Rochester

iTrader: (9)

There's an extremely shallow ding on both rear quarters, the kind that you have to eyeball forever in order to see them. Unless I point them out to you as the humongous dents they seem in my mind's eye.

Honestly, been that way forever, the seat has gotten to this level a few years ago, and I understand that perfection is the enemy of the good.

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

Lack of shops that do any custom work. The one who was willing would have pulled the top cover off the front seats, removed the damaged pleather, and cut & sewn in a new piece, then reinstalled to the seats. When I remarked that I could get the leather cover new from Infiniti for that, he shrugged. Seems like they mostly do custom interiors for 30s and 40s era hot rods and modern boats.

I get a lot of that around here. With the money that lives in Charleston I'm always surprised there isn't a bigger car scene, and what is here is mostly "I bought a nice car, look at it" - cars and coffee is full of stock corvettes and such, and ebay modded hondas.

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

Sorry to hear that. The car scene there seems awful. We are pretty lucky here. Most people here have enough money to build some really cool cars and the people that do have tons of money and buy cars and keep them stock at least buy some pretty interesting metal. With Elkhart Lake nearby there are always tons of interesting cars there too from all over the world.

The company here that I use for seats does the same process, it just sounds like it would be about 1/3 the price. Maybe there is another market for this for you that is closer. Or you could just get even better seats like I did. It would probably be about the same price.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

Dropped the car off this morning in the freaking rain. Really didn't want to do this in the rain.

Anyway... I know it's just a brake job, but it's also my car and I'm nervous anyway. It's what happens when you make long plans. Over 6 months of planning leading to today.

tick tock

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

I'm kinda surprised you're not tackling this yourself, Rochester. Brake jobs are one of the easiest automotive repair jobs, especially when you have all new parts. The backs are probably a bastich to get off due to the drum, but otherwise... this is jackstands-and-$100-tool-set territory.

RobC7

The only thing you should be worried about is them scratching your wheels. It's a brake job, even a cave man can do it.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

I know. I'm not proud, and have few excuses that hold water. Just feeling my age a little more than you maybe, Mike.

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

No, I get you man. If there was a mechanic nearby that I trusted not to bork my car or screw me over, I'd be paying for most of the work I want done too.

We had a shop drop my wife's mini off the lift. We had the Mazda dealer charging my wife $140 for tire rotations that weren't being performed (I color chalked each wheel). I had a mechanic work on my Jeep and replace modded parts with stock parts and keep the parts. I had another one put in 4 quarts at an oil change because "that's what they all take" (it takes 6 - 7). I've had a mechanic in NC tell me that my RX8 was a front-wheel drive 4 cylinder that needed new (front) axle shafts at $1200+ (I took it in for a state inspection).

My list of mechanics that I trust to work on my car stands at about 4. None of them live near me, and as I'm getting older I'm starting to not always include myself in that 4.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

Just brought the car home. Didn't go anywhere but from the shop to the house, through city streets, with my kid following me. So I can't speak to any observations beyond simple braking, which is awesome. However, I can't get on it hard, because Akebono recommends 500 miles of light braking first. But the braking such as it is right now is rock solid. As it should be... original brakes at 45k miles replaced with these rotors and brand new sport pads. Oh, and I had them flush, fill and bleed the lines. So brand new fluid is certainly a welcome change.

So at the moment I have nothing to say. And I'm not even taking pics yet, because everything is dirty what with the rain this morning. As for how they look to me... freaking gorgeous. It screams serious hardware. Curious to note that I think the rears look better than the fronts. Maybe because the sprinkle slot pattern is tighter in the rear. IDK

$100 for the flush & fill and fluid, 3.0 hours of premium (bring your own parts) labor, plus tax...this was a $430 install. Add to that $144 for the pads, and $982 for the Black Friday rotors.

All in, this project came to $1556. The wife isn't happy, but the numbers look good to me.

KungFooFireman

I'm waiting anxiously for pics..... I've wanted these rotors for a while now.

KidJai06

You’re not supposed to show your wife the numbers. Especially if you’ve had the parts since Christmas. Do what I do, tell the wife that the parts needed to be replaced and you’ve had them laying around for months because you were thinking ahead to save money. Oh and then buy her some flowers or something. Shows good forethought and financial responsibility on your part (and the flowers show you love your wife).

Then there’s always the other method of buying parts, not telling her, storing them with the tools and installing them when she’s not home.

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

So to keep your wife happy re: mods...

I just ordered a black powdercoated aluminum 2.5" intercooler piping kit to make my own long tube CAI - I have the Z1 afterMAF silicone and a set of OEM MAF housings cut off junkyard air boxes, couldn't see the point in spending $400 for piping and 2 K&N filters.

Under $100. I think that is under both of our spend-without-discussing (LOL) limits...

cmckenzie15

Rochester did you end up going oem fluid too?

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

Yes, OEM fluid.

I drove the car around this morning... familiar roads, highway on ramps and off ramps, some hard launches, while still being gentle on the brakes (because break-in period.) Honestly, I can't say that I can tell there's anything different with the car. Handling remains what it was (which is pretty amazing). Acceleration seems unchanged. Braking is really, really good, but like I said, gentle braking.

It's a little anti-climatic.

Lego_Maniac

iTrader: (3)

It does seem that way, especially in contrast to your normal enthusiasm about a new mod

What is the theory behind taking it easy for 500 miles? I've always done a half dozen or so hard brakes from 60-10 and been done with it.