Ekona

You either really have precious little idea what you're talking about, or you have such a poor way with words that you struggle to get your point across. Your turn in speed should always be the max of what you and the car are capable of but with consideration to the cornering line and apex in mind: If anything you want to be a fraction past the limit to achieve the perfect 4-wheel drift past the apex. Of course if you go too fast into a corner and then nail the brakes your balance is going to be all over the shop, but then given that you've said yourself that you brake later than you should and then brake a bit more to get the front heavy tells me all I need to know. I've never known anyone else on these boards to have as much trouble with their car as you after tracking it, not even Alex with his setup. Every time someone points out that perhaps it's your driving style and that you really need to get some tuition you simply gloss over it and blame something mechanical. Maybe, just maybe, we're actually trying to help you here and not just insult your mad driving skillz, and it might be worth trying what is suggested? Hell, if we're wrong and it's actually the case that you're the world's greatest driver then at least the tutor can give McLaren a call and get you a seat next to Lewis next year. But yeah, perhaps if the discs were fitted the right way you might not have screwed them up so badly.

There's more point in left foot braking in a manual than in an auto, and if you can do it then it's certainly a worthwhile technique for tackling certain corners. You're also missing the point of late braking: It's got nothing to do with putting more weight over the front wheels, it's about carrying every last bit of speed you can into the corner. If you're getting understeer that badly then you've got the car set up wrong, and need to take it for a decent geo setup. From what you describe (specifically, having to go WOT mid-corner during a very wide corner) then the setup here is your biggest issue, and is fighting against you all the way. Due to not being able to switch the Zed's ability to brake individual corners on a UK car, there are times when you'd have to brake and lift just before the ECU works out what's going on to be able to get the front to tuck in under braking: It's probably the hardest thing to get right on the Zed, but is incredibly satisfying when you nail it. AFAIK there's no way to set the braking bias in a standard car, so if the fitters hadn't bled the brakes properly you'd feel it through the pedal instantly. It's more likely your stupidly aggressive braking has boiled the fluid, overheated the pads and destroyed the discs. My advice would be to get new calipers, discs, fluid and pads all round, bed them in gently for approx 300 miles, then bed the pads in properly, and then get yourself on some kind of driver training day. Car Limits is the place I've been to a couple of times as Andy Walsh is a superb instructor, but I appreciate that he's a bit far from you. Still, gotta be worth the travelling if it saves you another set of brakes.

i don't know, with all the power to the rear, if he's heel and toeing, your still trying to put force through the rear caliper while braking. fronts are only subject to rolling resistance and the brake pad. Sorry Rich, but that's completely wrong. Heel and toeing involves no extra power being sent to the wheels at all, that's the whole point of it: Dip the clutch and blip the throttle as you do so, change gear and re-engage clutch matching the revs to the speed you're doing. If you do it correctly the net result is a very smooth gear change that doesn't upset the balance of the car at the point of turn in, if you get it wrong it can make things much worse stability-wise but won't cause any more issues with the braking.

Interesting how the rears have overheated yet the fronts haven't, considering where the majority of the brake force is.

Mine are as gold as the fronts on a UK GT-equipped car.

Not necessarily, the exact pressure will depend on tyre brand and in particular how stiff the sidewalls are. For RE040s 35psi is spot on, for something like T1Rs you'd want a couple of psi more in to account for the chocolate sidewalls. Not too sure on the Falkens though having never personally run them.

Change your front tyres ASAP. Hell, if you can't afford two new Falkens then match the Kendas (whatever they are, I assume it's Korean for DitchFinder) for the rear as well. Four matched tyres (even crap ones) will be better than mis-matched tyres full stop. Mixing tyres really isn't a good thing to do on any car, regardless of power output or engine configuration or whatever. They're the only thing keeping you in contact with the road, and you'll have vastly differing grip levels fore and aft depending on weather, road surface, speed, camber etc which can end in neither you nor the car knowing which way round it's supposed to be going.

What tyres on the front?

