was8v

So what does that mean for a car running on 95 over 5000 rpm? In your experience - is damage likely to occur?

I drive a recorded Z and have owned a few recorded cars. They are no worse than any car that WAS repaired after damage but the general population don't understand this - hence why you can get a bargain. It will only show on the V5 if it was CAT-C (or above) written off, and it will say "VIC check carried out" or similar. CAT-D cars do not need an identity check so IME do not usually have anything on the V5. A HPI check will tell you what category it was, although to be honest the lines are very blurred between then - I've seen CAT C cars with major suspension and chassis damage (entire corners ripped off) through to other CAT-C cars with just minor body damage. It all depends on the cost of the claim vs the value of the car - hire charges, compensation and paint soon add up! Service history is invariably lost on write off and they will usually only have one key as previous owners have them at home and the insurance company wont request them or forward them. With Nissans this is more of a ball ache as they don't have a central database of service history (unlike VW, Audi BMW Mercedes etc) so you need to ring every dealer in the country to trace history!!! You can get MOT history online though with the V5 ref number. My Z had damage pictures (rear quarter scraped by a truck bed and some light damage to front wing) with it, along with parts receipts and superb paintwork. If you don't feel capable then get someone who is to inspect it - AA/RAC inspections aren't all they are cracked up to be. I wouldn't buy recorded without damage / repair evidence! My Z is immaculate, and with the supporting documentation it was a bargain. I had an alignment check to show it was straight and the previous owner even had a spare key coded (£75 at the dealer). I have only bought service items (brakes, bushings, oils filters) in the 12000 miles and 18 months I had it (on 60k now). I would expect to pay 20% less for a recorded car (with evidence) than the equivalent non recorded car. If there is no evidence (receipts, photos) of the repair then it will make it harder to sell on. This car looks good but without evidence of the damage or receipts for repair I would hesitate unless I was planning to keep it for a long time! But at £5.5k IMO its defo worth a punt so long as you inspect it well.

Do you know of any VQ35 engines (with standard, not remapped ecu) that have failed due to running 95 ron in the UK? The 350z has a knock sensor so I would say its highly unlikely to cause any damage running on 95 over super unleaded. You will just get a bit less power as discussed. Because it has the aforementioned knock sensor, the engine should react instantly to changes in fuel. I've read about a few petrol stations filling their super tanks with boggo unleaded and mis selling it - who would ever know? Super is also likely to be older and "stale" as they don't sell so much of it. I only buy super unleaded at busy petrol stations. EDIT - V Power apparently smells "slightly fishy" : http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... 1400&mid=0

There is no "legal" min thickness. At MOT they do a visual check and its down to the tester. http://www.motuk.co.uk/mcmanual_320.htm The manufacturer specified min thickness is 28 mm - if yours are 27mm you need new discs ASAP!

Sometimes judder is caused by pad deposits, if you weren't getting judder before then this may be it - you can sometimes sand this off apparently but I've never experienced it. EBC yellows come with some kind of "bed in" stuff painted on - it could be this causing your judder. New thickness of OE brembo fit discs is 30mm, wear limit is 28mm. Get a caliper and measure them up, also watch out for concentric grooves and concave face that may go a bit deeper. Thanks for the info, now ignore the fact im not sure of the terminology, but if you view a disc from the side, it kind of looks like: || || should each || be 30mm(wear 28mm) or is it || + || = 30mm/28? Thanks The thickness of the whole disc inc vent gap - it will be clear when you look at it! See page 1: http://www.peopleu.com/course_objects/c ... Brakes.pdf

Sometimes judder is caused by pad deposits, if you weren't getting judder before then this may be it - you can sometimes sand this off apparently but I've never experienced it. EBC yellows come with some kind of "bed in" stuff painted on - it could be this causing your judder. New thickness of OE brembo fit discs is 30mm, wear limit is 28mm. Get a caliper and measure them up, also watch out for concentric grooves and concave face that may go a bit deeper.

Well the OP wanted a budget option... The budget options are EBC or APEC. Zmanalex says APEC discs are "not bad" viewtopic.php?f=59&t=43084&p=635371 but I don't know anyone with them fitted to a Z. I will need new discs soon and would also like to hear what is put there at different price points.

Now sold!

When I called recently genuine rotors were about £180 each from Nissan. Forum traders will no doubt get them cheaper. Cheapest I found for a pair is £120 delivered for Apec brand disks. These have no pad clearing grooves or pointless holes (which can cause cracks) so may be a reasonable budget option - I have heard good things about Apec from use on ordinary cars but not heard anything in "performance" circles. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0316759914 These are 324 mm dia / 30mm thick discs for brembo equipped cars.

