The Max

Because the front sizing of 225/45 R19 and they're not a common size in the Australian market. I certainly can't score my preferred brand/model in that size so I settled for a 225/40 R19 profile instead.

Banana peels. It's all about the banana peels. I recommend the Cavendish bananas from Coffs Harbour. They have the right cellular structure to allow sufficient slip on bitumen whilst preserving the rubber so you still have plenty of tread remaining.

Depends on the compliancing mob in QLD. My V36 had to be complianced there as my agent knew of nobody reliable in NSW who could do the newer 7 speed autos. Bruce Gearing did a great job and no issues when I had to blue slip it in Sydney.

It's not as big a deal for a manual since you can ease out the clutch (at the expense of possibly burning it out if the revs are too high). Still, it's much cheaper to replace a clutch than it is to rebuild an auto. It's the autos where we need to worry. Engaging an auto at that rev range is pretty much neutral-bashing it which is never a good thing.

Nothing's changed. You still use their Cipher to pull the data. What they're telling you is to find someone with a Cipher cable (as a minimum) who can pull that data for you, as opposed to taking the US$200 gamble like I did and bought a Cipher not knowing if it would pull the data or not. It wouldn't sound very nice of them if their FAQ said "Buy a Cipher and hopefully you can extract the data."

Exactly. It's one thing if they're upfront about it and tell you that you'll need a tow but to sell you a vehicle as a drive-away item, that's just low.

Which is typical practice and perfectly legal unless they're sold with bald tyres as the OP has suggested. Then it's not roadworthy for sale.

The tyres don't need to be precisely the same size. A small deviation is allowable.

Nice. Something for me to keep in mind. What's taken its daily place? An old nugget that you don't care if people open their doors on in parking stations? I wouldn't expect them to since the rims are the same front and rear.

Looking at the specs, they're 200mcd, which is not all that bright. Also, they're tri-colour which means you've paid for two other colours which you don't need in your brakelight since it's a clear lens. Had it been a red lens, you could then use all three colours to achieve white. Nevertheless, you'll need more than 200mcd luminance, it seems. The perceived brightness is logarithmic so for double the brightness, you'll need around 450mcd, quadruple brightness is around 670mcd and so on.

Really? Don't compliance workshops have to provide paperwork which states all the work they've performed? With my V36, I only had stated on the compliance paperwork that they converted the headlights from HID to halogen, replaced the tyres and performed the necessary noise and emissions tests. So with the relevant state transport authorities requiring a copy of this paperwork, anything not documented but required would result in that arse kicking, wouldn't it?

1) Not necessary for compliance but if you paid for a full service on the vehicle and it's stated as such on your invoice, then you need to kick their bums on this one. It really comes down to semantics and what their definition of "full service" is. If it is meant to cover air filters, then they should have done just that. It's standard practice (and I think it's also specified as such by Nissan) to quickly check such items so I'd imagine it'd be part of a full service. 2) Same as #1. 3) Below legal limits = not roadworthy. I guess it boils down what I said in #1 about the definition of "full service". Either way, the vehicle is highly unsafe and should not have left their workshop, let alone the car yard, in that state as they could be held liable for that. 4) I agree with you on this one but not easy to prove that it was a product of their negligence, if it wasn't checked upon leaving the workshop. 5) I'll agree with you on this one. Again, this is a safety issue at a basic level. The importer, let alone the workshop, should have taken the responsibility of not allowing it to leave with unsafe tyres. Not necessarily new but certainly not illegal/worn out tyres. Again, this will be hard to prove without at least a witness to back you up on it as the importer can just say that you put on the worn out tyres in an attempt to squeeze a buck out of the importer. 6) Not imperative. I elected not to have one fitted to mine despite it only costing about another $50 or so. I would definitely pursue some of those matters at least for the purposes of getting some of your money back. Your issue, however, is with the importer since that's whom you bought it from. Do not allow them to fob you off to the workshop, unless you paid the workshop directly. If you paid the importer and only the importer, the workshop's function was as a subcontractor to the importer and that leaves the onus on the importer to handle your matters. That's the simple legal fact. The other issue here though is proving your case. As the complainant, the onus of proof is on you. The air filters should be a simple matter to prove if you have taken photos at least, preferably with your registration in view as well to demonstrate the photos are authentic. The discs, on the other hand, could be seen as more difficult to prove, particularly if you have done all the work yourself. If you have photos, that would certainly help but no guarantee. If you had this taken care of by another mechanic, you could use their testimony to help prove your case. I'm not trying to discourage you here but it's not going to be an easy battle. Being the stubborn prick I am, I'd definitely go for the jugular with these guys but that's just me. In the very least, it gets these guys noticed by the relevant authorities and they'll have a watchful eye on them thereafter. Think of it as at least doing a service to your import vehicles community. I remember reading through a copy of Street Machine once and found an interview with a mechanic whom I successfully challenged in the Tribunal back in 2006. While the article had shone him in a good light for anyone looking for a performance motor, I felt I had to tell the magazine editor about my experience with him when I had my "performance motor" built by him and the battle that ensued after the engine let go 2 minutes after starting it idling at 2000RPM. Sure, it probably fell on deaf ears but I like to think I did something to help other enthusiasts out there. It definitely bolsters my opinion of cash for comment with the media. Still, we have to do what we can.

