sl33py

Well, seeing as one of my mechanics took it for a drive with me and could feel what I was talking about, it's not in my head. He did say his cars (R33's) both had it too, but I don't think it's something they're supposed to have, as I've never felt it before until the last few months. It just makes the car feel sloppy in a straight line and annoys me. I'll be chasing it down.

I had my clutch replaced the other day (a PVR/PBR heavy duty 'normal' clutch.. can't remember) and have the EXACT same thing. It's nearly like a 'pre-lag' just after a gear change and YES it feels like a loss in power. Mine's p1ss1ing me off. I also have the "CLUNK!" noise from the diff/driveline when playing around with the clutch pedal catch point while reversing. Another annoying 'quirk' to this car I'm gonna have a transmission person look at it, cos although my mechanic has the exact same clutch in the exact same car, it never used to do it, and it annoys me too much to leave as is.

Yep, was a good day out. Gave me another push to actually tinker with my car Good to see aus specs really schmick 32 GTR, the 34 GTR and Rumble (whoever owns her). I dunno what's inside rumble, but it could be anything really, I just really dig that colour. I think I saw it at Ed's having some rather involved work done. My neck and ears got completely cooked too :\

Mmm, just remembered I have some big embarrassing gashes in my front bumper from a few weeks ago due to some anonymous carkpark hero (b45t4rd...). I don't wanna show her off lookin' like that - I'll wait til it's fixed. But I'll be at the show for sure.

I'll be at the show, on foot at the least. Any point in bringing a plain-jane R33 GTST? I dunno that it's 'show' material compared to what I know is out there

I just got quoted: Michelin Pilot Sport 2 = $650/corner (Holyyyyy 5h1t!) Toyo T1R = $430/corner Pirelli PZero Rosso = $410 Pirelli Pzero Dragon = $310 Hankook Ventus K104 = $228 I really wanted to try the Michelins but that's INSANE, I'm getting the Toyos. Just found out the Zonda F uses the Pilot Sport 2 Stig set the lap record using them! haha

I'd spend the money on the car you really care about instead!

Well in my defence... I've only got an aftermarket exhaust which came on the car when I bought it And the car came with Falken 326 on it, I p1ssed them off as soon as I could afford new rims and tyres at the same time. I decided on the Maxxis MA-Z1 cos they were more spendy than other Falkens or Hankooks for the same size so I figured they would be better, plus I saw this page and thought Maxxis might be some kind of diamond in the dust which was cheaper because the brand is semi-unknown: http://www.aussiefrogs.com/forum/printthread.php?t=23777 I guess it didn't occur to me when they quoted them at very nearly the same price for 18s as the 17s in that review, whereas (after proper homework) the other brands are nearly twice the price in 18s. The Maxxis were definitely better than the Falkens in most respects, as everyone here has pointed out. From what I've read here, I'd hazard a guess they might perform in the same league as the Hankook K104 (when you don't get the problems I did with my particular set). That's not quite as good as I was hoping for though. It'll be interesting to see how much better big-name 400/corner tyres can be. I hope they are way better and I never look back. But even then you read reviews of some expensive tyres being called terrible. I guess the reason some people knowingly spend less on tyres may be because they simply haven't experienced better, so there's no urge to pay 400/corner when there's other options that get good reviews, IE you can't go entirely on price. My next set will be right up there in price though, in an attempt to find out - Toyo T1R, Mich PS2 or Bridgestone RE050A. Not sure which yet, I've read both glowing reviews AND dumps from a great height on all three. If I end up having to take a guess, I reckon as long as they perform decently for their price (ie not a complete ripoff) then I can't go too far wrong. I read the PS2 have flexible walls which can feel squishy around corners, and I've read the Toyos can tramline badly, and I've read the RE050A HAVE to be the "Pole Position" type (whatever that means), or they are pretty average. I've been looking at this table: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresult...lay.jsp?type=MP I was recommended the PZero Rosso by the dealer, but based on that table and their previous inadequate service/knowledge, I'll ignore them completely! I'll be making the choice in the next day or so, so if anyone has driven/owned these tyres enough to compare between them, and knows which is the go, that'd be great.

I've had the Maxxis MA-Z1 on for about 2500kms now, and have found the following: - compared to the falken 326, the MZA1 are much noisier. - compared to the 326, the MZA1 have noticeable more grip, but not as much as I'd like to have - when you put the MZA1, they screech. And you don't have to push them very hard to get cornering noises out of them (annoying). - I reckon the 326 had better grip in the dry than the MZA1, but the thing is, the MZA1 gave their grip away more progressively, whereas the 326 would grip 90-100% properly and then just let loose with no warning (whereas the MZA1 gives the screeches so you know it's about to lose it). Seeing as I had problems after a wheel rotation, the MZA1 I had fitted were found to be 'out of round', meaning they are OVAL in shape! I dunno if that is an example of poor quality control or if I just got extremely unlucky, but the place that found it (not the place that fitted them) said that it was a fluke I didn't notice at the start and the fitters got lucky since the worst ones were on the back (I noticed it when they were on the front cos the wheel shook baaaaad). I'm most likely gonna demand a swap and upgrade to the Toyo T1R at the same time. I wanna see what 'best of breed' tyres are supposed to be like. If they are pretty much the same, then at least I'll know for next time, but they seem to get nearly unanimously good opinions on here. Actually I'm more keen on the Michelin Pilot Sports (SP2) now, as I have a bit of tramlining and I was told that directional tyres are more susceptible to that - the Michelins are non-directional whereas the Toyos are.

