Wound Back Clocks In Imports

[savage GTR]

Just wondering if anybody else seen the article about imports sitting in an adelaide dealers yard[ fitz$#y]

The cars in question were a 33GTR , supra and a series 2 R33GTS25T skyline.

Some of these cars had 40, ks vanish of their clocks from the auction yards odmtr reading. If I bought a car from there , I would be seriously pissed off . The mta no longer approved the yard as of the next day.

This was surposed to be a wide practice too , these guys just got caught.

Would love to hear peoples views

[Cubes]

In my eyes ANY noticable wear on a gearknob, leather, pedals or seats before 150,000km's means the clock has been wound back.

~ 5years ago I test drove a Soarer from an importer. It had 228,000km's on the clock and had only just been received as it was completely filthy. I got back and said, it feels quite tight for 228,000km's. Its in good nick. The bloke replied stupidly... Oh no thats not the real km's on the clock, its only done 60,000km's as the speedo causes the odometer to read high. It was in good nick for 228,000km but it was not a 60,000km car.

A complete Joke.

A 60,000km car regardless of age is and feels near bran spankin new.

My sister a couple of years ago bought a VL that had been owned by an elderly couple. It had just over 100,000km's on the clock and it literally was bran spanking new. Quite a sight to see an old car as such look so 'new'.

Japan has lots of short trips so it wears the interior.. Don't let that lie fool you.

[savage GTR]

My GTR had 97,000kms on the speedo and these were ligit.

I had a look at some others which had 45, to 70, ks on their tako's and their interiors were knackered compared to mine. Most car yards I came across said it happens alot in the auction yards , yeah right , pull the other one. Just proves that if it dont feel right, dont buy it.

[Fishpaste~]

Lol, my mum flipped out and rang me as soon as she saw it because im importing a skyline =)

had to calm her down and tell her everything was okay, Japanese autions are the real deal, its was just a dodgey car yard, they could have done it to fords and commodores as well.

but yeah, something to be wary of i guess

[blinko]

Lol, my mum flipped out and rang me as soon as she saw it because im importing a skyline =)

had to calm her down and tell her everything was okay, Japanese autions are the real deal, its was just a dodgey car yard, they could have done it to fords and commodores as well.

but yeah, something to be wary of i guess

when i bought my r32 8months ago it had done 58,000kms.. i thought it had been wound bak but i checked the import papers and it said it was imported in jan 06 with 47,000ks done..

[Adelaideprosound]

Welcome to like 10 years ago guys.

What none of you knew that almost every single import has their clocks wound back?

A current affair decided to make example of one car yard when actually its almost ALL of them that do it.

The only way to guarantee unwound clocks, and thats to import yourself and comply via someone you know.

[Mike_]

It's not even just car yards though!!

The import yards wind them back in japan, or replace the dash cluster completely so they can sell the car quicker.

I was under the impression that pretty much every import had their km's tampered with. The story didn't come as news to me. I am definitely not a fan of dodgy car salesmen, but trust me, he's definitely not the only one doing this! If you buy an import, you run this risk, no matter who or where it's from.

[Jdfnq]

It's not even just car yards though!!

The import yards wind them back in japan, or replace the dash cluster completely so they can sell the car quicker.

I was under the impression that pretty much every import had their km's tampered with. The story didn't come as news to me. I am definitely not a fan of dodgy car salesmen, but trust me, he's definitely not the only one doing this! If you buy an import, you run this risk, no matter who or where it's from.

^^^^^yep......

i have been looking at some of the import sites and they reckon that a 93 GTR has only 47000k's on the clock.....photos to prove it as well..... HOWEVER, the same site has a 2001 R34 GTR with 79000k's(electric odometer) which seems a lot more realistic....

i know that the clock was wound back on my car when i bought it..... Meh.... what can you do??? It was in great conditon etc etc and I wanted it, so i bought it.....knowing that it had a lot more km's under it's belt than what the odo said.....

[Matty 31]

even a left fielder...........im goin to be honest if i ever sell my car

my odometer stopped workin 2 years ago.......smack on 311000kms

went and got a newer cluster that worked..............and it had 238000kms on it (roughly)

could still to this day work out for ya what the original kays are........but technically cos i got the odometer working again (by gettin a working gauge cluster) ive broken the law yes?

[Madaz]

lol i couldnt care less i bought mine with 123,000 its now got 150,000 but wait id doesnt mater as my engine has been changed

[Adelaideprosound]

Its not so much the engine, its the wear and tear on the chassis and the number of kilometres it has done.

[Deluxe]

Mines now got about 147k kms on it, and it's a 96 model imported in 98, So i'd have to say mine are all original km's!

[Cubes]

Mines pushing over 230,000km's now.

Bought it at 67,000km's nudging 5.5years ago.

[Whiplash]

holy *^%& cubes

i bought mine back in oct 05 it had 123k on it it only now has 130k and its my daily driver

it helps living 10mins from work

[Cubes]

lol yep I was averaging 25-30k per year until recently.

I now do roughly 250-300km's per week so not so bad.

[Whiplash]

i would like to know if mine has been wound back( it wouldn't surprise me) after everything i was told was replaced that i am now paying to get fixed

but really it doesn't worry me, any car can be wound back thats part of the gamble in purchasing a used car

[Black_Widow34]

someone said a R34 gtr had 79k kms and it was on an electronic odometer.. my question is if its hard to wound back an electronic odometer? im just asking coz i got a 1998 R34 gtt and its an electronic odo wit 65k kms so wondering if its original kms... if so it avreages to like 7k kms a year wich aint shyt so im a bit curious...

[Mike_]

AFAIK you can't 'wind them back', but you can replace the dash cluster with one that has less km's on it.

[Nightcrawler]

of course you can wind them back - they are a computer at the end of the day. But some Jap cars are genuinely low km, as basically everyone there uses the mass transit system and might have only used the car on weekends. The cost of tolls, parking and driving in general over there are absolutely ridiculous - so lots of low km cars makes sense.

GTRs are very easy to spot ungenuine km, as all you have to do is look at the paint on the intake plenum - if it is still mickey mouse black, then it has under 100,000km - if it is all paint stripped and looks white in patches then it is easily over 100k.

Steering wheels, gear knobs, handbrake boots, seats and seat belts are easy indicators of km travelled, but can of course be changed too.

[skipppy]

Sorry to say but it aint the yards in australia that are the problem and reading on here how some say Auctions are legit is just rubbish. When i was looking at one chaser i was asked by the broker if i would like less k's on it. And that if the the car didnt get done by the preivous owner aswell before auction.

I was offered a car also after a auction which was the exact same car but after the buyer got it for a song had k's wound bak thinking most people didnt have full access to house listing and sheet. Oh and yes this buyer has sold many lines on ere also.

Sad sad sad