Fieldy

Took the Zed in for a P2 and wanted to say a big thanks to Scott and the guys at Abbey for some top notch service and looking after me with toast, tea and plenty of dog attention. Replaced plugs, fitted upgraded poly suspension arm bushings , sorted a slight crack in the exhaust flange with an easy fix (rather than a replacement exhaust) and sourced and replaced my cracked screen wash bottle. (cant believe Nissan wanted £190 for a new one. Scott found a nice second hand one, job done Abbey will be the garage of choice from now on!

In the UK I would do it myself, over her I just spent 18 EUR's on getting all four checked and the rears replaced. Not even worth the time spent thinking about doing it myself Next time I come I may buy a load of stuff to fit just to take advantage Anyway all is good now so next stop Croatia

So I did some digging through my old receipts, and found that I actually only changed the fronts last year. So it was just me being completely forgetful and yeah the rears were probably due for replacement, although it didnt get picked up in the dealer service I got a couple of weeks back. Guess because they just looked at the indicator with the wheel still on. Anyway DS Performance going on as they are road legal compared to the DS2500's, not sure if they have a wear indicator though. I'll probably post again with my labour cost tomorrow just to make you guys cry with how cheap it is here

So I've just done a 1000 mile trans-europe trip from London to Bratislava (Slovakia) with some fun on the autobahns , pulled in to my mother in laws house and noticed a scraping noise from the brakes. Was a little concerned as I only changed the pads last year ~8k-10k. Anyway went down to the garage today and up on the ramp, pulled the pads out and one of the drivers side rear pads was down to the backing plate. What I cant work out is 1. The rear pads had gone rather the front. I had (I believe) all four sets changed last year so surely the fronts should have gone 1st. I now have a sneaking suspicion, the stealer only changed the front pads 2. Only the inside pad was worn fully down, the outside pad still had plenty of material left and as such the steel indicator was nowhere near the disc. Anyway just waiting for a set of Ferodo DS performance pads to arrive and we shall be back on the road. Thankfully the discs have not been damaged. Croatia next week before heading back to England

This is aa must for anybody who llikes to look after there Z properly. I did it last year and its good for general advice as well as picking up some cheap bits and pieces from Megs. Also if your thinking of using or buying a DA, these guys will show you how easy they are to use on the Z's paint work

I've compiled a list of members recommended bodyshops in SW London / Surrey area for future reference. I'll post up some pics of damage and quotes I get in the next week or so as I visit differant shops 1. M&S accident repair in Ashford 2. Big John at JPC auto refinishing in cranleigh. JPC Auto Refinishing Cranleigh Surrey GU6 8EQ Phone: 01483 268111 3.Canadas – Weybridge 4.Chameleon Coachworks Micham 020 8640 2290 CR4 4NA 5. http://www.autorefinish.org/index.html Think this guy is only minor dents but may be useful anyway

Does anybody have any good recommendations for a body shops in SW London or Surrey. Managed to clip my passanger rear wheel arch against my housemates yesterday and it looks like I need to get some work done. Minor indentation and paint on both cars and gutted about damaging the Z Hopefully I can get a couple of decent quotes so I dont have to claim against my insurance and can have them looking like new as soon as possible Cheers Fieldy

Going to be cheeky also and put my name down for 2 spots. 1) Envy Valeting (Tim) 2) SpursMadDave 3) glrnet 4) Ekona 5) Ekona +1 6) Shire 7) Wasso 8) Madmarky 9) martinmac 10) Chesterfield (Chris) 11) Fieldy 12) Fieldy +1

I've had the same happen to my rear wheels when I gave the car a good cleaning after getting it home from the dealers. Realised it was the lacquer as the two front wheels are fine as the dealers had had these refurb'ed (for curbing damage from the previous owner) prior to delivering the car to me. Looks like I'm gonna have to shell out for the rears to be done now. Anybody know any good refurb guys in or around London??

The dent guys did a cracking job on my Zed before I bought her. The dealership had only just got my Z in when I saw it and they werent happy with 3 dents, (2 in the door and 1 on the wheel arch) All were got to and now you wouldnt even know they were there. As for parking, its paranoia central. Always find myself looking for something of comparable pedigree to park next to or at the other end of the car park from everybody else and preferably with a wall or curb on one side to reduce the risk further

Yep the Autoglym roof protection went straight on after I got it home from the garage

Yep those trees are coming down next week I think, also a nice coat of wax just went on to help protect it. As for parking, its done with great care and patience

Finally got round to taking some pictures of my new 350Z so I thought I would share them Fieldy

Hi, welcome to the club!! I got my 350z just over a week ago now and found insurance was a bit of a killer. At 27 with no NCB and living inside the M25 Admiral was the best at £1100. I also went for there no claims accelerator, so I get 1 year in 10 months. This will let me move on to one of the specialist insureres such as Sky or Greenlight as they wont touch anybody without at least 1 years NCB. Fieldy

A mix of private and national is the way forward. They use it in the rest of Europe and their medical systems, for anybody who has ever been treated in Austria, Switzerland or Germany would agree is second to non.

Right picked her up today and what day I have had driving the length of the country ( or half of it). Picked her up from Shepparton Nissan this morning and have just managed to take it past 28k with the drive to the parents (back up north in good old Yorkshire) this afternoon. 1st the couple of niggles: Hand brake needs adjusting (surprise surprise ) it won't hold the car on an incline. This I will get sorted with the dealership next week. A couple of scratches on the bodywork which I knew about and dealer said he would fix, however he didint . I have a petrol head and deatailing enthusiast of a house mate who I have more faith in to sort this out Annoyed with myself for getting suckered in to the dealership finance plan. I had a much better deal with the bank to start with. Will be sorting this out straight away, to avoid paying double the interest in the long run on the purchase. And now for the good/fun bits. Jeez shes fast, spent the 1st part of the morning getting lost in Surrey trying to get back to Kingston but didnt really care. The weather was a bit pants, but thought sod it drop the top down and enjoy it!!! Managed to nearly burn the clutch out on the A43 (doh) due to not being used to the gear box, a little worried but the rest of the drive was beautiful. Will beat myself over this one for some time!!!!!!!! Got involved with a convoy, of a Scooby prodrive, Astra VXR and Audi S3 on the M1. Anyway, just thought I'd drop these notes before heading to bed. Shall hopefully get some pictures up tomorrow Fieldy

Hi all, Been a long term fan of the 350z and finally took the plunge and laid out the cash last week. Pick her up tomorrow morning and cant wait to take her for a proper spin. Been scouring the forum over the last few weeks for lots of useful bits and pieces of buying advice which has come in very handy. Will get some pictures up as soon as I get a chance over he weekend. Cheers Fieldy