VsoundZ

Ahhhh...... I think i've seen this little number parked on Hayne Road in Beckenham, although not for a while.... Always thought it looked pretty smart with the M5 wheels. GLWTS

Hi all, Does anyone happen to have a set of 15mm hub centric spacers lurking in their garage that they would like to exchange for hard currency?.... They need to have the bolts etc... Thanks VsoundZ

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PM sent for front lip.

Hi everyone. Popped down to Abbey this morning to talk about the above issues (didn't realise they were nearby!). Mark took it out for a test drive and identified the issue as being either the wrong rear tyres, knackered bushes and/or allignment problems. They popped it on the ramps, noticed the bushes had seen better days and were able to replace them there and then, in addition to properly re-alligning the car. Never go to Kwik-Fit for re-allignment - they don't know their arses from their elbows. The Zed is now feeling loads better and goes in a straight line. The steering wheel is also central now, something mark noticed but I hadn't! I learned to avoid tyres that have a wide 'band' of tread going around them as these have a tendency to stick to any grooves in the tarmac or areas of the road that have been 'patchwork' resurfaced etc. A fellow member of the forum was there to have similar work done, so it was good to have a chat about all things Zed whilst the work was being carried out. Thanks for your all of your help!... now it's time to burn some fuel !!

Thanks for the replies everyone. All food for thought. Yep, it's a pain that so many things have been changed recently making is difficult to isolate the problem! I had the alignment done at a Kwik-fit centre near me. It cost £90 for about 15 minutes work. They told me it was a 'state-of-the-art' set-up and I did think it was a quick affair so will try to find a decent 4 wheel laser alignment centre to get it done properly once i've checked the bushes. As for bushes - that didn't even cross my mind. Definitely worth checking out as I have noticed (but forgot to mention in the original post) that when I reverse the car out of the garage and turning out to the right, there is a metalic clunk sound. It only happens once per reverse, but is almost like something very sold has moved. This could definitely be an issue with a bush I guess - time to get the jack out and take a look. Thanks for the tips. I'll let you know when it's fixed and what the cause was....

Hi everyone! My beloved zed is poorly and I can't seem to diagnose the ailment. I've trawled the internet in search of some inspiration but can't seem to find a solution.... I'll try and explain the course of events so far in the hope that someone may have experienced similar issues and can offer some advice... Ok, so I had the wheels powdercoated and some powdercoat was left on the mating surface of the wheels resulting in them not being 100% flat against the hub. This caused uneven wear on the discs. The mating face of the wheels were professionally tidied and the discs skimmed which initially solved the problem. However, the vibration from the uneven wear on the discs had also caused the front drivers side bearing to give up, so I replaced both front bearings. A few months later I decided to puchase a new set of discs too so everything was new at the front end. I also replaced the old AP racing pads with some Brembo ones courtesy of Zmanalex. Everything seemed ok for a while, but now the bearing sound is back. I'm reasonably confident that it's coming from the front as it is more noticable under braking, but I can't believe the bearing(s) would have gone again in such a short space of time and after only a couple of thousand miles although the other part of the problem (below) may indicate that it's a rear bearing causing the problem...i'm not sure.... There is no vibration under breaking at all. The other part of the problem..... The car has also developed a nasty tendency to wander at motorway speed to the point where I am constantly correcting the direction. It used to feel perfect and very planted like a typical zed does. Does a shot rear bearing affect the handling like this??? It's noticeable at about 80mph and especially under acceleration. It was particularly noticable when I overtook a lorry going up a hill from 30 to 70 when it was all over the place. It's difficult to descibe how the car handles at the moment - but you can't really feel the road. It's almost like that feeling when a car has just come off of ramps where the wheels have been off the ground and the suspension has yet to settle down to its normal position. It feels kind of light at the front end at speed... I have recently had the rear tyres replaced. It had Nexans when I bought it which seemed fine and I have replaced them with some Yokos. The tyres are the correct size, although I have noticed that they are a Y rating rather than Z or ZR. I wouldn't have thought this would cause such a drastic change in handling to be honest, but I could be wrong. The fronts are Kumho Excsta sports - plenty of tread left an no uneven wear. These were replaced not long before the handling started to deteriorate, but the tyre shop advised me that the tyres were unlikely to cause the problem. I had the tracking checked and the front end was spot on, the rear needed some minor adjustment, but was only just outside the limits. This hasn't fixed the problem either..... That's pretty much where i'm at. If there are any Zed doctors who might be able to offer some help, it would be really appreciated otherwise I will have to go to the local Nissan dealership armed with the most slippery lube I can get my hands on.... Thanks....and sorry for the long post!

