WAY

Hi there, here's another Aussie on this board! I was wondering if any of you know what the weight of the standard 18 inch wheels and also the weight of the Rays Engineering forged 18inch that we won't be getting? I can't believe that Nissan isn't including the forged wheels with the Aust spec track version. They get it over in the states. Anyone else interested to sign a petition with me to get Nissan Aust to do something about it? I mean, even if it's a $1500 option I would get it.

apsilon

This is the first I've heard of them being different here. Where did you hear this?

You're not confusing the 17" wheels on the Touring with the 18" on the Track are you?

WAY

There are two different 18 inch wheels on the 350z. One is the standard alloy wheels which is 18x8 for both front and rear, and the other is the lighter and stronger forged wheel which is 18x8 at the front and 18x8.5 at the rear. In Aust we get the cheaper 18 inch for the track model, and 17's for the base model. If you are a performance car enthusiast like myself, you may have heard of Volk TE-37 wheels that are hugely popular with the GT-R and Supra's. Rays Engineering are the makers of Volk racing wheels. Light weight wheels helps the handling, braking tremendously, especially in rough and bumpy roads.

Do you know if the Aussie spec cars get xenons? I am still unsure if I should order a car due to a number of factors such as those mentioned. I definitely want the forged wheels. I am going to write a fax to Nissan Aust about this. Anyone else interested in doing this???

MR RIZK

iTrader: (7)

I'm with you. Let me know as I have complained to my Nissan dealer regarding the 18" Rays and they have offered to buy back the wheels that come with it to allow me purchase a different set. i would rather have the rays though.

The other shitty thing is that we don't get the HID either

PM me if you wish to have a ***** offline.

My biggest issue is that they have not told me what the buy back figure is and this is a problem as I need to order the rims before the car comes in feb.

Cheers,
Michael

MR RIZK

iTrader: (7)

And yeah the other thing was that at the 2002 Darling Harbour Motor show I questioned Nissan regarding the car and they said since it was considered a export model all 350z will be equal around the world since there is no cost for Australia to do the crash testing and all that as it has already been done by the US

WAY

I say we do all our bitching right here, as this may give Nissan Australia a chance to see the complaints from the people who will be buying the car. No HID and Rays is a big minus in my books, and I am swayed towards not buying the car.

BTW, since you guys may have seen the real car, do you know if the car door shuts with a solid clunk or is it the typical Japanese light weight doors? I have never owned a Japanese car before and that is one of the reason (I don't want my car to feel like mum's Camry!!!).

MR RIZK

iTrader: (7)

I think they will be solid. They bloody well should be since the car ways 1500+kgs..

Nissan usually make good solid car. I was quite pleased with my friends 200sx S15

Cheers,
Michael

apsilon

I didn't realise there were two different 18" wheels. I've only seen one style (not that I've looked all that hard) so I assumed that it was being made by Rays. Bummer.

I'll do some checking and see what I come up with in terms of weight.

No HID either? Another bad point.

There aren't enough of us here to bother with a petition but I'll certainly take it up with my local dealer.

Michael why don't you check with your dealer about the buy back. A few of us here haven't ordered a car yet and if he's willing to make it a public offer it could sway us to send our business that way.

As for the doors I've had the opportunity to sit in and have a good look around one, no driving though. The build quality looks good and the door closed nicely. not exactly a bank vault but not cheap feeling or sounding either.

apsilon

Took a bit of searching but I found the wheel weights:

18 inch diam, 8 inch wide, standards: 12.05 kg, 26.565 pounds.

Rays: front 8.25 kg, 18.188 pounds; rear 8.45 kg, 18.629 pounds.

17 inch: front 10.55 kg, 23.259 pounds; rear 10.95 kg, 24.140 pounds.

Taken from this thread:

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....&threadid=5763

WAY

Geez, that is a massive difference for unsprung weight. I definitely want the Rays now. It's not looking good for Nissan Australia...

imhotep@adsl.on.net

Is this all confirmed? When I put my desposit down the dealer told me the cars specs were unchanged, and that even though they were quoting 206kw, it actually wasn't, and was really the same 215 of the US car.

I'm gonna call him tomorrow to confirm again.
he might be full of ****. Then again, most sales people are.

MR RIZK

iTrader: (7)

Let us know how you go. If you look at the brochure and the information given on the Aus Nissan website, it gives the impression that we do NOT get the Rays Wheels.

Its states
18" x 8.0" 6-spoke Aluminium-Alloy Wheels

Where the USA site states
18" aluminum-alloy wheels or
18" forged aluminum-alloy lightweight wheels

*****, *****, *****, *****, *****, *****, *****, *****, *****,

apsilon

Wheels are confirmed unfortunately.

Now that I'm back from holidays I'll be off to the dealer in the next week to negotiate a sale. The wheels and some other issues I intend to use in the bargaining.

imhotep@adsl.on.net

According to the Sales Manager the track comes with the lightweight forged wheels, tire pressure monitors etc. No corner cutting. I'm gonna call them tomorrow and speak to the Sales person I deal with. They're gonna confirm with Nissan on Monday but he says they've not heard anything to suggest these things aren't shipping with the aussie delivered model.

apsilon

The guy I spoke to said it came with 18" alloys as shown in the brochure. I hope he and I are wrong.

Does that also mean we'll be getting the HID lights and air pressure monitors etc?

MR RIZK

iTrader: (7)

I don't believe we will get the tyre monitors as Australia does not require the fittment of these units for compliancing. Other countries require the monitors to pass their laws. I did read somewhere though that this will soon be released in Aus as all new cars must have them fitted from factory for safty reasons

imhotep@adsl.on.net

I'm lookin through the 350z US manual, and the controls on the steering wheel are for cruise control..not for radio/cd control.. no cruise control in the aussie model??

apsilon

Interesting about the tyre pressure monitors, I hdn't heard about them being required. There's lots of cars all over the world that don't have them. Where are they required?

As for us not getting them becuase they're not required here, that's fine, but if Nissan are going to say we're getting the same spec as other markets then it has to be the same spec as other markets.

Re cruise control, yes I believe (and hope) we're getting it.

MR RIZK

iTrader: (7)

According to the Japanese Brochure, the hard bound one which was sent from Japan to me there are 4 buttons on the steering wheel.

The First ones says "VOL" So I assume radio or Sat Nav
The Second one I cannot make the picture out.
The Third one looks like a telephone
The Fourth one is a toggle momentary switch labled with up and down arrows. (Assume Cruise Control)

So if anyone can clarify this, please post

MR RIZK

iTrader: (7)

I remember reading this in Drive (i think) a couple of months ago. I believe the reason was that the average person does not check their tyre pressures until there is a problem.