If you'd have read the write up properly yourself you'd have realised why it's a stupid idea without Rich having to explain it all for you. Besides, if you buy the right exhaust in the first place you won't get any drone.

Because Nissan didn't design a trick exhaust. It's a standard design so there's nothing you can do with it in that way.

I can guarantee that code has nothing to do with changing the backbox then, unless you nudged a joint or something. There's no sensors past the O2s in the cats.

What's the code? I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess you're running either decat pipes or you're got an exhaust leak prior to the cats themselves. And they're titanium shims, not seals: I assume that was a typo though. And you might want to try Dixon at DMS for the Dixcel stuff, like people have already mentioned in this thread.

No. Completely different car, completely different exhaust design.

If you get the correct offsets then you won't need spacers

Interesting, never considered that side of things. Thanks for that Adam, I may just have to give this stuff a try.

Interesting about the difference between the two brake fluids you mention Adam: Is there that much of a difference between them? I only ask as I'm running the Motul stuff right now and have found it to be much better than stock, however I'm prepared to swap it out for the Endless if the difference is that much. My only query relates to the comparative differences in the boiling points: Motul Dry: 312°c Wet: 216°c Endless Dry: 323°c Wet: 218°c There's only 11°c between the two at dry, and just 2°c when wet: Surely that can't make that much difference? Not questioning you, rather I'm trying to learn as my knowledge of brake fluids isn't what it should be. PS my Ti shims are in the country now, just need to arrange to go and pick them up, thanks again

True, but you should also be doing a speed that means you do not have to touch the brakes at all: I'll admit I've never done Mallory, but every other track I've done (Anglesey old & new, Bedford GT, Rockingham etc) it's certainly possible to both keep a good speed but also never touch the brakes. Still, that shouldn't cause the issues shown.

It's only a Nissan, no special parts needed, just take it somewhere you trust.

There's a bigger issue at fault here I think. I run stock discs with very aggressive Performance Friction carbon pads, and after a few trackdays there's not a mark on them (although they do have a nice lip now, hence me fitting a set of matching PF discs next week). Given that he's using far better discs with equivalent pads (not entirely sure on the heat range of the 2500s, but would imagine they're broadly similar to my PF ones) there should be no cracking like that at all. What brake fluid are you running? When was it last changed? When you say you do a cool down lap, I assume it's at a speed where you don't have to touch the brakes at all? If the bedding in procedure for the discs (note: Not the pads!) has been followed correctly, then nothing like this should occur. Possibly faulty discs? Be worth contacting DBA regarding this and seeing what they say.

Wow, some very interesting responses The results of the poll are pretty much what I thought they'd be, and they certainly sum up the contents of the forum for the most part. I can't say that I'm not a little disappointed really with the results, as the Zed is such an amazing driver's car and I personally feel that it's a shame that so many people bought the car for the way it looks rather than what it can do, but that's just me being me; I totally understand and appreciate that not everyone is the same and has the same objectives from their cars as I do. It'd be a boring world if that was the case! So yeah, I voted performance

Walk away. Plenty of cars out there that aren't as much hassle as this one sounds, and I think you know anyway that this isn't the way to go.

Just out of curiosity really this poll, as it's a question that's been wandering around my head all day. It's pretty self-explanatory really: What was the main reason behind buying your 350Z? Did you go for the aggressive way it looks or the way you could make it look, or was it the way it drove that blew you away? I've deliberately left it only as two options I know that most people would've gone for a combination of the two, but that's a cop-out answer so I left it out Give reasons if you like, totally up to you.

I think this is delayed karma payback for running off before paying for your fish and chips ;) Tell Lucy that me and Jo hopes she feels better soon.

Count me in too

One thing I did notice about that is the 'new' ducktail kick spoiler on the engine lid. They describe this as available only on this model, yet if you look closely at the genII GT3RS it uses what appears to be the exact same lid to attach the BFW to Still, a beautiful car, and it reminds me again exactly why I'm saving for a 997 to replace the Zed in a year or so.