sipar69

Thanks for the advice guys. I am fairly light-touch with it but I'll drop the frequency down to once every 6 months just to be on the safe side!

I have been using this on the Z (White) since I bought the car about a year ago. I wash the car carefully by hand every week because it lives out on the road and use the polish about every two months.

http://www.autoglym.com/enGB/product-proddetail.asp?v06VQ=HD

The polish really makes the car look great, but I've a recollection of reading somewhere that it's not good for the paintwork to polish a car too often. The product info claims it's ok for use on new cars, metallic finishes etc but I'd like to know what others think/do in terms of keeping their Z looking good.

Wish I'd seen this before we picked up our Z from Martins in Winchester last year. Rep told us there was plenty of petrol, but it was doing the blinky "you are about to run of petrol" thing while we were still some way from home. In future, I will haggle for petrol....

Quite impressed with the paint match - not perfect, but I now have no nasty chips showing

Glad you found it useful mate. I agree it's not a perfect match, but with so little info available about the right colour for the Z's Rays it's good to have something that comes quite close (to my eyes anyway)

i have had look at the website, is it the 500ml silver solvent ?

 

Yes - the 500ml (the 400ml is an aerosol).

 

Or if you want to do a whole wheel you can go for the 1lt

 

You could probably use the aerosol if you wanted but it would require a lot of masking. I find the tin is good for very small scrapes because you can just use a small paint brush (like an artist's brush) to apply it. The paint is quite thick too, so it helps to hide any roughness (I'd recommend a very careful sanding of the damaged spot and some primer if the scrape has gone down into the metal).

 

I did once try to self-repair quite a long scrape and wasn't happy with results so ended up getting the wheel refurbished. As a general rule I'd say if you've got a mark bigger than a few inches or which goes deeply into the metal go for a refurb. Even then, the paint is useful if you want to make it look a better while you wait for the refurb to be done.

 

So far..... after 10k miles I have avoided kerb scrapes, but I do have a few chips from removing the wheel nuts - some my doing some by others, but also a few chips caused by stones being thrown around in the wheels (I will blame Wales for that ). So looking forward to the pot of "wheelpaints" to arrive and raiding the toothpick jar

 

But the design of the 370 wheels are certainly more difficult than the 350 Rays to do DIY fixes for kerb scrapes.

I try to avoid scrapes by parking on the driver's side (not always possible of course) and then carefully reversing towards the kerb from quite far out using the wing mirror to check my position. I'm sure the neighbours have a right laugh at me taking an age to park, but I don't care if it keeps the wheels in good nick.

i have had look at the website, is it the 500ml silver solvent ?

 

Yes - the 500ml (the 400ml is an aerosol).

 

Or if you want to do a whole wheel you can go for the 1lt

You could probably use the aerosol if you wanted but it would require a lot of masking. I find the tin is good for very small scrapes because you can just use a small paint brush (like an artist's brush) to apply it. The paint is quite thick too, so it helps to hide any roughness (I'd recommend a very careful sanding of the damaged spot and some primer if the scrape has gone down into the metal).

I did once try to self-repair quite a long scrape and wasn't happy with results so ended up getting the wheel refurbished. As a general rule I'd say if you've got a mark bigger than a few inches or which goes deeply into the metal go for a refurb. Even then, the paint is useful if you want to make it look a better while you wait for the refurb to be done.

Hope this might be useful to some members.........

Thanks to our lack of a driveway, my duff parking (especially that!) and the fact that I hate to see the Zs alloys with "rash" I've paid out to have wheels refurbished several times. This can cost anything from £50 to £100 per time.

I would never try to DIY repair a big or deep mark but it can be hard to justify the cost of a refurb for a small scrape or stone chips. I spent a long time looking for info on a colour match for the silver Rays until I got a tip from a refurbisher about VBF Silver. I've used this on a couple of small scrapes with very good results (by that I mean you have to be looking for the repair and look closely at the wheel to find it). I got mine here (as it's only for small marks, I don't use the aerosol - the 500mil tin is more than you'll ever need):

http://www.wheelpaints.co.uk/product_details_177.htm.

Have to admit I'm becoming a big big fan of White 350s and 370s, they really stand out.

 

I know what you mean about black though, I look out my window and 5 black cars are all lined up next to one another, none of them shine like mine though

 

Big problem with black is 10 yards down the road it's filthy again and shows it, but when polished up they are stunning.

 

Would definitely go for a black or White roadster. I forget the chaps name but he took a White roadster to Wales this year. Looked lovely.

I vote for Zs in Black and White too! Mine........

http://www.350z-uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=51967

I think that's Black Rose....

if they don't cover them under warranty i can wrap them for you

 

this is what my old oz racing ones looked like after water had got up behind the laquer

 

 

and this is the revamped version i did

 

 

let me know if i can help

Nice! I'll bear it in mind thanks.

If these are tarnished, they should be covered by warranty. I'm sure a decent Nissan Performance dealer will sort this out.

Thanks - good suggestion - I'll give it a go.

Its the Ultimate Edition (MY2009). Came fully loaded with nav, illuminated plates etc. Lovely car, and the graphics were optional (for those that wanted to pretend it was a GT3 )

 

I have an 09 Ultimate in white (no decals). One of the things that I think really makes this particular version of the 370 is the different coloured interior (orange/tan seats and door panels). Really enhances the look of the car.

I thought the Ultimate was yellow only?

 

Yes they did come in other colours Chris - here is an example fopr sale

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2009-NISSAN-3 ... 0567638652

 

But Mr sipar69 without pics of your own car

Fair Point! I'll post some in the next few days (at work now). Not sure what other colours the Ultimate came in. I've seen a black one for sale recently.

