Thought I’d better start a progress thread for this car, as there’s much to do.
I ‘rescued’ her a few weeks ago from her third NZ owner at the top of the South Island, and drove her 1,000 kms home to Auckland (not counting the ferry ride across Cook Strait).
She’s had a few ‘mods’, including 18-inch Beyern alloys, and the first thing I noticed was constant tramlining and harsh ride, with poor steering response. This was attributed to the cheap, over-width tyres on the front (Chinese-made ‘Goodride’ 245/40R18) which also rubbed the arches during exuberant cornering and/or heavy braking.
As mentioned elsewhere on this forum, I’ve now replaced these tyres with some new correct-size (225/40R18) Hankook K125’s, which have transformed the car’s ride and handling, while eliminating the tramlining and rubbing.
The car had been treated to various forms of ‘bling’ by the PO, including ///M-badges everywhere. The original trunk lid ‘3.0i’ badge had been replaced with ‘///M Power’ for example (see first picture).
The car also retained its original Japanese-market rear number plate surround, which I’ve removed.
A new set of plates, upgraded to the ‘Euro’ style, was ordered, and I’ve now fitted the new rear plate which really does lift the aesthetics no end.
Have also replaced the ghastly ‘///M Power’ badges with the original ‘3.0i’ badge (still with the car, thankfully), fixing it with new double-sided foam tape.
Prior to this, I had all the paintwork cut and polished apart from the front bumper, which needs removing and refurbishing.
Not a bad weekend’s work, and I’m well pleased with Primrose’s new-look rear end!
I ‘rescued’ her a few weeks ago from her third NZ owner at the top of the South Island, and drove her 1,000 kms home to Auckland (not counting the ferry ride across Cook Strait).
She’s had a few ‘mods’, including 18-inch Beyern alloys, and the first thing I noticed was constant tramlining and harsh ride, with poor steering response. This was attributed to the cheap, over-width tyres on the front (Chinese-made ‘Goodride’ 245/40R18) which also rubbed the arches during exuberant cornering and/or heavy braking.
As mentioned elsewhere on this forum, I’ve now replaced these tyres with some new correct-size (225/40R18) Hankook K125’s, which have transformed the car’s ride and handling, while eliminating the tramlining and rubbing.
The car had been treated to various forms of ‘bling’ by the PO, including ///M-badges everywhere. The original trunk lid ‘3.0i’ badge had been replaced with ‘///M Power’ for example (see first picture).
The car also retained its original Japanese-market rear number plate surround, which I’ve removed.
A new set of plates, upgraded to the ‘Euro’ style, was ordered, and I’ve now fitted the new rear plate which really does lift the aesthetics no end.
Have also replaced the ghastly ‘///M Power’ badges with the original ‘3.0i’ badge (still with the car, thankfully), fixing it with new double-sided foam tape.
Prior to this, I had all the paintwork cut and polished apart from the front bumper, which needs removing and refurbishing.
Not a bad weekend’s work, and I’m well pleased with Primrose’s new-look rear end!
