For anyone who attended ZDays last year, I'm in need of some advice.

I will be driving up from Central Florida, so that means I'll be driving over 600 miles to the Dragon and a total of over 1200 miles round trip. I'm having an aftermarket bumper installed later this week. I've had my DPE wheels since June of last year. I was wondering if you would recommend putting on the OEM bumper and wheels for the road trip?

Of course, I'd like my car to look good when I meet a ton of new people and for photography reasons...but I do not want to ruin my bumper or wheels with rock chips or other road debris. I know I can at least apply the blue painters tape for the bumper on the road trip to and from the Dragon...but what would you all suggest? What were some of your experiences from last year's event?

 

YES. i do lots of road trips and most of them 450miles each way. They mess up really bad on the front bumper. put a blue painter tape or clear tape or 3M clear bra on some part of the bumper would help a lot.

 

IMO, its probably gonna get messed up one way or another. Besides, wouldn't you want your Z to be seen at her best?

 

There's a small caravan leaving from the Tampa/Brandon area that morning EARLY (thinking 6am or so). The three of us hope to meet up with some other Zs/Gs along the way. You're more than welcome to join us. or meet us somewhere along the way. I'll post some more info here when we make some more concrete plans.

 

Sounds good. I think I am caravaning with the guys from Orlando. Hopefully, we can meet somewhere on 75. I just don't know when we are leaving.

 

Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Are any of the OZOC people driving up with those of you from the G club? If so, we should meet up somewhere on 75 like you said.

We were planning on driving straight through and getting there friday afternoon/evening.

 

I'm sure there will be OZOC guys leaving with us. I believe there will be 3 or so Gs leaving Orlando early Friday morning. Also, a few Gs will be leaving from Tampa that morning as well. It looks like we may have a nice caravan.

By the way, I saw your car again on McMullen Booth. The past few times I have been back home, I've seen your car. It's so damn nice!

 

Hmm.. you're leaving Friday? From what others have told me that have gone in the past years, it works out best to leave Thursday morning and get there a little early. I took this advice and made a room reservation for Thurs night as well.

Ahhh hah. Last time I was in that area (McMullen Booth) was around Nov-Dec or so, getting some body work done. I remember seeing a G drive by on 60 that rev'd at me, may have been you. Thanks for the compliment, I'll definitely see you around at Zdayz if we don't end up driving up in a caravan.

 

If you mainly want to show your car, I'd suggest leaving your aftermarket bumper on and finding some temporary protection to put over it. There are a number of different temporary and spray on films for that purpose.

If you plan mainly to drive, definitely put your OEM bumper back on. I'm in the same boat you are and plan to run the OEM bumper for the Dragon.

 

Thanks for the replies, guys...it looks like I'll be putting on my OEM bumper for the trip to N.C. I'm actually just about to leave to go pick up my freshly painted to Kuruma bumper.

No one has mentioned anything about the wheels. Did anyone have any bad experiences last year with their aftermarket wheels? My current setup is 19x8, 19x10. I don't know how comfortable I would be driving with the oem 18x8 and 18 x 8.5 wheels after not using them for almost a year.

 

Huh? Is the road that bad up there? I was just hoping not to tailgate people.

 

Well have had my new bumper on for 3 weeks now. I have a dime sized rock chip and spider webbed paint as of this weekend. My point is just enjoy it, dont worry about it. It can always be fixed and will only take some money. You will make more tomorrow!

 

looking forward to seeing you all there.

My guys from T-Emotion drive all over the east coast for shows, and they are very fond of the blue painter's tape (non-stick), and they plaster the entire front end of the car with the stuff. Looks funny as heck, but peels off in 2 mins without leaving any goo. I'd do it!

 

Well, I've decided to keep my bumper and wheels on for the ride. My bumper already has some spider webbing happening on the lip. So I figure if it gets messed up during the road trip, I'll just have it repainted. I think I'm going to keep my wheels on there, too. I just bought some new Goodyear F1 tires...now I just need to get a camber kit so I don't ruin the tires on the way up.