DavidS14

Have a look at the Dealers rated thread

Just had first 9000 service at Humphris of Oxford who were very obliging and offered to collect from my home and return back for £15 - better than taxis and cheaper too.

If you have a look in the Servicing group there's loads of prices and details on P3's from dealers and independants but prices seem to vary greatly (from about £180 to £350) so it's a good idea to shop around and even go a bit further a field to save some money.

Same car but now cheaper

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1008814.htm

I know it's not on a 350 but when I got my 200sx from a Toyota dealer it came with a Toyota extended warranty for 12 months

In that 12 months I had a new air con pump, new exhaust manifold (it was pre the design change) and a new intercooler with pipework (known issue with

them cracking) all covered by the warranty including a courtesy car and I didn't have to spend a penny. I can't fault the Toyota warranty at all, no

arguments or anything all they did was check my warranty number was valid and then asked me when was convenient for the work to be done.

I do think that you need to be dead careful with warranties though and check all the exclusions as a lot of the time the kind of stuff you're getting the

warranty to cover are not covered.

If you can see by eye that the disc is not running true then I would check it's fit to the hub before any thing else.

If it's all fitted correctly and it's still vibrating then there are a few causes but making sure the pads are properly bedded in

is a good first step. That should remove the top layer of pad material and condition the new pad surface (i.e carbonise the

binders) and insure full pad/disc contact.

That's why I asked about the disc surface as if new discs are fitted with old pads or new pads are not correctly bedded

you can have problems as you will not get full contact between the pad and the disc. This can lead to hot spotting/banding

which can cause surface deposits and DTV (disk thickness variation) as the structure of the disc surface can change in

these hot spots causing them to become harder than the surrounding material (usually by the formation of martensite).

These hard areas wear down more slowly than the surrounding material so you end up with some areas of the disc that

are thicker than others which can lead to vibration when the brakes are applied.

This problem can also be caused if the callipers are not releasing fully and so you have a pad(s) dragging on the disc

all the time which again can lead to hot spotting/banding even though it might only be a light contact.

There are other issues as well like the stiffness of the pad material and it's ability to conform to the disc surface but

that get a bit involved

If the discs are newish when this happens a quick fix is to have them lightly skimmed which will remove the thin areas

of martensite and true the disc up again, you can then fit new pads and bed them in correctly. The good thing about this

is that using your original discs they have already been thermally cycled when originally on the car so should be more stable

(structure wise) than new discs. We used to do this all the time on the dynos when we were developing pad materials.

The grooves are there to "sweep" the pad surface clean and also to dissipate gas build up at the pad surface during

high temperature applications.

Sorry to waffle on but I'm bored

I'd check the disc mating surfaces with the hub to make sure everything is clean and free from surface contamination as a first step.

It could be DTV but 1mm sounds like a lot, is there any surface discolouration on the swept area of the disc cant really tell from the pic ?

Are the grooves in pairs and not all evenly spaced again can't really tell from the pic ?

I don't normally like too many grooves as the testing we did on the dynos showed that there were diminishing returns after about 8.

I understand the reasons for Ir over Pt and Cu electrodes but want to know if there was anything special about the Denso's

that made them a better choice than other Ir's.

Just stocking up on 350 info for the future

Is there a reason for using Denso Iridiums ?

A lot of us on the SXOC use NGK Iridium's instead. The difference being that the electrode on the Denso's has a ∅ 0.4mm where the NGK's are ∅ 0.6mm so they seem to stand

up to occasional det better (and the NGK's are cheaper ) .

Just looked at the spec for the Denso Iridium Long Life series and the have the ∅ 0.7mm electrode but are £12 each for my SR20DET where the NGK's are £6

There is also the matter of heat treatment (cryogenics followed by a low temperature temper cycle) which can have a positive impact on disc life/performance but having chatted to our R&D guys we're not convinced. We do have the facilities where I work though and there would be no detrimental affects so I might try it on my next set of rotors.

Have a look at one commercial site for a bit more info http://www.frozensolid.co.uk/index.html

As has been said there's not replacement for additional swept area.

I worked on the development team that produced the original Ferodo DS series of pads (2000, 2500, 3000) so did a lot of testing on pads and rotors. This was a few years ago now

but the basics will be the same and the conclusions valid.

