The Seasider

I feel sorry for anybody who is desparate to sell their car at the moment. I'd been getting a bit of grief from my wife after the arrival in quick succession of a RX8 40th Anniversary model and a WRX (just for winter - you understand!) on the drive, so I put my roadster up for sale on Pistonheads to show willing and in a month all I got was one enquiry by e-mail (that quickly evaporated) despite it being priced as the cheapest roadster not only on pistonheads but on autotrader too! That is the worst response I have ever had on an advert even allowing for the fact that selling convertibles in winter is usually a bit trickier than when the sun is shining. Aw, well - I tried - I'll just have to keep it What are other people's experiences of selling vehicles at the moment?

Thanks I'll PM

I took off the front bumper and wheel arch covers of my Z to get to the reflectors which I modified recently (see separate post). The bumper and wheel arch covers looked like they had been on and off a few times and some of the fixings were missing / broken. I managed to source the screws from my stash but I had nothing that was suitable to replace the plastic fixings under the bumper or in the wheel arch covers. I am worried that there may be an expensive collapse if I leave them as they are - can anyone show me what they look like or even better provide a link to where I may find some?

Thanks again - reflectors have survived two washes and a lot of rain so maybe I'll get a good life out of them. Must say I am pleased with the look - the originals look so out of place on the car.

If you can get a PDR guy to remove the dent - that scratch should touch in with with touch up, build it up, give it a day to dry, wet and dry, a quick machine polish and Bob's.... I've sorted bigger ones than that with this method - don't even know where they are now!

Thanks For the comments, chaps. I think this was the stuff http://www.amazon.co.uk/High-Intensity-Reflective-Vinyl-Roll--Red/dp/B007BSO8Y8/ref=sr_1_50?ie=UTF8&qid=1339267753&sr=8-50

It's been a long time in the planning but today was the day that I finally braved the elements and my complete lack of aptitude to take on the rather horrid front reflectors. I bought myself this tape off Amazon for about £5 This is it in close - up. It is pretty reflective but I guess it doesn't show in daylight. In short, this tape is going on the reflectors I have to confess that I didn't think to take photos at every stage but hopefully you'll get the idea from the pics that I did take. The first stage is to loosen /partly remove the bumper - I got a couple of guides off here which did the job. Once it's loosened you should be able to get a a screwdriver on the two screws which hold in each reflector. As the reflectors have some recesses on the face of them (styling I think you'd say) these will affect the way the way the tape adheres, so I thoroughly cleaned the reflectors, lightly sanded all the front surface with 600 grit wet and dry. Next I mixed a small amount of body filler and smoothed the fronts. Left this to dry for half an hour before sanding it down with 600 grit, then 1200 finishing with 2500. Next I carefully covered the reflectors with pre-cut lengths of tape and using a hairdryer and a credit card smoothed the tape over the reflectors before trimming with a craft knife. Then it was back into the bumper with the reflectors - two screws in each and then re-attached the bumper. Just one screw left over so i must be getting better! And after all that - about 2 hours work - this was what I was left with... Here it is a bit closer... and closer still... I'm pleased with the results and I think it should last ok because the edges of the tape are inside the bumper so shouldn't get too much weathering, but it did seem to be very sticky particularly with the heat of the hairdryer on it. Although they do look white in the pics the reflectors appear light silver to the naked eye - which is what I wanted. If anyone wants any additional detail - let me know and I'll try and help

I never tire of giving my passengers items whilst driving and asking them to put them in the glove box Can't imagine why the designers decided that we needed to keep our gloves in little cupboards behind the seats.

I don't know, I start a nice little discussion, go away for a few days and you all end up talking in some strange code to each other Pleased to report that my thingummys are back on the pipey bits and Z sound like he's got his b0ll0cks back. Whatever I've got were put on at Abbey Motorsport by the previous owner - and damn good they are too