Now £45 delivered

I was in France recently (driving a golf) and filled up with ethanol mix petrol at big lecerc supermarkets for around €1.35 a litre. I assume the Z will be OK with this stuff. At smaller stations its mega expensive! Diesel is lots cheaper than petrol.... Don't buy a warning triangle on the ferry, I got one at a French supermarket for €1.75... I never bothered with a GB sticker, just kept one in the car in case. Your high vis (x2) needs to be accessible in the passenger compartment not buried in the boot. Insurance ours covered us in the EU 3rd party only as part of the policy - we paid extra to upgrade (bloody con merchants).

Cheers for the link GT4 I didn't see that. I also found a guide on my350z - seems the cross brace bolts can rust bad and the bushes have a risk of seizing to the pins. Looks easy enough though so I will do it myself. On closer inspection, compression bushes are OK. The bits visible in the pic are where the "gaps" in the rubber are. Seems the noise is coming from my droplinks - as when disconnected the noise disappears.

These have the same part number (DP41537R) as those advertised for the 350z pads: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0629100457 Around £15-20 cheaper than I've seen anywhere else.

So I had some new tyres fitted and had a poke around under the car to see where the knocking is coming from. Looks like I found the culprit (see pics) on both sides, looks worse on drivers. I've found replacement bushes for £60 each from horsham developments (forum sponsor?) http://www.h-dev.co.uk/product_info.php ... 9c0828660c I will also PM zmanalex Is there a guide online anywhere for removing the banana bar? I can get a local garage to press the bushes in, it would be nice to see just what I need to remove to get them off to weigh the job up

Rear LH fender was 358.24 ex vat in July 2009. I have a receipt from Nissan in front of me. RH should be a similar price? Clearly will need fitting and painting.

To be honest if it has complete history for the last 20k but not before I wouldn't let it worry you. The schedule is waaay strict for a Z anyway compared to other similar modern cars - 9k intervals! and most over spec the oil at service time due to the nature of the car so even if its missed a few I would think that any faults would have perhaps shown up by now. You are buying from a trader so will have the usual 3mo piece of mind warranty there. Of course use it as a bargaining tool tho! Tracing history: Nissan don't hold a central database of history for each car, as I found out! They will tell you the supplying dealer though. You have to ring individual dealers to find history....tough if you have no idea which dealer was involved... To try and trace some history- get the V6 ref no and go on http://www.motinfo.gov.uk to get a list of places it had its MOTs. Also check the number plates for dealer / trader markings. Then ring Nissan dealers close to those places, you might strike gold. I found a few of mine this way but mine remains incomplete.

I went from TT 225 to 350Z, I only miss the roof rack (for my bikes), superb climate control and the boot space of the TT.

There is no issue with mixing the oils! Semi-synth itself is a blend of synthetic and mineral If you paid more for the synthetic then you are pouring that money away though. There is little in it these days tho. Z interval is 9k miles so you don't need to change the oil for a long while after you back.

To add to this thread: I fitted the Pagid cheapies and bedded in over 200 miles or so. Bite wasn't quite as good as the original brembo pads but I figured it would get better and I was happy enough. Then I did a track day and the front pads were smoking after a few not particularly quick or aggressive laps. The brakes are mushy mush now, the pads are cooked. I took them out and deglazed them and they are still rubbish. Buy cheap, buy twice etc etc. How have the mintex cheapies stood up?

PM replied

Yes they have sold apart from the dented one, there's another for sale thread for that. Cheers.

I have a REAR Rays wheel with a bad curbing - most of the lip is scraped off and the edge in dented in. I have had a tyre fitted to it for the last year and done 6000 miles trouble free. It balanced up no problem! Tyre now removed. You could bash it out and build the lip up again with filler or just keep it as a full size spare. There is some corrosion where the paint has lifted on the dent and the usual on the spokes. It would even make a nice novelty coffee table or hosepipe reel Hoping for £55 delivered.

Hi cheers for that - just got onto the sender and they forgot to include them so are sending on... Thanks anyway!

I'm after 3 of the bog standard Nissan centre caps for Rays wheels. I can only find 4x "Z" centre caps on ebay for £20 & I'd rather keep my car standard. Happy to buy all 4 if you have them.

Now Sold subject to payment etc.