Blue Straggler

Thanks Jack, yes it's a shame and I am "ashamed" as I know this is such an enthusiast forum. But I have been running various "schemes" through my head, at one point plotting a handover in Carlisle and taking three trains to get home! A few wheels I saw for sale were collection only, from a long way away, and the 350Z is my sole car. Not ideal for carting four wheels, and the fuel cost would eat into the "profit"....

This is what I thought on Friday but I have a feeling it's changed. Basically I've lost heart! Given that two other offers were £1800-£2000 specifically WITH the LMGT4s, I'd already dealt with that disappointment and am "over" it. Sure I am being taken for a mug like any other lazy person just wanting a simple life and a replacement car! But there are various other factors, like not having my own storage space (I was going to cheekily store the LMGT4s at my workplace, but there is talk of closing that building down and keeping me as a work from home employee....so then we are onto begging favours from friends to look after my wheels in their garage, and blah blah blah )

Thanks all. Ian's most recent post on that thread, July 27, says "all sold". A basic refurb is £320, that's not bringing them up to top standard; another £180 does not sound like much for a bigger job, I have a feeling this would end up being a growing "project" with certainly some reward in some unknown future, but a lot of effort. I looked into the private plate thing, again I might make £180 off it but not without effort. Might seem like easy money but there's an initial £80 fee to DVLA, and I'd have to get the old plates made up and put on, and re-register those with DVLA, and have you seen the STATE of the DVLA at the moment? Uncontactable, people are waiting months for standard stuff like V5C replacements. Call me apathetic/unadventurous but I decided against a £300 outlay on wheels (which seem to be sold already anyway), £80 on registration plate admin, and rushing around like a mad thing, then further outlay on refurb, to then be sitting on nice reformed Nismos, praying that someone will come and pay a lot for them but not knowing when that day will come. All of that stuff just doesn't, in the end, suit my temperament. It would be a distraction. I've already wound myself far too much over trying to squeeze a few £100 more out of this car. I am not saying anyone's advice is wrong - you are all more expert than me - it just doesn't fit in with where my head is at the moment. I want to concentrate on my new dog that I am adopting on Sunday Again, thanks everyone.

Thanks Mikey_S. Well it turns out that I don't have much choice unless I could very quickly get some acceptable "standard" Nissan 350Z wheels on there, whatever that ACTUALLY means (I am not sure the dealer really knows). He wasn't up for the G35s and I am under some time pressure so it's a bit of a case of "just finally get rid of the Zed". A slightly sad ending but it means I'm not dragging things out and having them always in the back of my mind, I guess. I did see that white set for £3500. I think he's dreaming!

Thanks everyone, for input, including those who've messaged me off-forum and been super helpful. Where we are with this, is that I have begrudgingly accepted the £2000 trade-in. What was interesting and surprising though, was that the dealer mentioned almost in passing, that he'd actually RATHER have "normal" wheels on it, apparently gives him an easier life, with the car appearing standard. I wonder whether there is a chance here to (at the cost of a bit of faff and inconvenience for me) squeeze a bit of extra value out of the car, by (as suggested throughout) putting cheaper wheels on and putting the Nismos up for sale. I provide here a link to a picture of them (it's my own Flickr account, not some spammy thing), you can see the state of them. Spoke to a refurb guy today, he said a basic refurb (all silver, not referring the chrome-finish rim and centre) would be about £80 per wheel and they would not exactly be "as new", you'd still see the corrosion pitting along spokes if you are looking for it. Far more than this for the chrome. https://www.flickr.com/photos/blue-straggler/albums/72157715343793956 I would probably get no work done, just sell "as is" I can put a set of Infiniti G35 wheels on (with winter tyres and the right spacers for the fronts) for £280, sourced from a local friend who can bring them to my wheel fitter this week (he got them for an Evo but decided against using them), and I can stash the Nismos cheekily at my workplace. Just a case of "are these Nismos going to bring me significantly more than £280 in the state they are in?" It seems like I should be ok to at least / "at worst" not lose out £-wise, surely?

Thanks shortpaul, I had somehow not noticed your message! I think we are past the point of no return now, sadly the car is going in for a trade in against my thrilling Picasso C3!

Thanks, I'll consider this!

