Rubber

Q: Can I mix and match different types of tyres? A: No, not if you enjoy living. Q: What is typical MPG? A: City: 17 - 23 mpg, Motorway 27 - 32 mpg Q: Is Zed ownership expensive? A: Yes (Relatively speaking for a 3.5L rear wheel drive sports car, it's about what you'd expect)

A new Monkey Island game has been talked about for a long time so I had a quick look at the LucasArts website.... No new Monkey Island but they have remastered Monkey Island 2 with upgraded graphics etc. http://store.steampowered.com/app/32460/ £6.99 - Bargain! I'll be reliving my childhood this weekend!!!

Played just about every game of that genre... Monkey Island 1, 2, 3, 4 Zack MacKracken Indiana Jones Last Crusade / City of Atlantis Day of the Tentacle but not Leisure Suit Larry I'm afraid if I played it now it would be a disappointment

Have has a number of parts delivered by Alex in person. Always top notch service.

The thing is that when we checked how much pad was left a couple of months they looked like there was still a bit of wear to go As you can see the outside front pads still have a bit left. Similarly on the rear I think it was the inside pads that were well gone while the outers weren't too bad...I was horrified when we got them all out and saw the state of them Chris

Took delivery of my latest mods from the ZMAN a couple of weeks ago Delivered personally by Alex to Aberdeen. Convenient that he supports the Dons. Top notch service as always, cheers Alex Lights installed in 5 mins. Dead easy job No need for pictures - we've all seen them before! Panel filter dropped in to replace old OEM one. Personally I can't detect any performance change. I could swear there is more induction noise but difficult to quantify over the RS*R exhaust Big job to replace the brakes. My first time doing this but my father-in-law helped out and he has done this on loads of cars. There seems to be a lot of people doing this job recently and the guides were really useful - thanks guys I did have some brake judder which prompted me to buy new pads. To be honest it felt as if the discs were warped but I decided to change the pads as a first resort. Car is a 53 plate but only has 28k miles. When we removed the front pads we found there was a small lip on the inside of the disc but nothing much to worry about. I didn't bother grinding it down or chipping it off. Here are the pictures of the inside front pads: Here are the outside front pads: As you can see the inside pads had a lot more wear than the outside pads. This ties in with the lip on the inside of the front discs. Not sure if this is a feature of the Brembos? The rear pads were in pretty bad shape. I suspect they have never been replaced. There were some cracks in the pad itself. You can see from the corrosion marks on the pads that it looks like they have been falling apart for a while. We had to take them out in pieces - not sure if it was possible for these pieces to be loose within the calliper or if we just finally broke them off when taking them out? We prised the old anti-squeal shims off the old pads. Plenty of copper slip in all the recommended places and I can confirm that there has been no squealing Overall this has been the most satisfying job that I have done on the car. We cleaned all the pins and we also found a spot of corrosion on one of the rear callipers. We cleaned up the corrosion and put a dab of paint over it for protection. We also took the opportunity to spray some grease over all the moving joints and suspension parts. This is the difference between doing the job yourself and going to a garage. You know the bog standard garage will just rip the old pads out and drop the new ones in. You won't get any analysis of disc thickness, corrosion on the calliper or the broken pad when you take it to the garage Breaking in procedure was as per Alex's recommendation. (Not reccomended for any passenger who has been out on the sauce the night before ) I can confirm the brake judder has disappeared Pushing back all the pistons may have also helped on this front? I haven't fully tested out the performance of the new brakes yet so will report back on that one...

Ya been there - nearly tore my front bumper off with one of those pesky bollards - one of the ones that your car is supposed to be able to drive over

Not sure you're technical explanation of "cheap shite" would cut it in a work environment?

You're eagle eyed buggers on this site! I think about 10% of people looked at the coffee table and the rest studied every other detail around the flat!

