docwra

Was this the Redline test? Stav mentioned there were some pretty impressive results. Light wheels are the way forward unless you are a 0-60 legend then.

Better in terms of grip? No. Better balanced? Yes. Happy now?

Safer then? Grip is a pretty good thing for me.

Not sure if you deliberately ignored the word "knowingly" in my post, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

How can you fail to realise that your tyres arent matched - theyve got the names down the sides

Im honestly not looking to argue here, I do agree with you, but its the massive generalisation and the removal of the driver and his judgement from this equation that I think is a bit wide of the mark.

Hang on, I was talking about an FWD application and if you read the first posts its not asking for recommendations, a guy has a number of solutions and wants to know the best one for him.

I agreed that good matched tyres are the best option, but this claim that mismatched tyres will make you crash immediately is preposterous.

The biggest factor in every single crash every is the person behind the wheel. If you choose to drive exactly the same way on a wet road running 4 matched OMG Ditchfinders as you would on a dry road with a spanking set of RE050's then the crash you will have is not down to the mismatch.

IIRC you never actually answered the question "Are 4 worn Nankang NS-2's better than 2 new RE050's and 2 new RE040's" ......... anyone who has driven on them knows the answer, but I guess this destroys your oversimplistic argument. As with most things in life there isnt one single answer that covers everything.

I'll just say that anyone who knowingly puts mismatched tyres on their car of any kind is a complete idiot and deserves to end up in a hedge backwards.

So at least half of of the population are idiots then, and deserve to write their cars off. Great attitude.

So braking, water displacement and the freewheeling properties arent important on the front either then?

As for the weight argument, if theres less at the back why would you need better tyres? Less weight needs less grip to keep it on the straight and narrow.

Cant believe people are actually suggesting that was CGI ........ its not *that* difficult ........

It was pretty good last year actually. Ill be there on the SXOC stand but if theres a 350Z one then Id be happy to slip my car on??

I took it to Marshall Nissan and they confirmed it was the ballast unit, telling me that a replacement was only sold with the a new headlight. If there are wires or connectors involved then I shouldnt have a problem replacing them. Ive been trying to get hold of Lee for the past month or so - anyone know where hes gone?? - and Ill PM Alex now - cheers matey

I drove my 350Z into a hedge last year and part of the damage was that both headlight covers were scratched. Rather than pay the incredibly extortionate price for replacements, I managed to source some new covers and replaced both. So far, so good.

Unfortunately one of the covers wasnt sealed properly, so there has been some condensation forming in the light. The light stopped working a few weeks ago, and after its latest service Im told the ballast pack has gone and the whole light unit needs replacing as the ballasts arent sold seperately. This is an even scarier price than it was last time round.

So, does anyone know if I can get ballasts seperately, or if there are decent replacement lights available that could do the job? Cheers in advance

In an FWD car the front wheels are doing the driving, braking and steering. The rears are just going round a bit. Why the hell would you not want your best tyres on the fronts??

I was fairly vocal in the other matched tyres thread, so Ill just say one thing.

Why does everybody arguing against mixed tyres automatically assume that the driver goes at exactly the same speed, on exactly the same road surface, in exactly the same conditions every time?? Is there no chance that the driver might adjust to the different conditions, i.e go a little slower as they are aware there is not the grip there?

Ive said it before and Ill say it again - road conditions make 100 times more difference to the way your car drives than the tyres its wearing, but we dont all stay at home when it rains do we?? Everyone is talking about lift off oversteer and stuff here, but being totally honest, if mismatched tyres are dangerous to you then you definitely shouldnt be experimenting with LOS, as you obviously cant adjust your driving to the situation.

Spare has a speed limit on it

Get rid of the Avons ASAP. Horrible tyres in my experience.

If you are really that skint Id be tempted to put the backs on the front so they are matched and then go with a cheapo replacement on the rear. Not ideal, but better than not being able to drive the car.

Rear tyres arent so important in FWD in my experience ........

The sales lady "Andrea Neal" (who tells lies) said to me "am I serious about purchasing the car as she's fed up of taking people out in it!!"

 

She made me feel like a timewaster!!

I can beat it - Ive been considering a new car recently and wanted to test drive a Focus RS. First garage flatly refused a test drive "unless you buy it first" and the second one took 5 minutes of arguing before they'd let me drive it. Apparently its quite normal to spend 30 grand on a car youve never driven.

This is considering I was booking in advance, turned up in a very tidy Z33, and had test driven a £58K Lexus and a £71K Porsche the day before. Way to make a sale guys.

Just took mine in for service - the aircon wasnt regassed like Id paid for, the car wasnt cleaned like they actually made a point of asking and they charged me for filling the washer bottle that I dont have. FNSH probably finishes here

I happened to have a tour of the Ferrari factory a few weeks back, including the production line for the 458 (they m,ake the Cali on the same line, V12's are upstairs). It is absolutely achingly beautiful, and seeing them being driven off to Fiorano to be tested I can confirm it makes an amazing noise too. The McLaren is going to have to be something special to come near to the soul stirring effect the 458 has, for sure.