So, Revell showed me what was wrong. They jacked up the front left and span the wheel with their hands. As you watch the leading edge of the tyre, you can see the thickness of it go in, out, in, out as it spins... IE the tyre is OVAL SHAPED. WTF, the last place sold me what Revell called 'out of round' tyres! I'm gonna have the old place swap it, and so help them if they argue. And the wandering is partly because of that and they said cos the tyres are directional they will cause it a bit too, but I've had directionals that didn't do it as bad as it does now. They said i never noticed this before because the last place must have got lucky putting them on, but changing them around showed it up! By the way, the tyres are Maxxis MAZ1. I thought I'd try them cos they got 3rd overall in a Wheels test a few years ago in the 17" size. I'll go with one of the bigger/better known brands this time. I'll probably try to get them swapped tomorrow.. err later today. Edit: tyres are being priced up early next week. I'm learning towards Toyo T1R or Michelin Pilot Sport (SP2). Both of these are available there and have good reviews amongst the 'better' tyres. I'm leaning towards the Michelin cos Revell said directional tyres are more susceptible to tramlining, which had in the past and hated with a passion. Whichever I get, I think it'll be about 400/corner, which means forking out another 800 since I only paid 215/corner for the Maxxis. I expect either tyre will be a marked improvement over them!

Wow, you musta had some problems to need to replace everything!

Nah... It used to roll perfectly straight with the wheel straight, and it didn't wander around like now (it's like watching a ghost playing with the wheel if you can your hands off!). Amazing that they munted these two things at once just by swapping the front and back wheels. The bushes are newish, less than 2 years old, had them replaced when I bought it. I drove from Civic to Belco at lunch today and I'm still just amazed they could tell me straight to my face that it's perfect. I think they were sick of seeing me after 5 goes and left it bad on purpose so I'd go somewhere else. Mission achieved!

Thanks, I'll put them on the list if Revell can't sort it out this Friday. The car was driving perfectly until I gave it to this first place for the rotation. It all went to 5h1t right after that, so I'm 99% sure there's nothing majorly wrong with the car that's causing these issues, just poor work on the wheels (unless they've gone and bunged up something complicated while just trying to do a simple job). The rims are Roh Mantiis (not the ones in my avatar), not cheapies. I think probably any decent place will get it right, it's just these t0ss3rs reckon it's fine when obviously to me that it's not, so they're incapable of fixing a problem when they don't think there is one. Will let you know how it goes.

Yeah I read about him too, thought I'd try the closest of the apparent best three before going further afield.

I went to a certain recently-merged major tyre chain situated on the Northside for a free tyre rotation the other week (shouldn't have even gone, only had 4K on the tyres) and when I got it back, the wheel liked to centre left of centre, and when I went over 80kph I had geriatric steering wheel shakes (not related to breaking at all). Since it was a free service, I thought OK, benefit of the doubt, I'll just take it back and let them sort it, since they're familiar with the car. After no less than 4 more attempts, the wheel still strays to the left (slightly less now), but the shakes are still there. Terrible. Before all this, the car used to be able to travel at speeds near the top of the speedo (*cough*) and she was solid as a rock, no shakes, no meandering steering, no nothing. So I'm unwilling to let it stay as it is (cos a trip to the coast or Sydney would be 5h1te as it currently is!). The tyre place reckon it's currently "solid as a rock". No way - I had the left-meandering happening in 1 minute flat and the bad shakes/jitters the very first time I did more than 80kph. I'm sure if it was a 10 year old Barina or a clapped out Volvo or something, then maybe it would go unnoticed for a few weeks, unless the owner then travelled on ANY highway, but this is a sports car - any problem like this is pretty much immediately noticeable as it's a much more finely tuned machine! I don't think they even take it out to test. The part I don't understand and that completely amazes me is - how the h3ll can they have 5 tries and STILL not get it right?? Isn't there very little human input into the process and it's all laser alignment etc? Needless to say, this pack of jokers has had more than their share of my time and patience and I'm never going back there again, even though I bought the wheels/tyres there. I'm taking it to Revell in Fyshwick this Friday, since I read on here that they and Capital Steering were good. At this point I'm not even sure what the problem is any more... balancing or wheel/steering alignment, or what. I'm just gonna tell Revell to check over the whole thing - check for lane wandering and test it at 80-100kph for shakes just to be sure, I don't care if they use half a tank testing, that's how fed up I am with it. I wonder if there's something seriously wrong with the alignment machine at the other place, otherwise they are all nincompoops! I know this kinda post has been done before, but I had to get that off my chest - it's surprising how annoying it can be when your pride and joy isn't behaving. BTW, I hope my subtle reference to the previous tyre place was obvious enough who it is. I realise it can depend on the mechanic on the day and who helps you what kinda quality service/skills you get, but this was ridiculous!

