have a look at this 9 LED beauty... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1pc-Festoon-Dome- ... dZViewItem

There is always an argument for individuality... that's what a kit can provide... plus in this case this one is designed to enhance the aerodinamic downforce effect, considering the higher driving speeds we encounter in Europe... i don't know if a Nismo Kit designed in a country where 100kph is the speed limit on motorways, can make that kind of driving benefit... J-Lo with a Cindy Crawford Mole? (It gets better by the minute)

Flat spot under acceleration could be air flow mass meter sensor fault mis-reading? If you accelerate hard you inject loads of fuel but if the air feed is not enough or the sensor takes a long time to realise the throttle input, it might not be feeding enough air , then suddenly the sensor catches up and corrects... (I am not tecchie but i heard of this kind of effect) have you been tinkering in the engine bay, with air induction kits? is the air flow mass sensor cables or connectors damaged? could it be injectors not responding correctly? Have you had the exhaust replaced, (gas flow leak, chages in pressure in the exhaust...) hummm me thinks a diagnostics kit could be usefull...

yeah . the front is very neat, plus I like the detailing of the RR bumper side vents ,l copying the front side indicator shapes and the deeper wrap around the exhaust bumper... of course it makes this lady's arse look even bigger... but i like J-LO's ...

or and

After much looking and scouring the interweb...I have come to the decision that the STROSEK Kit ( as seen on that black car from Nissan) has to be the best kit, simple, well built aerodynamically tested, understated, but presents a good stance Not to sure about the cannon bore hole in the bumper if you don't have a s/charger but hey... adds to the image... My pennies are being saved for this now... decided... Opinions, please ...plus do you know if it is for sale in UK? I can only find from Japan and Germany...

if it is testing in nurburgring and considering the amount of promotion put forward by Nissan Uk... It WILL COME 100% but now there is a new NSX with FR engine RWD 2+2 and a V10 Coming up....hummm decisions decisions...

yes he has I now have a very annoying woman inside my dash panel.... PARDON .... PARDON ...

I think it is over a whole year... Some of the jounreys take you the the most northern parts of the scotland and the western-est side of wales...etc... so you have to take weekends to do them and if there is 80 sites ... you'll need a year at least to go through the whole list... I am tempted to ask the organisers if they'll handover last years list maybe free, and we could give it a go? If not it might be possible to generate something similar by ourselves...

I have heard from a biker mate about this Round Britain Rally EVENT http://www.roundbritainrally.co.uk/about.htm The basic outline : 1. You register, and pay. 2. You get a list of locations and Points of Interest hidden by a series of statements (a bit of detective work required) 3. You guess the location, you go there you take a photo of your bike at the point of interest with yourself in the photo ans stamp the card with the relevant Location 4. Each location has different scores ( depending on difficulty location etc... ) 5. End of the year you get a final winner with loads of nice places visited. Don't you think this would be a great idea for cars also? perhaps a "Round Britain Rally with my Zed" Everyone can go there by themselves, in their own time. It is bit competitive, because you want to show off where you have been, and the score. You get to see some beautiful places in England, Scotland and Wales. It can generate random "meets" if several people land in the same point of interest at once... (nice surprise...) -Have you guys heard of anything like this for CARS?

really? ok....i didn't know cos' I never run things on lowest spec...(i think my tyres are Y's) but my point is reinforced then ...

today I'm Mr..."challenge generic statements" I am not saying this is rubbish, but how many actually spray the tyre directly, and does this really apply to Zeds with good tyres ? I know I always aim at the alloy when close "jetting". PLUS...on the Zed, V rating on tyres means they should be assured to very high speed, right?, this means it is assured to withstand high centrifugal forces, high g, cornering forces, temperatures...etc for the life of the tyre... I think this advice for cheapo' tyres with a low tyre rating with a wide tyrewall... ok... but for HP & UHP tyres ...

I enquired a while back with nissan about this, and how much it would cost to get a nissan orginal one fitted.... OUCHHHHH... > The program CD-ROM / DVD is required for software updates and to store languages into the system. > NISSAN recommend always to use the latest version of the program CD or DVD, because the program CD / DVD might include system software corrections. (AND PAY LOAD's MONEY...) ( around 100-150quid) > Map CD-ROM or DVD are exclusively developed to enable the specific 3D 'Birdview' operation. (all europe is around 200 quid?) there has only been 1 upgrade for the Z around the middle of 2006 I think this is shown in the part number. KE287-99900-04 compared to KE287-99900-03 I think this part number will be indicated somewhere in the disc , so just check if it is a 3 or a 4...

Dragsters are the most pointless cars in my view... 1-It has no bearing on the original car. 2-There is no steering (other than to keep it straight & stop you killing yourself ... 3-Spent thousands on achieving a 3 or 4 second run GREAT! SORRY ... don't get it...

NO CHANCE!!! in order to do that N would need a2.0 l engine or similar with potential to become a sporty beast... and they have not had anything barely resembling sporty since the SR20 engine ( fitted to the Primera 2.0 GT, and the 200SX with turbo , pulsar etc... ) The LEGENDARY SR20 has evolved into a TR20 dull lump... look below the VQ35 engine and see it you find a "good engine" with "good enough" performance. UNLESS ... the bring over here the TR25 from the Sentra-R ( a tarted up almera with a 2.5 litre engine... but considering emissions etc... I don't think this old lump will be good enough for the next 5 years or so... In ther mid 90's N had it going for themselves and then decided to go bland and average (skyline's, 300ZX, 200sx, pulsars, Primera GT, ALMERA GTetc... ) ...they would need to develop a completely new engine... and that takes a lot of time ,... me thinks... so in my opinion... i'll believe it when i see it... Captain sensible, and Mr negative today...ranting off...