All of the cars they are making for at least the next 3 months are sold, and I was surprised to see about 3 in 10 were RHD as well. I also asked if they had any test driver jobs going but sadly they are all taken

So what widths and offsets are you looking at then??

Aye, its the old function/form argument. I keep getting told my car nmeeds to be lower to the ground by extreme modification types, but as it stands it wont go over speedbumps without much teeth clenching. Like that

So I have the choice of being a hero to a load of keyboard warriors who probably drive Fiesta diesels, or actually being able to drive the car. Tricky one that.

On a standard, unmolested arch I dont think you could go much past 10J ET0. With rolling and flaring you might get another 15mm, so 10J ET -15 or 12 ET10, but Ive not seen it done Id hasten to add.

Thats a 19x11 ET4 but I know theres some archwork done there.

Thats 18x10.5 ET-8 and looks like its just been lipped, not flared. www.rimtuck.com is your friend

BTW, Im running 10 ET -44 but thats with a 65mm arch extension ...........

go on paul buy them you know you want too!!

After reading the threads. I think i will stick to stock setup. However i do admit that the car has a better stance with spacers on.

 

The difference is not as great as the OP is making out IMO. He works in this area and therefore has a better 'feel' for this kind of thing. He notices every slight difference in this area, I probably wouldn't notice if someone pinched a wheel and replaced it with my spacesaver

 

I would get them, if you notice a difference and you don't like it you will easily sell them on without losing much

Ive got to disagree with you there SMDave (cracking handle BTW)

Ive driven Skylines and S12/13/14/15 200SX's with and without spacers (Im running spacers on both of my S13's) and the difference really isnt noticable, but with my Z33 it really took the edge off a great handling car for me. I didnt ever look into it enough to find out why though, but it does seem the Z suffers a lot more.

I think you are right on the advice though - if you fancy them, try them and if you dont like just sell them on

Docwra - yeah the price isnt bad - though if i do have to roll the arches it'd be more obviously + Would want to keep the tyre sizes correct, just to be sure that TC is working as it should etc.

You wont need to do anything to the arches, trust me. I was running a 10J ET15 on a standard arch and using my magic offset calculator I can see you will be 3mm further in than I was and have 23mm more inner clearance. It looked like this BTW:

please excuse weird angle.

I dont want to be funny here, but Im a little concerned youve got all of the advice above regarding arch mods without anyone even bothering to check the widths ........ Id call that "essential" myself

As regards a 235 on the back of a 350, once again when it comes to this site I appear to be the single most outspoken person in the world on the subject of tyres, but Ive been happily running 235/18's on the back of my 400hp turbocharged driftcar with rock solid suspension, a paddle clutch and a 2 way diff. Amazingly Im not dead yet.

IMO a 235 Bridgestone RE050 will **** all over a 255 Nankang NS2, in all conditions, for all driving styles, all of the time, but no doubt someone who has probably only ever used one make of tyres on their Z33 will be along to tell me different shortly. Flame away

+5 is definite arch rolling, dropped or not IMHO.

Does it not depend on the wheel width and the tyre thats being used?

I reckon you could get a 10J ET5 on the back running a 235 with the arch lipped, if not as standard. And upon checking the ad, those are staggered 8's and 9s', so youd have no issue making them fit. £850 isnt too bad for those wheels either IMHO

Go on then, might be able to strip it back to standard and make a few quid

You could strip it back to standard, make a profit on the mods, and then sell it onto WBAC for £5975. Everyones a winner

I'm not so sure what everyone has against WBAC. They offer service, you know what you're getting, and you have a choice whether or not to use them. They're taking the risk on flogging the car on afterwards, so they need to get it for a low price to keep that risk to a minimum.

/cracked record

Ive lost count of the number of times Ive said this now. Ive sold three cars to WBAC and each time the price has been better than I was offered on trade in. No-one has forced me to sell the cars to them either. Wheres the con there??

Anyone actually bothered to check the trade values of 350Z's recently?? I bet its less than you thought it was :nod:

V8's have been put in a few US zeds now. no one as yet has done this in the UK but it has been mentioned by the odd newbie here and there.

Theres one, potentially two on the way and the companies in question are confident there will be no underlying electrical issues .........

There will be 3 if I win the Lottery

Bear in mind all imports, even pre 06 ones are £400 tax. The bastards.

 

Nope. My '03 import is £190.

How??

Mine is an 03 too ....... tell me your secret

Bear in mind all imports, even pre 06 ones are £400 tax. The bastards.

As a daily I think its superb - if you want economy then buy a Diesel and arrive at work fed up. I tried it for about 3 weeks then bought the 350 instead