The other suggestion I forgot to make as well is that if you are unsure what the luminance characteristics are of the existing LEDs, you would be best advised to replace them all so that you don't wind up with any hot/dim spots in your LED array when they're active. Do you have the Jaycar catalogue number of the dimmer LEDs you bought?

Not necessarily. SMD stands for Surface Mount Device and makes no reference to the performance characteristics of the LED in question. Therefore, be sure to pick out LEDs which have the appropriate brightness, measured typically in candela (cd) in luminance terms (intensity) or otherwise lumens, in illuminance terms (flux). The difference between the two measurements is the luminance is the perceived light from the LED whereas the illuminance is the perceived incident light on the surface of the object that the LED is shining on. That's why you typically find luminance measurements for LEDs intended as indicators as opposed to illuminance measurements for LEDs intended for light globes and torches. Obviously, the higher the number, the brighter the LED. You'll probably find that port3s' recommendation might be the more cost effective way to go. Not having seen these tail lights myself, I don't know what the direct replacement is for these things so I can't make any recommendations but if I were to start looking for bits, I'd look to the auto parts guys first too. Failing that, I usually look at guys like RS Components and Element14 as they generally have what I'm looking for, though at a premium.

Given Nissan recommend 225's in the front, how did that affect your steering at moderate-high speeds?

Hmmm. Furry nuts then.

Wow. When I was searching for tyres earlier this year (January), I found nothing out of Pirelli either. Looking them up now, the only current tyres that have in that size seem to be the Cinturato P7 and P1. No way I'd get those on. It's all or nothing with them, in my opinion. You'll probably need to find a mechanic who will turn a blind eye to the old tyres if you will. A tyre of that age generally isn't in good shape if it hasn't been stored properly and as a consequence, the characteristics of the rubber will be sorely affected. That's why the Bob Jane guys aren't inclined to touch them.

It's not just annoying, it's damaging to your transmission. If it's a cold start, let the engine warm up a little so that the revs drop to around 1000rpm or less. I never engage any gears unless it's completely warmed up - so, well below 1000rpm.

Unfortunately, no Australian distributor supplies the Nissan spec tyres for the fronts. I guess the manufacturers figure there's no market for that size. As such, the only option there is to go 225/40 R19 and even then, not all manufacturers supply that size! Dunlop are one such guilty party and I normally rate their Sport Maxx tyres. As for the wheel alignment, maybe my knowledge of wheel alignment fails me but while I appreciate all vehicles have their own specifications for what their toe should be, surely they can look the details up somewhere and then just dial it in? That's pretty poor form but I guess the introduction of the V37/G37 next year should hopefully help to alleviate that.

The Infiniti M37 is a Nissan Fuga. The Infiniti G37 is currently a Skyline V36 and soon V37. Read above about the importing. We've already discussed how SEVS operate when it comes to importing vehicles.

Good call. Sounds like the recording doesn't do your exhaust justice and even then it still sounds pretty good! I just found out my exhaust guy has come back out of retirement so he'll be the one to work on the piping leading up to the Megan Racing muffler. The system he made for my Maxima was impeccable, achieving exactly what I wanted. I was just going to get him to swap the tips over from my stock muffler but I figure I'll make it worth both our while and go catback.

Oh, I see you take your car to Unique Autosports eh? Hmmm, brings back memories of my court case he lost against me.

Tell me about it! Oh well, if I ever need a family car, it'll be a Fuga but I think the V36 will do just fine for a long while yet.

Hmmm, makes me think I should've imported a Fuga instead of a Skyline.

http://www.skyline-gt.com/filedump/v36-translation2.pdf