And another update. I really am looking at to sell, and this requirement has somewhat accelerated (basically I am adopting a dog, and getting a Citroen C3 Picasso, and I want it all to happen quickly because car shopping alone with a dog from a rescue charity, which is settling into a new home, will be awkward!) Chatting to a dealer selling a C3 Picasso today, about trade in. Neither of us really knew what my car as a whole is worth, on trade in (where of course the dealer has to make it forecourt-presentable AND make a useful profit). He offered £2000 but also said "don't punch me" he is of course in a different market and needs to shift things quickly, and his customers will be deterred by the wheel arches. I was thinking about putting it up on here as an ad, but I have not been an active enough member with only 59 posts so far, including this one.

Hi all, sorry, I thought I had posted to thank everyone for replies - looks like it didn't get through. To answer some specifics - LRF4N - aside from wheels and body rust, I have the rear sills (structural) "thinning" according to recent service. Various bits of corroded underside, I threw a fair amount of cash at this last year but am advised that the brake lines are corroding (according to a specialist; my "second opinion" local garage say they don't look like they are too much to worry about) G1en (and thread in general) - for various reasons I am moving toward selling and replacing with something embarrassingly mundane that I dare not name. That advice to eBay it "as is" with a respectable reserve, and hope to find a buyer who wants to do something to the bodywork anyway, seems sound. All that said, annoyingly today I found out that it is weirdly difficult (read: disproportionately expensive) to insure a second car! Looking to run two cars for a couple of months so I am not panicked into a rush sale of the Nissan for too little money. But I can't just add it to existing policy as I am with Adrian Flux and my underwriter is a "performance car specialist" and I can't add a mundane one to the policy.....and starting a fresh totally separate one for new mundane car, means I have to start at 0 years NCB i.e. a high premium. What a drag. UK car insurance is a weird old thing alright.

Hello all, long time lurker and only occasional poster here. I'll keep it short, I got my first Zed in Feb 2016 assuming I would keep it for 8 months and then get something more sensible. Didn't happen, as it's easily the best car I've ever had. However I am NOT an "enthusiast" and although I've kept her well looked after mechanically (most work done at Cougar Store Leicester) I am ashamed to say I've let the cosmetics rot somewhat, to the point where IF I were to sell her on, I'd probably get so little for her, that it would be a bit pointless and saddening. She's a March 04 with 110k miles on the clock and is my only car, therefore my everyday car. She's always been running fine, just standard wear and tear parts. After a lot of pondering over the last 18 months about selling on, I think the best thing for me is to keep her until she dies. At the age and value that she is, and considering what I spent last summer fixing up various undercarriage potential issues, I am not keen to spend serious money on the cosmetics and (heresy!) will let her rot. There's probably another year or two in her easily. Part of me has been saying "sell to someone who likes to tinker with bodywork or someone who will have her as a track car" but again, it doesn't seem worth the bother. Rough description - extensive tinworm on rear arches, various age-related scuffs and scrapes on paintwork, blistering paintwork under rear registration plate, leather wear on driver seat. I am not convinced that at some point in history, she didn't have a cheap total respray done. There is a section of front bumper that is not well matched (nominally azure blue) HOWEVER what is interesting, and this is what my post is really about, and why I wouldn't be keen to sell the car AS A WHOLE, is this: I have Nismo LGMT 19" alloys and have been pondering selling or doing part-ex of those, for more "mundane" wheels. The Nismos belong on a better maintained car and I've had my four years of enjoying her looking a bit "special". The intention is that this would squeeze a bit of money out of the car, but thinking about it last night, I wondered if THAT is even worth it. Doing a bit of maths - the wheels are all in need of a refurb, call that £70 each to bring them to "looking nice and newish", and add a bit for VAT or something. Call it £320. Then they will be sold as refurbed Nismo. I know they are sought after but what would I realistically get for them? Then I need to put some replacement wheels and tyres on, so that will cost too. Say I don't refurb pre-sale, probably makes no difference to me as I'd have to sell at a lower price as "needing refurb". Am I going to end up going through a lot of effort to just end up making say £100?! Another interesting bit is that she has a registration plate that should be worth several hundreds of pounds (ends in ZED) and again I am now ready to part with that and put the mundane old one on, but no idea how to reliably get a plate valued! Over to you, forum members, what would YOU do? (if it helps, the novelty of feeling every single piece of gravel through my low profile wheels has worn off a bit, and I've never cornered in a way that benefits from them, I drive this car the same as if I were driving a Ford Focus )

Key fob battery was upside down! All sorted now.

