DavidS14

I wonder if that door speaker ever worked again with all that snow/slush/mud spayed at it

You can get into trouble though if you do make it in from further away. I had to commute from south of Birmingham to Rugby a few years ago and we had some bad snow that winter so I set out for work thinking "I'll give it a go but if it gets bad I'll turn round" It was slow going but never got to the stage where I was worried I wouldn't make it or get stuck so 2.5hrs later I trundle into work to find out of the 150 people who worked there only 12 had made it in and some who didn't live very far at all didn't. One who'd come in was my boss who was amazed that I'd come in from so far away, he thanked me for coming and said that there was nothing much that could be done with so few people in so I could go home with no loss of hours After the weekend the roads were clearer and most people turned up only to be told that as a member of staff had made it in all the way from Redditch, all the people who lived closer and didn't make it in would be docked either a days pay or a days holiday. Took a while before that was forgotten

I've got a kindle 3G and really like it. You can import quite a few file types direct or you can email others (Microsoft Word, PDF, HTML, TXT, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, PRC and MOBI files) to your kindle some work better than others due to formatting. Most of the books I've got on mine at the moment are copies of books I already own (as my bookshelves are straining and I could do with boxing them up) which I've downloaded and converted (.lit, .epub, .txt etc.) as there are so many kindle users out there there are conversion tools for a lot of the popular file types. I have quite a few technical books on there and I like that you can insert your own notes if you want or search for keywords which make things easier. Of all the readers I looked at the main thing for me was how easy was it to read and as that's what you're buying it for and I thought that the kindle was the best. It's easy to read all the time from bright sunlight to table lamp before I go to sleep. Yes you are a bit more limited on the book types it supports natively but there are loads of apps to convert other types if required, one of the best is Calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/about) and there is now one that you can load onto the kindle to convert epub and pdf's on the fly called Savory http://blog.fsck.com/2009/04/savory.html. Neither of these with break DRM'd files which is of course naughty.

Thanks very much for the write up, all useful information for me as I'm still undecided on my next car. I've secured use of the garage at my place now though so I can start looking in earnest as I didn't want to go through the "having to look out and check at the slightest noise outside" stage again.

They'll also eat his discs as they have a very high metal content.

Welcome aboard

I was waiting for your comparison as I've yet to drive one (but driven a few 350's now) but have been reading up on the forums. The only thing putting me off a little is the size as there are only two of us so don't really need a four door. Keep us updated on ownership info please

You can generate DTV with a lot of motorway miles if the callipers are not releasing fully and you are getting light contact between the pads and disk over long periods. This would lead to hot spotting on the high points on the disc and a phase change in the material at the surface which can be hidden as a few brake applications can remove the surface discolouration. You can sometimes spot the these areas as they are slightly darker grey than the surrounding material. If you're lucky a run through a decent bedding in procedure will help but normally you'd need a light skim to remove them. You need to get the disks measured for run-out on the car as this will give you an idea of where to look to stop it happening again. It would be no use getting the disks skimmed off the car if the problem lies in how they are mounted when fitted as you'll just get the same issues again, there was a thread on having them skimmed whilst on the car which gave good results IIRC. Most modern brake pad materials don't rely on a transfer film to work as the metal content of the matrix has been pushed up to give them a larger temperature envelope but you can get surface deposits at high temperatures.

Yep, the dealer is the friend of a guy I know through work http://www.911virgin.com/porscheforsale/67/996GT3Mk1/

Love the look of them but I'm not looked into build quality/reliability, I think that if I went down the sportscar route then the 911/Caymen would probably be my first choice.

Never driven one but the facelift ones look OK so I thought I'd stick it on the list . Thanks for the replies so far, a garage I know has a yellow GT3 that I love, although I have the money to buy it I couldn't justify it really and I'd be sooooo paranoid about parking/leaving it anywhere. A mate has an RS4 which I liked driving but they are still a bit pricey for the newer ones.

I had owned my S14 since 98' but the tin worm finally got the best of it and it was sold to a guy who works in a body shop and will get it back on the road As a stop gap I bought a run around and would have started looking for a replacement for the 200 but decided it would be a better idea to crush two fingers at work (multiple fractures/lacerations). So whilst my fingers sort themselves out I'm going to do the background reading etc.. into what to look at once I can go test driving. I've been saving for a while so have a bit to spend but don't really want to spend too much as it's probably just going to be a weekend/summer car and I might keep the run around for commuting/winter. I've obviously thought of a 350 but I've been looking at what else interests me and I've been trying to come up with a list, so far I have 350Z (maybe a 370z) Monaro/VXR8 BMW E46 M3/ Z4 Porche 911 / Caymen S Audi TT My general guidelines are, probably less than 5 years old, mainly looking at coupe's (doesn't have to be practical but needs to be OK for longish journeys if required) and up to ~£25K. If I spend less that I can always use some of the money for mods/upgrades. Anything else I should be looking at ?

I posted this on a previous thread.

Have a read of viewtopic.php?f=59&t=19535 As has been said the discs should clean up with use.

Happy Birthday. Remember you're only as old as you feel

Part 1 "Guadalcanal/Leckie" is up in xvid and 720p so will probably watch it later

Sorry, should have said it was a link

Is it a bird...is it a plane..... <---- for those who didn't realise this is a link

I'd park right behind the neighbours car so he cant get out. When he comes round to ask you to move it you just say "Thought I was doing you a favour, you obviously have trouble opening your car door without hitting my car so to stop further paint damage to the edge of your door I thought I'd try parking out of the way"

Anything close enough in the Dealer Praises and Woes Thread ?

You might have issues with temperature though as I thought that the cats have to maintain a high temperature in order for the reaction with the exhaust gases to be maintained, that's why they are usually as far forward as they can be.

Green, red and yellow from memory as well as Mintex 1144 I think it was and Porterfield R4S ? EBC were always a "stiff" pad at the time but they may have changed the formulation since we looked at it. I know the DS are not cheap, when I got a set for my 200 standard calipers they were £125 but when I got them for the Brembos they were only £99 which was strange as they were a bigger pad

All of the DS range at the time (DS2000, 2500 and 3000) were all based around the same matrix with each material then formulated for it's primary application, I don't think that 2000 is still in production DS2500 was really a road going version of 3000 that kept some of the high temperature characteristics but added friction modifiers and lowered the metal content so that you retained low temperature performance which was lacking in the 3000 material. It has a fairly flat friction coefficient and maintained > 4Mu above 400°C plus it's also pretty disc friendly given it's performance and also lasts well so it's a good material for cars that are mainly used on the road but also do track days. 3000 was always a good race pad due to the high metal content but had very low performance when cold and would eat discs. 2500 was not a "stiff" pad, that means that the pad material can "flex" and follow the disc surface even if it's not totally flat which happens when the disc heats/cools. Some pad materials are very "stiff", this can mean that instead of conforming to the disc surface they only touch the high areas which can lead to hot-spotting and distortion problems with repeated thermal cycling. I've always gone back to DS2500 on my 200SX initially with standard calipers and discs, then I swapped to Pagid 6 groove dics and then to R34 Brembos and discs. I have tried Mintex, Project Mu and Endless but have preferred the DS's in the end as a good all rounder.

Mintex, Pagid, EBC, AP and Porterfield as well as a few others as I recall. This was a few years ago so I've no info on any newer materials but all of the principles are still the same.

Have a search for Uprev as well