I'm getting together some quotes for some scratches n stuff too. Is "Panel N Paint" in fyshwick the same place as: Professional Paint N Panel at 58 Kemlba Street Fyshwick? I just spoke to a guy called Kane. I'll also be getting quotes from Fuller Brothers in Belco, Precision Panels (maybe not, after a horror story a friend told me) and also BARS in Mitchell (but I already know they charge 88 bucks for non-insurance jobs).

Hey I'll join your crowd Sauce! If you ever see an R33 S2 northside with blast beats, angry growls or pounding double bass drumming coming from it, that's most likely me ^^^AGREED!! Also add Strapping Young Lad's self titled album, PLUS: Artist: KMFDM Album: Song/s: WW3 Optional,genre: German industrial techno Optional,why?: Cos it has great beats AND it's heavy/angry Artist: Bloodbath Album: Resurrection Through Carnage Genre: Death metal Why?: Scary the living crud out of the teeny boppers in the Excel next to me Artist: Cradle of Filth Album: Nymphetamine or Damnation and a Day Genre: Death / Goth metal? Why?: Heavy as, great blast beats Artist: Dark Tranquillity Album: Character, Damage Done, Haven Genre: Death Metal Why?: Heavy and great rockin' tunes with drumming and guitar with real kick/impact Artist: Dream Theater Album/Song: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, in particular Glass Prison Genre: Prog Metal Why?: After the long intro, Glass Prison is the best Psych-up driving song I know! Artist: Machine Head Album: Through The Ashes Of Empires Genre: Metal Why?: Aggro metal, scare the ppl around me Artist: Infected Mushroom Album: any of them! Genre: Goa/Israeli Psy trance Why?: The beats are massssive, and the panning effect between tweeters pisses off the GF Artist: Jean Michel Jarre Album: Metamorphoses Genre: French electronica Why?: Great relaxing music for heading down the coast \m/

Got a wave from a guy in an R33 with an unpainted front bar, driving through Latham. Was probably a bit slow in waving back, but I saw ya.

I wanna know who the chick in the Precision Panels ad is lol. The one who forgets the parking brake.

Yeah, I rang Shannons when I first bought the car and they didn't want to know me because I'm not a member of any car enthusiast groups. Just Cars were the only ppl that would insure me, and the bank my loan is through are the only ppl that would fund me I had to have the car tho haha

I just got my renewal bill from Just Cars Insurance, and was hoping that the premium would be less than last year. But it wasn't. So I rang up to ask about it, and they said it's only calculated on the type and age of car, the driver's no claims bonus (mine was already at 60%) and because I turned 25 I just avoid the underage excess in the unlucky event something should happen. Fair enough. BUT, what I did find out is: the guy I spoke to saw my the agreed value of my car and said "jeez, they gave u a bit too little last year" and he said he'd see how much he could bump it up. Sweet! I thought. And he increased the agreed value from 20500 to 21500, new paperwork will be sent out etc. Then I said "so does that apply from now on or do I have to ring up again next time?" and he said that each year the premium is calculated, it will go down to market value again! I don't know how accurate this is, or if it applies to all cars, but I found it very interesting, and I'll definitely be ringing up next year to try and fanagle a higher agreed value out of them again! I guess sometimes it pays to ring up and ask (nicely) about why things are the way they are, instead of just grumbling about insurance costs like some friends I have Food for thought! I'd be interested to see if it works for anyone else. Try it and let us know!

G'day Stevie! Finally I've been spotted lol yeah they guzzle it, eh

This morning, I saw a black series 1 R33, about 2 metres behind me (LITERALLY) travelling down Belconnen Way. Dude, when I can't see your little shiny "S" you are WAY the hell too close to me. And I WILL flash my brakes at you. Get the point! And when that other guy pulled in front of me suddenly and I put on the brakes, of course you're going to get a sudden shock! Especially when I can already see the make of your sunglasses! He pulled off left down Haydon drive to tailgate someone else. Tosser!

Gave/got a wave/nod this morning from a guy in a silver R33 on Belco Way this morning. Couldn't tell much about the car except it had a kit and nice many spoke rims, think it had a FMIC too. I was in the other Silver R33. Wonder what was up? .... with everyone hooning around you? Looked like you were content doing 60

Saw a nice black R33 series 2 (dunno if GTST/GTR or what) on Barry drive from Civic until the hospital where he turned off. Looked very tidy, debadged, with the front "S" in a very evil red I was in the silver R33 if u read SAU! Noone spots me