Here's something I posted on the SXOC a couple of years ago when we were discussing the same kind of things:

OK here goes...

I used to work for T&N's technology centre in Rugby. I worked on the brake system team which did a lot of the development work for another one of T&N's group companies Ferodo. We would look into formulations for new pad materials, additions to existing material blends and brake rotor designs (both Ferodo and the "competition"). We had a number of dyno's that we could simulate any driving conditions you like (temp, speed, humidity, suspension set-up etc.). We also did some work for F1 teams using CRC materials.

 

Right back on topic again. The last project I worked on was looking at rotor designs (plain, grooved, drilled etc.) as Ferodo were looking at supplying "packages" for performance cars. After a lot of testing we came to the following broad conclusions:

 

Plain - Good for moderate duty as the transfer film (what the pad deposit on the disc) is unbroken this gives a stable coefficient of friction at low to moderate temperatures. Bad for higher speed/temperature applications as this transfer film will degenerate and give unstable friction and can cause "hot spotting" of the disc leading to cracking and failure. This design also maintains heat longer and so will be more prone to fade under repeated braking.

 

Grooved - Good for almost all applications. The grooving does two things, first it clears the pad surface of carbonised debris (which is generated at high temperatures due to a lot of pad materials using phenoylic resin as a binder) and also allows the vapours that are generated at the pad face during hard braking to escape allowing a better contact between pad face and rotor and minimising fade.

 

Drilled - Good for almost all applications.

Drilled discs give most of the benefits of grooved but have other good/bad points. They allow the discs to cool faster (some of this affect is speed dependant as at higher rpm's the vortex the discs create does impact the amount of cooling air that the discs see via the holes but is aided by the lower thermal mass) but the down side of this is that we noted more surface cracking on drilled discs than grooved, we thought this may be due to faster thermal cycling. We also noted that on some drilled discs unless the holes were countersunk you could see cracks developing from the hole edges.

 

Grooved & Drilled - See above for plus/minus points.

 

I think that for most driving (which is usually fast in a 200 ) I'd go for grooved discs (but not too many grooves as you lower contact area and reduce pad life) with performance pads (Ferodo DS2500). I have Pagid 8 groove discs at the moment.

As a basic rule of thumb I would say that unless you regularly fade the standard set up then plain discs should be OK but I would upgrade the pad material to a performance pad (DS2500). The better thermal performance and higher μ (coefficient of friction) of and uprated material will give you a bit more headroom before you need to look at rotor upgrades. You do need to be careful when selecting an upgraded pad material though as a lot of the pads with a higher metal content sacrifice low temp bite for higher temp stability so feel very "wooden" at lower temps.

One of the biggest improvements we saw on the dyno's though was improving cooling to the rotor/calliper assm. but this can be tricky to get right on a car.

Have to agree, if you're comparing cars you can't just match spec you have to match market/price point.

If it's OK to match a 30K 370 with a 44K Caymen S then match the 44K Caymen with a 58K GTR it's about the same difference in price.

Nissan said that they were aiming for the Caymen but it would be a similaly priced model, as they said in the review "anyone

with 30K to spend on a new Zed is unlikley to be looking at a 44K Porche (or rather more once you've fitted some extras" so

why compare them. I agree that the second hand Caymen S is a good addition to the review but it should have been 370 vs

std Caymen vs SH Caymen S. They could have then said in the review that to match the specs on the 370 you'd have to

buy the Caymen S at x pounds more.

I don't get it though, it only got 4 stars when they seem to agree that it is an improvement on the 350z and looking back

through all the reviews (leaving out the GT-S) the 350 always got 5 stars

You'll be OK, just make sure you've got a recognised CC and a selection of change available just in case

From another thread with the same kind of problem

You can get this type of affect with certain pads when the car has been parked for a while, depending on the binders and additives in the friction material.

 

If the pad is in contact with a section of the disc for a long period you can get a surface reaction between the friction material and the rotor surface. This is accelerated if there is an electrolytic solution present (salt water this time of year) and can lead to a deposit being left on the disc when the car is moved. On your first brake application you then hear/feel a slight vibration as the friction material of the pad encounters the deposit on each revolution of the rotor until it's removed.

 

An easy way to check for this is next time you leave the car for a while just move it forward about a foot and then have a look at the brake disks. You should be able to see the area of the rotor that the pad was in contact with whilst it was parked.