Anyone manage to get their photo taken at the Boulogne tolls?... There are a few more Zeds showing in the album (http://www.net-carpictures.com/cpg148/thumbnails.php?album=465&page=1) There are about 40 odd pages of thumbnails and at least another 3 zeds featured. Tip - the pictures appear to be in reverse order....so the earlier you went through the tolls, the closer you will be to the last pages. The photographer was there Wed/Thu/Fri I think. Was good fun down there, weather slightly off here and there, but a good few days all the same. I also found a good youtube video with a few seconds of myself (sadly just after a little spin-up) and a fellow Zed I happened to be behind. Check the video at about 1:30 (note the guy start to say "what car was that" when we both drove off lol ...... I think that's what he says anyway. Zeds at 1:30ish after the monkey bike burnout... Was good to see BBK down there briefly - I think I startled him when I walked up and asked where the Zed was as he definitely didn't recognise me - but then I did only meet him briefly for a road trip to Ringwood and back at the end of last year. Pity there was no Zed in toe BBK, but the Lancer was a fairly decent alternative Looking forward to next year.

Evening chaps. I'm all booked up too. Heading down in the Z again and currently trying to sort out a convey to tag along with. The best option so far is with a 458 and McLaren.... but will feel a bit out of place going with them, that's if I could keep up! I'm on the Thursday 06:40am Eurotunnel and looking to do a faily chilled windy road trip this time as the motorway got a bit boring last year, and apparently, there are big road works at Rouen / lots of gendarmes I'm staying at Houx which seems to be a fairly decent camp - short walk to the start/finish/guiness tent etc. Would be good to hear if anyone is booked on or around the same Thursday crossing. (350Ad, have you got enough participants to justify taking the Z yet?....)

Saw you enjoying your exhaust in the tunnel - sounded great!

That puzzled me for a second, but have just checked the site where I got the sequence from and it's in the USA. They had descibed the sequence as Drivers side front/passenger side rear etc, so the mirror of us over here in the UK... could have been interesting.... hopefully no more surprises in store!! Thanks for the correction - appreciated!

Cheers for the tips gents

Hi everyone, I've never been the most technical person with cars but managed to change the front wheel bearings having found some good tutorials (that lower hub bolt is an absolute pig) but somehow managed to thread the front drivers side caliper when putting everything back together - literally the last bolt before bolting the final wheel back on... This has been professionally re-threaded and bolted back on to the car. However, where I had to remove the caliper, I now need to bleed it to remove the air etc... As the front drivers side caliper is the last in the bleeding sequence, and given that the other calipers where not disconnected, do I only need to bleed this one alone?... Or do I need to start from the beginning of the sequence and work all the way through?... I'm pretty sure the first option will work, but clarification from any brembo experts would be greatly appreciated as brakes tend to be slightly important and i'd like to avoid hedges/lorries/small children etc wherever possible.... Thanks in advance!

I like the sound of this one - a proper deep growler . I also like your slightly unorthodox exit from the T junction lol... If you decide to sell this and buy something different, let me know...

A nice Z with AM exhaust, lights and wheels, sponsored by DC shoes perhaps, on Hayne Road in Beckenham.