Hi All, Brand Spanking New Owner/member...

[jeremyflower]

Hi everyone, I've been looking around the site for a few weeks now and I'm very impressed by the friendliness between all the members, everyone is keen to help everyone else :-)

I've just (01APR06) brought an AS200Z in black with only 51000km on the clock. So far 18" mags have been the only mods, although I did pull out some of those LED mood lights so favoured by 16 year old boyracers, fine in an '88 Corolla but not in a $20k Altezza...

I'm currently in the process of fitting a set of air horns and a pair of driving lights, all the brackets are being made out of stainless steel, helped along by the fact that I'm an Aeronautical Metalworker by trade, should look all nice and shiny in the end.

Future mods include swapping the 18" wheels and tyres for some factory 17", so if anyone has factory mags (with nice newish tyres) and are considering an upgrade gimme a yell. My tyres all have 5mm of tread left although they are a little mismatched, easy to sort out if you know the right people though :-)

I'd also like to re-do the exhaust, make it more free flowing without being too much louder, an induction kit (which I may just make myself if I can find a proven design) and if I win lotto one of those flash supercharger kits from the UK.

Other than that I'm very pleased with my purchase, you were all right in saying it's a fantastic car to drive, own and look at, although it is considerably thirstier than the Honda Integra I owned previously...

A couple of issues I do have:

- Leaky boot, fills up in the left hand corner every time it rains, boot smells like wet dog and I can't seem to find the source as yet... Anyone else suffering from this problem?

- Factory radio, has anyone else attempted to fit a band expander? I'm just getting a little sick of Mai FM... Any hints and tips as to how to take it all apart?

- Clunky noises from front suspension/ steering, when braking and turning at low speed I'm getting a clunk/grinding noise from the front suspension. I read on one of the posts that the brake pads move and make a clunk but I am getting more that one noise at times. Am thinking it may be either to do with the big wheels or my tie rod ends/suspension joints are wearing out... Any help would be great.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

You guys have a fantastic site running here, keep up the good work and I hope to hear from you soon :-)

Cheers,

Jeremy

[Steve]

welcome to the club jeremy!