Our materials expert at work reckons that there may have been a manufacturing defect.He says that it is possible for the crack to have been slowly propagating - something I didn't think would happen with a brittle material like glass

It's all very strange, as far as I'm aware, the fact that glass is brittle means that it tends not to bend or weaken over time. If it can't take the weight, it just breaks

Strange, it wasn't particularly warmer than any other night

Ok, so I was on the phone in the bedroom of the flat when there was a loud crash and my wife screamed Went into the sitting room to see her in shock and our coffee table in pieces all over the floor. Coincidentally (?) a car alarm was going off out in the street. She didn't touch the table - she was just sitting on the couch when it just collapsed (exploded!) BEFORE: AFTER: This ain't a thin table! So what happened? I have had this table for 3 years. It has had a relatively heavy sand filled glass ornament (~10 kg) resting in the middle for the last 6 months (not shown in before picture). It has had no other knocks or bangs. I don;t understand how it could just break like that. Surely glass will have a brittle fracture so it will break or it won't break i.e. it won't have been weakening over time? In addition, I was in the bedroom and my wife was siting down so there would have been no floor movement. We are on the 2nd story and the car alaram also went off but I did not notice a tremor or shudder in the windows? Any materials experts? (or mediums ) Chris (Batman)

Nice one! I like it!

Sorry to hear about the kitten My parents just had their cat knocked down on the road Here is our pet (cat or dog is not suitable at the moment because we are in a 2nd storey appartment). He's a long haired Syrian hamster. Cost me £8.50! Poor little bugger is only has a life expectancy of about 2 years - he's about 6 months old now I'm sure the cats would love him but beware his name is Wolverine!

A lot of modified Supras have the vents in the bonnet. Are these aftermarket bonnets or just the orignails with holes cut in with mesh? If so can this be done with a standard 350Z bonnet?

Mmm some talk of perfromance being bandied around. Hands down the 370Z is going to be better here but if you had to vote on looks alone I have to say it's 350Z.

When I saw the 370Z I didn't like it. After a few months and seeing a Black Edition at the stealers I started lusting after one. However, I seem to have come full cirle and have now decided that the 350Z is in fact better looking. I do like the wider stance and the bigger rear but I have never really come around to the headlights, tail-lights or the whale shark like mouth. So given that we are considering: 1) No modifications or bodykits etc. 2) The coupe not the convertibles I have decided that the 350 is better looking than the 370........Opinions?

Looking good Like the exhaust. Any chance you could post a few more pics of the refurbed wheels? Have a blade silver myself and not sure whether I'll go gunmetal or gloss black.... Chris

No need for fertility wishes at this time - now that the wedding has been paid for, the Zed needs much loving! Let the modding commence!!!!!!

Yes Japan would obviously be a better place to be for car parts but convincing the missus that we should go there instead of Hong Kong for the honeymoon on the basis of rooting around in scrapyards and auto shops would have ben difficult Chris

As per the title I am on holiday in Hong Kong for the next few days. Any advice on rooting out some bargin car parts in the area? I am aware of Mong Kok which sells all the audio equipment so may have a look there tomorrow. Space in my suitcase is limited so probably only looking at gear nob, some little carbon bits etc. Must say I'm kinda disappointed by the cars over here I expected lots of modded Jap cars but only seen a couple including a few nice Nismo 350Zs. There's an awful lot of Mercs and BMWs though Cheers, Chris

Looks cool. If you running a low car you don't have to worry about scrapes - just replace it every 6 month

Hi guys thanks for the raft of responces. I agree that service costs will probably take up the bulk of the expense here - I wouldn't be thanked for encouraging him down this route at the end of the day I reckon. I did have him sitting in a Black Edition 370Z but he wasn't feeling it Porsche Turbo is a cracker - I'll send him on the link for that To be honest it just kills me to see someone pay out £30k for a new TT when there are so many other nice cars out there. The TT is a solid car but there are about a million of them around Aberdeen Chris

Hi everyone, just looking for some feedback on this car. A friend of mine is thinking of getting a new TT Anyway I am trying to show him the other options available. He wants somthing comfortable yet still good looking and sporty. So you get an idea, the options we have looked at so far are Audi A5, Audi TT, 370Z. The idea of having rear seats and a boot (especially one that will fit a bike) are still very welcome. I'm not a fan of the 6-series but since I have seen a black M6 (with black alloys, and tinted windows) around Aberdeen I have been converted! 5L 10 cylinder 500 bhp My friend is not a particularly exhuberant driver so he won't be trashing this car. I'd appreciate your advice on a couple of issues... - Is the SMG gearbox any good? I assume it can be used in auto or with paddles? - The clutch has been replaced at 25,000 miles. Is this a sign of problems to come? - Car would have cost +£90k new! Given that the new M cars are going to be turbo charged I expect this high revving NA beast will retain it's value pretty well. Do you agree? - Are there hidden costs that will emerge when running such a high powered car (excluding the obvious petrol/insurance)? If I had the money I'd be trading in the Zed myself I think http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1783245.htm Cheers, Chris