 

I have R34 brembos on my 200 and if it's parked for a few days I get the same thing on my first brake application (that's with DS2500 pads) and if I check the rotors I can see the outline of the pads on the surface.

I've always liked this poster.

The UK model is on page 13 of the http://www.thatcham.org/security/pdfs/compliance.pdf which was last updated in Sept. 08. Don't know about the JDM's though

Are the side steps behind the rear arches so you can get up high enough to clean all of the rear window and roof

You can get this type of affect with certain pads when the car has been parked for a while, depending on the binders and additives in the friction material.

If the pad is in contact with a section of the disc for a long period you can get a surface reaction between the friction material and the rotor surface. This is accelerated if there is an electrolytic solution present (salt water this time of year) and can lead to a deposit being left on the disc when the car is moved. On your first brake application you then hear/feel a slight vibration as the friction material of the pad encounters the deposit on each revolution of the rotor until it's removed.

An easy way to check for this is next time you leave the car for a while just move it forward about a foot and then have a look at the brake disks. You should be able to see the area of the rotor that the pad was in contact with whilst it was parked.

I have R34 brembos on my 200 and if it's parked for a few days I get the same thing on my first brake application (that's with DS2500 pads) and if I check the rotors I can see the outline of the pads on the surface.

Not back in until the 8th, and we've been off since the 15th and being paid for it so not all bad

If the original cannot be repaired then you might be able to find a replacement boot that will fit as there are lots of universal ones available.

http://www.southwalesprops.co.uk/propsh ... _joint.htm as an example.

Just replaced the front ball joints on my 200SX, Nissan said that you have to replace the whole knuckle but they were available in the US for $35 a side. Had a quick search but cannot see them for the 350 though.

That's a fairly thinly disguised requests for pictures of scantily clad young ladies draped over a 350 if ever I saw one, not that it's a bad thing you understand but definitely thin

Hmmmm, calculated speed between two points using what exactly?????

I thought that was VASCAR,it works as follows, you pass a set point and they start a stopwatch, they pass the same point and start the distance measure, you pass the second point and they stop a stopwatch, they pass the second point and stop the distance counter (all this in the VASCAR unit - alternatively they can pre-input a distance and just start and stop the clock over the distance ) they now have time over a distance and VASCAR crunches out the speed.

I've been looking at the Import Tuner mag power pages on the 350Z. I like the way they're base-lined with a dyno run and then made another run after each mod and commented on the torque/bhp gains losses.

2006 350Z ( MotorDyne MREV2 lower collector, MotorDyne 5/16th intake plenum spacer, AEM cold air intake) http://www.importtuner.com/tech/powerpages/0703_impp_2006_nissan_350z_power_pages/index.html

2005 350Z (Buddy Club Pro Spec III, Injen Cold Air Intake, Skunk2 Plenum Spacer) http://www.importtuner.com/tech/powerpages/0605_impp_2005_nissan_350z/index.html

2003 350Z (HKS Hi-Power Exhaust, K&N Filter Element, Direct Power System Grounding System) http://www.importtuner.com/powerpages/0512_impp_2003_nissan_350z/index.html

I know you have to take some dyno info with a pinch of salt but it's good to see a comparison from mod to mod.

Off Topic slightly but does anyone know when 24 is back on in the UK?

Air date is for the US so UK will be sometime after depending on who's got the rights.

NEXT EPISODE

24: Redemption

Airs: Sunday November 23, 2008

 

Set and shot on location in Africa, Bauer and mentor Carl Benton battle an international crisis, while here at home the nation prepares for a new president on inauguration day. Taking place just a few months before the new day dawns, U.S. State Department officer Frank Tramell and Jonah Hodges are pulling the strings that will set the stage and raise the stakes for Season Seven.

 

24 has also momentarily shut down production so that its producers can improve the direction of the final episodes. According to the show's bosses, they feel that they have the time, so they may as well make it the best darned show it can be. 24 had eight episodes in the can before the writers strike last year, so the political thriller is way ahead of schedule and should experience no delays.

I'm still looking for a Z and the S-Tune would be a good candidate but the lack of the full kit would put me off.

I have as has been suggested done some reading up on the S-Tune not knowing much about it and like the spec but I think I'd want the full monty

if I was going to buy one as the cost of adding the kit and wheels would be too much.

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