Sorted the passenger window now too, but now when I open the car "manually" the alarm goes off (which I experienced last summer using a spare key, but which didn't happen yesterday on first and second tries). Have tried to pair the fobs using the "on/off six times, wait for lights to flash and/or a click, then hold UNLOCK and tap LOCK 3 times and release UNLOCK" Didn't work with either fob, both with brand new battery in . Zero response to the 6 key turns. What next to try? Don't think neighbours will take kindly to the alarm going off even just for a few seconds, every time I open the car until I get this sorted!

Hey all, panic is over, I finally managed to open it "manually". Seemed to just need a bit of "push the key in and out a few times and kind of wiggle it up, down, left, right, as well as trying to turn". A glass of wine at home helped me pick up the courage to go give it a bit more welly! Remote still not working, a friend suggested that this may be linked to the window issue, something about about a "comfort console" (as they are called on VW), maybe under the seat, maybe damp or suffering a loose connection. Any ideas? As I said, I am not very handy so I will probably take it to get looked at.

Update - sadly it is not the batteries - I just bought a new pair, popped one into each of my remote keys, correct polarity, no change. The chances of two new off-the-shelf batteries being duds and/or both remote keys being dead, are pretty slim. Surely it is something in the car. To be clear, there is zero response from the car - the lights don't flash. This suggests that it is not a case of "it's responding but the locks are stuck and need lubricating" (and the response of locks to lock/unlock from inside on the door switch, suggests that they are smooth). And yet the fact that I can't TURN the key manually in the lock suggests something else going on. No problems until last night aside from the battery on the main-use remote seemingly being on its way out (it has been working intermittently for a couple of months but usually just a few extra presses tended to make it work OK if it didn't respond first time). I am keen to be able to at least use the keys manually, before arranging to get this looked at properly - so what are the suggestions for perhaps squirting something into the key hole? I am not very "handy" with this stuff. I do have homestart cover. Don't need the car today so can wait till tomorrow to call them out....

Hi, not sure of Bodywork is the correct forum for this, mods please advise (or just move it if needed) I've done a little forum search and seen a few queries about locks but none that quite match mine. I have a 2004 350Z, been running OK for two years. I have two remote keys for it, and two extra spare ones that are just solid keys (no battery, no remote). I've been using one remote key almost exclusively for two years and it seems that the battery has died in it, which should be fine, I just go and get some replacement batteries. The spare remote has never worked, presumably also a flat battery in there. I have some batteries on order and expected that until they arrive, I can use any of the keys to just open the door manually (careful to turn the ignition on very soon afterward to avoid the alarm going off, as I learned some time last year). However the lock does NOT turn at all with any of the keys. Not even putting some welly into it (well, maybe not that much welly, as I don't want to break anything by forcing). This seems fishy. I'll walk into town now and try to get some replacement remote batteries (DL2016 /. CR2016) but in the meantime, I ask here has anyone experienced this? I am worried that no key will open my door (it worked fine before on occasions where I couldn't find my main-use remote key) The car has a few electrical gremlins going on since Christmas - it needed a jump start (fair, it had been sat untouched in the freezing cold for three weeks), the passenger window won't respond to open/close switched from either door, which I am planning to get seen to soon, and on Thursday night the airbag warning light started flashing (also going to get this seen to). But not being able to get into the car at all is a bit worrying! I had been unable to lock it yesterday when this first manifested, but worked out that if you are in the car and hit the "lock doors" button even with driver door open then close the driver door, it locks. Did I do something wrong there? Do I just need to squirt some WD40 into the lock? Thanks

OK thanks all. In a fit of slightly skewed organisation, I ordered the F453s for the rear and put the car in for a pre-MOT check at the same time, which yielded the info that I need to replace the fronts too! Tracking has been off so they are worn on the insides which, with the width of these things, is hard to spot at a casual glance. If I'd known I was doing all four at the same time I might have taken a very different approach, possibly even ditching the 19" NISMO wheels in the process. Ah well...can decide on all that later I guess. Cheers