Problem solved - the flux capacitor had been activated! Can't think why I didn't spot it earlier For the record, I had already gone a couple of miles without a problem and I guess I was doing about 55-60mph when it disengaged. Looking at some of the replies - I maybe didn't make myself clear initially, the roof didn't start electrically its 'roof down' procedure - it just appears to have come unlatched, so I don't think poltergeists were to blame. I reckon I would be a bit more imaginative if I was in possession of poltergeist powers than unlatching roadster roofs - I'd be moving chairs as people were about to sit down and juvenile things like that. It happened to me once before with another Japanese Roadster that I owned - that came unlatched at speed and the roof disappeared over my head and on to the rear deck rather sharpish! That ruined another fine pair of boxers. All this has was reminded of yet another incident when I was driving a a roadster with my younger brother riding shotgun. We were edging along in traffic and it started to rain so, tongue in cheek, i told him to put the roof up, he turned around and to his considerable credit (and despite my barracking) he managed to get it almost up at which point my speed increased and his arm was just about ripped out of its socket as the hood rapidly returned to the down position at a rate of knots I know they shouldn't let me have roadsters, should they? I am going to hurt myself...or others

I would imagine that the latch just didn't engage properly - as that is a little bit more likely than poltergeist possession - but I had travelled about 3 miles before the incident which made it worthy of comment. Obviously, I am going to be getting out of the car and checking all is well and correctly aligned for the next few weeks and enlisting the services of a good priest Boxers washed and on the clothes horse now - so all's well that ends well

Had a nasty moment this evening... Had a nice top down drive into town to pick up my daughter but knowing she wouldn't want to have her long locks blown into a thousand tangles I put the hood up for the drive home. On a high speed straight I heard this strangely ghostly whoosh - which fortunately startled me enough to stamp on the brake knocking off quite a few mph - just in time to catch the hood as it started to go into its drop cycle! The hood and its mechanism seems to have survived its ordeal - although the same can't be said for my boxers! Anybody else encountered this?

oo - er - missus

Thanks for that - I'll maybe use that ploy next year.

I think I can shed some light on this subject. I had an MOT last week. My car was fitted with some kind of racing cats fitted at Abbey Motorsport by the previous owner - I was advised that they should have been okay come MOT time, however this proved not to be the case by some considerable margin! Fortunately, I insisted on him letting me have the two original cats - which the garage refitted and hey presto the car passed the emissions test, unfortunately they were unable to refit the racing cats as the vehicle inspectorate made a surprise visit whilst my car was on the ramp! Apparently, I think he said from April, a car that has been decatted will be given a fail even if it passes the emissions part of the test and will not gain a pass unless cats are refitted. I hope this helps. The poor car sounds as if it has been on a diet of Lockets.

I had a beautiful low mileage 53 231ps RX8 at the turn of year with just 17 000 miles on the clock which I liked very much but I was sh*t scared to start it let alone drive it on the strength of reading the main RX8 forums!! I traded it for a Mazda 6 MPS - which was one of the best motoring moves I have ever made as it is absolutely fabulous and is the classic wolf in sheeps clothing. I have recently traded my Audi TT roadster with a 350Z forum member's 350Z roadster and I have to say the 350Z is superb. So now I have a 350Z to compare with an RX8. Personally, I prefer Mazda's build quality and handling characteristics over the 350Z but the 350Z certainly sounds better and is a much more involving drive and so I am pleased to have it in my fleet. Going forward I think 350Z prices will stabilise whereas there is a lot of evidence that RX8 prices are in freefall - but its not all about money is it?

Sorry if I'm looking a bit OCD on this, but it just seemed daft that if the sequence can be programmed to drop the windows into the doors it should be clever enough to close them like the previous 4 convertibles that I have owned with electric roofs. I could accept that they should stay down if you are opening the roof, as some people do indeed like to drive with the windows down - but who would want to leave their car with the windows open when they close the roof? I guess the trip to the dealers will be a bit pointless then? Great car otherwise

The Nissan garage seem to think that the windows should drop a little and then come back up... I'm going to take it in at some point and get them to check it. I'll let you know the outcome and if there is a simple fix. Thanks to all of you responded

Thanks for the reply,Ekona. Well that's a disappointment You'd think if it was clever enough to drop them it would be clever enough to put them back were it found them If anyone ever finds a fix - let me know

Hi all - I've just purchased a 350Z Roadster. I've done some searches but I don't appear to be able to find the answer to my query - which is... When I open the roof the door windows drop to let the hood fold but then annoyingly don't go back up again. The same happens when I close the roof - they go down but don't come back up. Should they? I've had quite a few convertibles in recent years with electric roofs, all dropped their windows to open/close the roof but all put them back up again. If they are supposed to go back up - does anyone know the reset sequence to restore the setting? Thanks