Its the Ultimate Edition (MY2009). Came fully loaded with nav, illuminated plates etc. Lovely car, and the graphics were optional (for those that wanted to pretend it was a GT3 )

I have an 09 Ultimate in white (no decals). One of the things that I think really makes this particular version of the 370 is the different coloured interior (orange/tan seats and door panels). Really enhances the look of the car.

Wasn't sure whether to post this in the general forum so apologies if it's in the wrong section....

 

My center caps have a dull and slightly patchy finish to them - doesn't seem to be possible to clean them up so I'm looking at replacing them. I'm struggling to find a site in the UK that sells replacements for the 19 inch Rays. Can anyone point me to a site where I can order some - not fussed if they are "Nissan" or "Z" etc. Cheers.

 

If you are referring to centre caps for Nismo 19" LMGT4 Rays then there are 2 fitments.

 

I have one fitment in stock and they are circa £100.00 for a set of 4.

 

Alex.

Thanks Alex. I'm on a budget this month. Not sure how much I was expecting them to cost, but maybe I'll wait until the finances improve improve if that's generally the going rate. (Btw mine are just the standard 19 inch Rays that come with the 370Z.)

Cheers anyway.

Wasn't sure whether to post this in the general forum so apologies if it's in the wrong section....

My center caps have a dull and slightly patchy finish to them - doesn't seem to be possible to clean them up so I'm looking at replacing them. I'm struggling to find a site in the UK that sells replacements for the 19 inch Rays. Can anyone point me to a site where I can order some - not fussed if they are "Nissan" or "Z" etc. Cheers.

I nearly got killed 5 hours ago. 70Mph 360 degree spin in RH lane of a motorway, ended up crashing into concrete central reservation. Combination of a reaction to someone starting to undertake me as I was moving into the lane (having previously mirrored and signalled as a good boy should) and then seeing the car in front braking hard. Split second choice. Something went wrong and I think it was the back that spun out. Maybe I even made the right choice as I avoided both the car in front and the undertaking vehicle.. somehow.

 

Walked away with no more than a bruised leg and a shed that was bordering on scrap value anyway.

 

No police interest so far, no statement\ breathalyser etc. Only a black mark on the concrete, and some tyre marks to show what happened.

 

Lesson: You can know what to do when discussing theory, but the moment when things conspire to all go wrong at the same moment you only have 0.5 seconds to react, not even that, your instincts will take over. Don't expect people to follow all the rules of the road.

Sorry to hear that. Glad you're ok!

My Z was definitely thrashed! After we bought it from a local approved dealer I was watching a vid of the Top Gear review of 370Z and I realised that the white one which appears right at the end of the video being driven round their track by the Stig is our car!

Still, at least she came with new tyres!

Thanks for all your replies - I reckon I'll leave it - there doesn't seem to be a compelling reason to splash the cash!

Hi all,

I have an 2009 370 GT Ultimate which has the older DVD-based Sat-Nav. Just looking for some advice on whether it would really be worth updating the software. The update DVDs aren't cheap. I'd like to get an idea of what I'd gain if I updated to the latest version. Is it just a case of updated road info, or would an update also add new features?

Any thoughts much appreciated

I have a White GT Ultimate with orange trim, which I reckon looks great. I'm not a big fan of most of the other colours, but your Black Editions look really really smart!

There’s nothing worse than having your fledgling confidence knocked by someone who decides that you haven’t pulled away fast enough as the lights turn green and slams their horn on. If you make people nervous by being impatient with them, you knock their confidence and increase the chance of them doing something wrong.

 

And I couldn’t agree more about the importance of being aware of other drivers capacity for getting it wrong, not just your own. Only yesterday we were driving to our local vets with one of our pets and some idiot in a white van ran a red light and pulled right out in front of us. It was only because I was taking it easy and keeping my eyes open that we didn’t have a nasty accident.

"Oi pot! You're black", said the kettle.

 

Welcome.

 

Some valid points there, but calling/thinking of fellow drivers as idiots is similar to the original complaint. I'm no angel but I do at least try to count to ten and smile when mistakes are made. Sometimes easier said than done so I can see where you're coming from though.

Thanks for the welcome. I take you point. The reason I said these particular guys were idiots was more to do with their reaction after they pulled in front of us - a wave or gesture of apology would have been nice but all I got was a sort of gurning laugh .

I kind of got the impression that running the red the light wasn't a mistake if you know what I mean.

Hi all. This is my first post.

This thread is particularly interesting and relevant to me. I am 42 and in the slightly unusual situation that a 370Z is my first car after only passing my test last December. In fact, I learnt to drive because my partner and I decided to get a good car.

Although I’m old enough to know better and a pretty down to earth person, I constantly have to resist the urge to do the “it’s a fast car so I should drive it fast†thing. My girlfriend is a great influence because she has been driving for years and although she loves the Z, she doesn’t ever feel the need to drive it like an idiot just because it’s a fast car.

I don’t feel qualified to give anyone tips about driving, but as someone whose made the usual new driver mistakes at the start – the occasional stall at junctions etc - the one general piece of advice to promote safety I’d give is to be patient with other drivers. There’s nothing worse than having your fledgling confidence knocked by someone who decides that you haven’t pulled away fast enough as the lights turn green and slams their horn on. If you make people nervous by being impatient with them, you knock their confidence and increase the chance of them doing something wrong.

And I couldn’t agree more about the importance of being aware of other drivers capacity for getting it wrong, not just your own. Only yesterday we were driving to our local vets with one of our pets and some idiot in a white van ran a red light and pulled right out in front of us. It was only because I was taking it easy and keeping my eyes open that we didn’t have a nasty accident.