Correct , they are 453s but my thread title is wrong, it's 275s I need on the rear and 245 on front

Hello. I have a 2004 350Z, standard spec but with NISMO 19" alloys. It is my only car i.e. daily runabout and I drive it fairly "timidly". On Friday I had a blowout on nearside rear (quite coincidentally the same thing happened last March). Assume a slow puncture that is hard to spot on such low profile tyres, and finally the rim hit the road and "bang". No drama. So I am looking to replace this and will probably replace the pair of rears, sensibly (they have about 12k miles on them anyway). Last year it was almost a no-brainer as I decided to have the same tyre type front and rear, which were Falkens. I'll check the exact model etc later (am at work with a rental car today, will check the 350Z when I get home). Probably Azenis FK510s, that rings a bell. This year, it's close enough to getting around to replacing the fronts as well, so I guess my choice has widened. I'll just get the rears done for now though. Just looking for recommendations. To be honest I've been happy with the Falkens (assuming they are not particularly famously susceptible to punctures and blowouts and I've simply had some bad luck). As I say, I don't drive this like a performance car (indeed maybe I should switch to more humble wheels??!) I got the Falkens from Oponeo last year and fitted by a local specialist. They were about £125 each.

Hi all My 2004 azure blue 350Z is getting a bit tatty and deserves some sprucing up. I have rust bubbles / tinworm on two wheel arches, one very minor ding on a door, various minor scuffs of unknown provenance (probably kids on bikes getting a bit close) and a couple bits of totally flaked off paint. Plus last night I managed to smack my front bumper against a side wall, scuffing it badly and flaking a bit of paint completely off. I live in Loughborough but happy to travel a bit for the right place to do the work. Friends have recommended Hanford Bodyworks in Loughborough, and Chavda Motors on Osmaston Rd, Leicester. I haven't taken any pics especially for this post but I don't think there's anything specific you need to see to help make a general recommendation, it is just general tattiness basically. Oh I do have a pic of the bumper, I guess worst case scenario is replace the whole thing...? Thanks

Hi, not sure if this should go in "general" or "wanted" but as I am not after a very specific part, I thought "general" should do it. Easy enough question hopefully: Can you recommend me a jack that will fit inside the space saver? The original got a bit bent out shape last year during an ill-advised "try and change a wheel on the hard shoulder of the M6" and I unthinkingly just popped into Screwfix and bought a nice 30 quid thing that of course turned out to be hefty to stash inside the space saver. So to save me taking the wheel into a shop and trying loads of little jacks until one fits, can someone recommend me one please? I am aware that these spindly little jacks are to be used with caution (see: incident above, where I narrowly escaped a wrist-crush!) Thanks!

Previously my Kia Cee'd was Kim Jong because it had KJ in the registration and was Korean (and red!) Before that, the MG ZTT was Humphrey because of HMF in the registration (and Humphrey seemed a suitable name for a dressed-up Werthers Original Rover 75 estate) Couple of nondescript Vauxhalls before that, which I didn't bother naming. Before that, a VW Polo Saloon called Alison because I got my friend Alison from the band Saloon to autograph it, for some reason. Although I soon dropped the name in favour of "crappy money pit"

My 350Z is called J-Lo for a few reasons Long in the tooth but still sexy High-maintenance but not too diva Famously slightly bulbous rear end Japanese and low Springs the occasional leak :-D

Jon sorry for lack of reply / lack of acknowledgement. Weird computer things going on, with my work PC putting an automatic bar on "chat forums"! Thanks again, I'll take a look

Hi Jon. It so happens that I am after a passenger side weather strip but I see that the one you have for sale is the same as mine I.e the handle-end tab with the screw has snapped off. Your eBay description says that the strip can be fitted without this tab. I've been trying with mine, thinking that some sort of clip/rail would hook to a counterpart on the door, but I've had no success. What's the trick? I don't doubt that i am just missing a bit of "knack"! I did try to glue the screw tab back to main weather strip. This worked....for three days!

Flashed me (presumably just to say hello!), I didn't notice until too late to respond. Me in azure blue 350 going in opposite direction. Also a silver one down the M1, I flashed it shortly before exiting on J24A but no response I actually don't think I've seen two on the road in a single day before!