My GT-R Journey, ***Warning Many Images*** Options

[tekknikal]

to answer a few questions

-no idea of the cost of consult3

-the bottom rear undertray can be taken off and on in minutes. just a bunch of bolts thats all, nothing fancy

-i had the vibration before i went in for the 1k mi service (which was when the alignment was adjusted)

i wonder if any service depts are open today? once the car is done being detailed the only issue from it being flawless will be the wheel balance....
and speaking of getting detailed, im crossing my fingers for good weather in Fl today so i can get some post-detail pics

[Goodwood]

Don't worry, if they need to drive it 80mph, they will, just go with them to make sure they don't take it to 180!
I've actually heard about tires themselves occasionally being out of round causing a vibration. Wonder if it could be that?

[tekknikal]

i hope not, but we'll see. the wheel balancing machines that nissan recommends should be able to determine the problem

[tekknikal]

updates:
-wheel balance being checked tomorrow
-had the car detailed. looks absolutely fantastic. although i obviously dont know what every (black) gt-r looks like, if mine and mc's are any indicator - professional detailers will be needed. i could ramble on and on about the detail and how great it came out, but i think this thread pretty much captures it:
http://www.autopia.org/forum/pro-details-b...atches-etc.html

[Chuck_H]

updates:
-wheel balance being checked tomorrow
-had the car detailed. looks absolutely fantastic. although i obviously dont know what every (black) gt-r looks like, if mine and mc's are any indicator - professional detailers will be needed. i could ramble on and on about the detail and how great it came out, but i think this thread pretty much captures it:
http://www.autopia.org/forum/pro-details-b...atches-etc.html

Wow, what a difference. Looks perfect now.

[zeyd]

stunnning

[MC]

damn dude mine wasnt near as bad as yours. i didnt have any waterspots any etching and real no scratches. i had the swirls (still have those ) and i had the milky haze, i still have that on some areas.

you know how your hood looked with the different color black in the outline of the protective plastic? i have that under the tailights in the shape of a little black box on each side. its from those foam stick on protectors.

but im pretty much done worrying about mine. its better than it was so im like to hell with it im just gonna drive and enjoy it

[jmark]

damn dude mine wasnt near as bad as yours. i didnt have any waterspots any etching and real no scratches. i had the swirls (still have those ) and i had the milky haze, i still have that on some areas.

you know how your hood looked with the different color black in the outline of the protective plastic? i have that under the tailights in the shape of a little black box on each side. its from those foam stick on protectors.

but im pretty much done worrying about mine. its better than it was so im like to hell with it im just gonna drive and enjoy it

Exactly the reason I would not buy a black GTR or Nismo Z. It will take a pro to keep it looking like that. I am slowly learning to polish my son's black Xterra using Menzerna products. Alot of work.

[tekknikal]

damn dude mine wasnt near as bad as yours. i didnt have any waterspots any etching and real no scratches. i had the swirls (still have those ) and i had the milky haze, i still have that on some areas.

you know how your hood looked with the different color black in the outline of the protective plastic? i have that under the tailights in the shape of a little black box on each side. its from those foam stick on protectors.

but im pretty much done worrying about mine. its better than it was so im like to hell with it im just gonna drive and enjoy it

i think its hard to quantify the condition of the paint.
i thought it wasnt that bad from my eye - not too swirled, but that milky haze and the water spots were big for me. also the areas on the doors.
id be surprised if you really have no water spots at all? esp given the time yours sat at port...

one thing i definitely think though, is that the guy i hired is a perfectionist... so his description of the paint condition is very critical and very accurate. to you or me, we might describe it differently...

[tekknikal]

UPDATE

ive been REALLY busy over the last couple days
i looked for a nearby dealer to see if i could get service for what i strongly suspected was a wheel out of balance (as noted above)
to do this, i knew i wanted to have the wheels checked with a gsp9700 wheel balancing machine by hunter.
this machine is good because it's not only precise but also applies a force on the tire (similar to when its on the road) to look for other problems such as an out of round tire etc
cross referencing the list of places with that machine against the local gt-r dealers and giving priority by distance i found Maroone Nissan of DelRay.

my first phone call to them went well, i was connected with Dan who happened to be the gt-r service rep.
i explained that i wanted to have the balance checked and before i could continue he asked if i had a vibration- we're already talking the same language
long story short i got setup for the today after shuffling my schedule around.

as it turns out, dan is a reader of this site and a number of others and is no stranger to the online z/g/gt-r community.

this morning, with much anxiety i dropped the car off with him.
what worried me, besides just the emotions of leaving my car, was the prospect that he brought up- that there could be a problem with the tires. i really, really didnt want to have to change 1 or 2 tires with 2k+ mi on them. he said they might replace all if wear was great enough (greater than 3/32nds difference from each other was the rule he mentioned) but mine didn't appear to be there. ugh. i can see this being an issue later on... imo the 3/32nds rule should apply from a full tread as opposed to from the other tires......

anyway, believe it or not, he was out of loaners too- this was the only downside and something i still don't quite understand- but so it was.
so - to you guys complaining about gm aveo (?) loaners- be happy you get anything.

beyond that dan was great and the car was serviced well. i was given a ride to the office and picked up when the car was done.

so what did the gt-r tech find?

all four wheels out of balance.

they were fixed via the additions of wheel weights, no new tires needed
also of note, dan was surprised to see my tire wear which was essentially near zero. 10/32nds left.
he had thought the tires might last 5k mi or so based on what NNA had said. my car has over 2k mi and the tires are still holding up fine.
then again ive yet to use LC and about half the miles are highway miles, and i haven't gotten a chance to really drive the car yet...

[zeyd]

go and check this.

are you in street or race ?

[tekknikal]

not sure what you're referring to...
tires were at 34psi for the first 1400mi, 29psi after (1k mi)
alignment is adjusted to factory-spec (race)
so far, ive rarely had the car in race mode

to be honest, the suspension settings dont seem to have an effect?
maybe im not very sensitive to ride? or maybe it isnt instant? i dont know

r mode transmission does feel more responsive though

edit

also, i just got back from a couple hours of driving, about half of it on the highway. i can confirm the car is much smoother now.
im still surprised they delivered the car to me out of balance...

[jmark]

not sure what you're referring to...
tires were at 34psi for the first 1400mi, 29psi after (1k mi)
alignment is adjusted to factory-spec (race)
so far, ive rarely had the car in race mode

to be honest, the suspension settings dont seem to have an effect?
maybe im not very sensitive to ride? or maybe it isnt instant? i dont know

r mode transmission does feel more responsive though

edit

also, i just got back from a couple hours of driving, about half of it on the highway. i can confirm the car is much smoother now.
im still surprised they delivered the car to me out of balance...

Wheels should have been factory balanced.

[zeyd]

not sure what you're referring to...
tires were at 34psi for the first 1400mi, 29psi after (1k mi)
alignment is adjusted to factory-spec (race)
so far, ive rarely had the car in race mode

to be honest, the suspension settings dont seem to have an effect?
maybe im not very sensitive to ride? or maybe it isnt instant? i dont know

r mode transmission does feel more responsive though

edit

also, i just got back from a couple hours of driving, about half of it on the highway. i can confirm the car is much smoother now.
im still surprised they delivered the car to me out of balance...

there is two alignement specs, race and street. I thought maybe they tried to put you on street specs and messed up

[prov1]

This is a very wonderful thread. It reads and flows like a book. The sense of humor and observations, the attention brought to the familiar, the situational descriptions, are just damn great.

Tekknikal you are a gifted man.

yes indeed, plus the photo's that he takes are joy to look at.

Tek you are very talented, many thanks for sharing.

[tekknikal]

many thanks guys...

..another update. i wish i were in better spirits.

i had to drop the car off at the port today to go home
i will see it in a week. or two if the ships are full.
hopefully these storms aren't a problem

Aimee helped me right up to the point where i had to turn her off

i didnt think id miss it but i do

a lot

[tekknikal]

OK so a lot's happened since I left.
I got the car back. Things are mixed so far. Scratches in transport. Not happy about that.
It's an interesting car for these roads though. The competence of the GT-R is really being brought out.

Anyway, I did a writeup on my local (USVI) site for the guys here. They didnt know i was getting the car. Many of them aren't familiar that with the GT-R either- so it's a very different demographic than this site. It's also a small community.

Here's the writeup...

Pt1 Acclimation
Pt2 A Small World
Pt3 Braving the Storm
Pt4.1 Cars & Cafe
Pt4.2 The Afterparty
Pt5 A New Beginning